“A country that needs to be taught where to go for toilet, wants to go Digital” a ridicule remark by many. Really it needs guts to talk about digital India in a country where more than three hundred million Indians do not have even electricity facility.

The PM of India on 1st July 2015, announced to go digital. A past master in statesmanship, PM Modi, didn’t even bat an eyelid before announcing this initiative to connect people of the rural and urban India. This initiative aims to make India a better governing place facilitating Indians with electronic government services, reducing paper work, improving work efficiency and saving time. This ambitious project will transform India into a complete digital country with efficient and transparent e-governance.

Digital India is a dream wherein country is to be empowered with digital infrastructure and services, online availability of information and integration of many departments for hassle free e-governance. Digital India campaign aims at ensuring the broadband highways and universal access to mobile phones. It not only aims at e-governance but also ensures more IT jobs for the general public. This program will be implemented in phases till 2019 and will be monitored by the Digital India Advisory Group chaired by the Ministry of Communication and IT.

This initiative includes plans to connect rural India with high speed internet network. Under this visionary program a two way platform will be created where the service providers and consumers shall be benefitted. It will include inter-ministerial e-governance connecting services like public health care, education, housing, banks etc. This program will act like an umbrella program covering several departments.

This highly ambitious program needs strong pillars. The first requirement is that all the people of India, even of the remotest villages, must have universal access to mobiles and high speed internet. Broadband services will have to be made available to 2.5 lakh villages and 400 thousand public internet access points will have to be created. Around 2.5 lakh schools, all universities and public places must have wi-fi hotspots. Success of e-governance (Reforming govt. through technology) and e-Kranti (electronic delivery of services) are must for this program to see the daylight. A wonderful thing about this project is, it may bring smile on the face of unemployed youths due to huge possibility of job opportunities in India.

Besides this every Indian citizen can avail himself of a digital locker facility which will help him to store important document like PAN card, Passport, Marksheet and degrees. The digital locker provides a dedicated personal storage space in the cloud to citizen linked to their Adhaar Number. Whether this program turns into reality or remain an illusion, time will tell but the government has taken a giant leap forward to transform the country into a digitally empowered one.

Hurdles have started obstructing the path of this program. To start with not a single telecom operator or industry house has signed up to partner the ‘National Optical Fibre Network’ (NOFN) program. NOFN is responsible to lay nationwide optical fiber framework to connect all the Gram Panchayats within three years. Infact this program must be called ‘Digital Bharat’ program because we need to connect with the rural parts of India. Laying optical fiber cables is just one of the challenges; the gigantic one will be to ensure functional broadband points at each panchayat, distribution of internet services and finally their usage by the rural folk.

Digital India reflects out of the box thinking of the present government. The beauty of a natural digital platform is transparency that puts more information in public domain and doesn’t hide anything. This digital world is going to be a part of our life. In near future and whether we like it or not we will be in the flow of this digital river.

Is science a boon or a bane? This question has been a matter of debate for a long time. On one hand, science has given us electricity, television, computer, telephone etc; while on the other hand, it has also given to this world modern and lethal weapons of mass destruction. Science, no doubt leads to knowledge, knowledge in turn leads to power and all of us know that, power corrupts the world, but the benefits of science are numerous and have helped mankind so much that today we cannot imagine life without science.

The most wonderful gift of science is the discovery of electricity. It was discovered by Benjamin Franklin and with its discovery; revolution came in the field of science. Many electrical instruments were invented one by one and today electricity is used with unconscious ease. It has such a widespread' use today that life would come to a standstill without electricity. Electricity makes our life comfortable, fast and easier. From a tiny electrical device to the mammoth train electricity is the only source of energy which keeps them going.

Science has also brought revolution in the field of medicine. It has given us simple, reliable and effective methods of treatment. Science made many dreadful diseases of past curable now. The invention of anaesthesia has brought great change in the field of surgery. Earlier people used to die on the surgery table due to excruciating pain but now, human body can be cut open without causing any pain. Plastic surgery which is an advanced form of surgery has made it possible to get the shape, features and size of our own choice. Science has been able to control both the death and the birth rate and has improved the health and life expectancy of human beings. Not to mention, it also accelerated the population growth leading to the present population related problems.

Science has revolutionized the world of communication. Today we can communicate from one corner of the world to the other just at the click of mouse. The vast world has turned into a minuscule global village. Thanks to science, it has reduced the distance between the countries and the culture too. With the development of different means of communication, the exchange of ideas took place giving birth to a new civilization, a global civilization. Latest information is shared and the updated information is loaded on the internet sites for the world. Sitting poles apart we can feel at home with the help of internet. At nominal charges, we can chat at length. Mobiles keep us connected. No doubt, these latest inventions of science have made the postal departments run for their money.

Science has fulfilled our needs and has given us the comforts and luxuries of life. It has bettered the standard of living. Today we don't have to bear extreme heat and cold. The air conditioner is there to cool us off. We can have the chilled water of the refrigerator to wet our throat. We don't have to walk miles to go anywhere. The cars and airplanes are there to take us to our destination in a few hours, no matter how far it is. Science has made our life worth living which was nothing but a struggle for survival in the past but at the same time, it has resulted in the death of lakhs of human beings due to its misuse. The invention of lethal guns, canons, fighter planes and warships has extended the range and extent of destruction. Today the terrorists can kill hundreds of people in a few seconds only due to science, which was not possible earlier with the use of bows, arrow and swords. Internet is used to communicate coded messages and display gruesome videos of grotesque murders.

The misuse of science is widespread but we cannot deny the fact that its use causes welfare of mankind and universal happiness. Perish or flourish, the choice is definitely ours.