From manifesto to budget to delivery
The 2014 election manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) outlined how innovation, research and technology can transform India into a superpower by empowering, connecting and binding all stakeholders. The decisive mandate given to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, under the leadership of Narendra Modi , in the general election marked a paradigm shift in the Indian political landscape; the people of India reposed their complete faith in Prime Minister Modi and his team. Finance minister Arun Jaitley and his team must be complimented for taking forward the visionary BJP manifesto and turning it into actionable budget proposals, and also for setting the direction towards building a “Digital India” where innovation, research and technology will play a major role. Rural broadband and e-highways A pan-India programme called “Digital India” has been proposed in the 2014 budget to bridge the divide between digital “haves”and “have-n...