R S Sharma on PM-WANI's potential to transform India's digital public infrastructure

The Digital India Programme had three main vision areas: Connectivity, software and services on demand and digital empowerment of citizens. Ubiquitous digital connectivity is a sine qua non today. Fortunately, the connectivity landscape has been transformed in the last seven years due to multiple factors like the boom in mobile telephony, 4G coverage, significant reduction in tariffs and increased smartphone penetration. Enabling policies like Net Neutrality and focus on building Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), particularly Digital ID and UPI, have further contributed to the Digital India vision, resulting in a massive increase in digital transactions. However, this growth has also…