Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday, 1 July 2026 hailed the eleventh anniversary of the Digital India programme, crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership for transforming India into a global model of digital governance and highlighting specific gains in Uttarakhand's remote mountain regions.

Context

Posting on X with the hashtag #11YearsOfDigitalIndia, CM Dhami stated that the initiative launched under PM Modi's 'visionary leadership' had, over eleven years, given India 'more than 103 crore internet connections' and extended digital connectivity to 'approximately 2.2 lakh gram panchayats' through the BharatNet project. He described India as having established a 'strong identity' in the world's largest digital ecosystem. The figures cited in the post have not been independently verified by NationPress.

The Digital India programme was formally launched on 1 July 2015 by Prime Minister Modi, making this its eleventh year. Its stated objectives were to build digital infrastructure, deliver services digitally, and promote digital literacy across the country.

Policy Backdrop

The BharatNet project, approved as early as 2011, aims to deliver high-speed broadband to every gram panchayat in the country and has been implemented in successive phases. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), rolled out in 2016 by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), underpins the cashless transaction ecosystem that CM Dhami referenced in the context of Uttarakhand's villages and tourist destinations.

The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mechanism, scaled up nationally from 2014 onward, uses Aadhaar-linked bank accounts to route welfare payments directly to beneficiaries, cutting intermediaries and reducing leakages. CM Dhami noted that scheme funds are now reaching beneficiaries' bank accounts directly through DBT in Uttarakhand as well.

Stakeholders and Impact

CM Dhami specifically pointed to Devbhoomi Uttarakhand — the state's cultural designation — as a region where digital transformation has had 'widespread impact.' He cited digital services reaching 'distant mountainous areas,' UPI-enabled payments at 'villages and tourist sites,' and DBT transfers flowing into beneficiaries' accounts as concrete outcomes.

For a geographically challenging, largely rural state like Uttarakhand, connectivity infrastructure carries particular significance. Remote communities that previously lacked access to banking and government services are among the primary stakeholders, alongside the state's substantial tourism sector, which benefits from cashless payment infrastructure.

India's broader digital public infrastructure strategy — combining Aadhaar authentication, open payment APIs, and broadband expansion — has been adopted as a governance model across multiple states, with Uttarakhand representing a test case for deploying such tools in difficult terrain.

What's Next

The next phases of BharatNet implementation and deeper integration of digital tools into state-level e-governance portals will determine how far the gains CM Dhami described can be extended to the last-mile communities still outside the digital net. As Uttarakhand continues to expand its tourism economy, seamless digital payment infrastructure at remote pilgrimage and adventure-tourism sites will remain a policy priority. The Digital India anniversary provides a political moment for the ruling dispensation to benchmark progress and set targets for the programme's next decade.