Lok Sabha Question No. 237 (STARRED), answered on 2018-01-03
Subject: e-Literacy Drive
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: BHARAT SINGH, MANSHANKAR NINAMA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *237

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.01.2018

## E-LITERACY DRIVE

## *237. SHRI BHARAT SINGH: SHRI MANSHANKAR NINAMA:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a)    the outcome of the e-literacy drive being run throughout the country at present;
- (b)  the percentage of the people who shifted from offline to online in availing services and doing commercial transactions particularly in the rural areas of the country; and
- (c)    the details of the steps taken by the Government to promote e-literacy in rural areas of the country?

## ANSWER

MINISTER FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) to (c): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*237 FOR 03.01.2018 REGARDING   E-LITERACY DRIVE.

…..

- (a) and (c) :  (1)  The Government has taken following steps for promoting e-Literacy in rural areas of the country:
- i) In  the  years  2014  to  2016,  two  Schemes entitled 'National Digital  Literacy Mission' (NDLM) and 'Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' (DISHA) were implemented with a target to train 52.50 lakh candidates in digital literacy across the country including rural India. Under these two schemes, a total of 53.67 lakh beneficiaries were trained, out of which around 42% candidates were from rural India.
- ii)        In  November 2016, 'Digital Finance for Rural India: Creating Awareness and Access through Common Service Centres(CSCs)' was implemented for creating awareness on digital  payment  system  for  rural  citizens  and  rural  merchants.  Under  this  initiative, more than 2 crore beneficiaries and more than 27 lakh Merchants from rural India were trained/enabled for digital payment systems.
- i) In  February,  2017,  the  Government  has  approved  a  scheme  titled  'Pradhan  Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta  Abhiyan' (PMGDISHA) for ushering in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 Crore rural households at a total outlay of Rs. 2,351.38 Crore (approx.). As of 28.12.2017, more than 1 crore candidates have completed the training out of which more than 48 lakh have been certified.
- (2) Under  the  PMGDISHA  programme  the  beneficiaries  are  trained    in  the  basics  of digital  devices  and  use  them  for  accessing,  creating,  managing  and  sharing  information through Internet.  Each candidate is required to open an e-mail account, register and obtain digital  locker,  undergo  a  typing  test  apply  for  or  use  any  Government  to  Citizen  (G2C) service such as PAN card, Passport, electricity bill payment etc and undertake five (5) digital transactions including Unified Payment Interface (UPI), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data(USSD), Cards/Point of Sales(PoS), Aadhaar Enabled Payment System(AEPS), etc.
- (b): The e-literacy drive being implemented across the country is aimed at empowering and enabling  the  rural  citizens  to  on-board  the  digital  eco-system  and  thus  bridge  the  digital divide. The actual shift from offline to online services and commercial transactions in terms of percentage is difficult to quantify. Key trends pertaining to growth of internet subscribers, e-services,  digital  payments  etc.,  indicating  the  growth  of  online  services  and  digital transaction in the country are given as under:
- (i) Growth of internet subscribers :  As per TRAI, the details about internet subscriber and data usage in the country are as follows:
- (ii) Electronic delivery of services : The number of  e-transactions as captured on e-Taal (Electronic Transaction Aggregation & Analysis Layer) portal have increased from 241 crore in 2013 to more than 3013 crore  e-transactions in 2017.

| Indicator                                     | June 2014      | September 2017                                          |
|-----------------------------------------------|----------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| Total Internet Subscribers                    | 259.14 Million | 429.23 Million (includes 129.41 Million in rural areas) |
| Total Internet Subscribers per 100 population | 20.83          | 33.22                                                   |
| Total Wireless Subscribers                    | 914.92 Million | 1,183.04 Million                                        |
| Wireless Rural Subscribers                    | 377.36 Million | 498.28 Million                                          |
| Average Data Usage per subscriber per month   | 70.10MB        | 1600MB                                                  |

(iii) Common Services Centres (CSCs) are taking the digital services to every corner of India  especially  in  rural  areas.  As  on  30.11.2017,  a  total  of  2,71,311  Common  Services Centres  (CSCs)  are  active  and  transacting  for  delivery  of  e-Services  across  the  country; among which 1,73,853 CSCs are at Gram Panchayat level. (iv) Digital  Payments: The  number  of  digital  payment  transactions  per  month  has

- increased from 60.7 crore in December 2015 to 153 Crore in the October, 2017.

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