Lok Sabha Question No. 618 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-07-19
Subject: IT in Rural Areas
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: RAYAPATI SAMBASIVA RAO

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 618

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 19.07.2017

## IT IN RURAL AREAS

## 618        SHRI RAYAPATI SAMBASIVA RAO:

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

- (a)   the major efforts taken in the last three years to take information technology to the rural areas of the country;
- (b)     the details of funds that have been allocated to achieve this said target;
- (c)     the percentage of rural areas covered by IT services;
- (d)    the changes that have been brought about in the schemes under the Ministry in the last three years to take internet to the remote areas of the country; and
- (e)     the details of rural areas of the country which have been penetrated by internet so far ?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)

(a): Following are the major efforts made  by  Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in the last three years to take information technology to the rural areas of the country:

(i) Common Services Centres (CSCs): CSCs  are  internet  enabled  centres  operated  by  local entrepreneurs  called  Village  Level  Entrepreneurs  (VLEs)  and  provide  eServices  to  rural  citizens. CSCs deliver various Government-to-Citizen (G2C) services, Business-to-Citizen (B2C) services, financial inclusion services, Educational services, Skill development services etc. to citizens.

The  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology  (MeitY),  Govt.  of  India  is  establishing CSCs in about 2.5 lakhs of Gram Panchayats (GPs) across the country (with at least one CSC in each  GP).  For  this,  MeitY  approved  a  project-  'CSC  2.0',  in  August,  2015  under  Digital  India Programme with an outlay of Rs. 475.11Crores which is to be implemented over a period of four years .  M/s  CSC  e-Governance  Services  India  Limited  (a  CSC  Special  Purpose  Vehicle  was engaged as the implementing  agency for the project  with  active  support  and  participation  by  the respective  State/Union  Territory  (UT)  Nodal  Department(s),  State  Designated  Agencies  (SDAs), and, the District e-Governance Societies (DeGS).

Till June,  2017 ,  3,00,774  Common  Services  Centres  (CSCs)  have  been  registered  across  the country,  among  which,  1,96,922  are  at  Gram  Panchayat  (GP)  level.  Out  of  the  total  registered CSCs,  2,61,071  CSCs  are  functioning  and  transacting  for  delivery  of  eServices,  among  which, 1,63,226 are at GP level.

| Target CSCs at Gram Panchayat (GP) level   | 2,50,000 (approx.)   |
|--------------------------------------------|----------------------|

|                                         | Registered                 | Functional                 |
|-----------------------------------------|----------------------------|----------------------------|
| CSCs at Gram Panchayat (GP) level (A)   | 1,96,922 (at 1,32,514 GPs) | 1,63,226 (at 1,22,369 GPs) |
| CSCs other than GP, including Urban (B) | 1,03,852                   | 97,845                     |
| Total CSCs including GP (A+B)           | 3,00,774                   | 2,61,071                   |

The State/UT-wise CSC roll out status is given in Annexure-I.

## (ii) National Information Infrastructure (NII):

A pilot on National Information Infrastructure (NII) for a period of one year  was initiated by MeitY in  July,  2015  for  one  district  each  in  the  States  of  Nagaland,  Karnataka,  Kerala,  Gujarat, Uttarakhand and UT of Chandigarh and Puducherry to integrate various ICT infrastructure namely State  Data  Centres  (SDCs),  State  Wide  Area  Network  (SWAN),  National  Knowledge  Network (NKN), National Informatics Centre Network (NICNET), State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) including National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)/BharatNet created in these States. The objective is to provide connectivity to government offices upto Gram Panchayat (GP) level (1059 GPs).

(b): Details of the funds that have been allocated to achieve this said target are indicated below:

## CSC 2.0: Approved outlay = Rs. 475.11 crores, Released till date = Rs. 145 crores

## National Information Infrastructure (NII):

Approved outlay = Rs. 45.84 crores, Released till date = Rs. 45.84 crores

(c): Coverage of IT services in rural areas is detailed below:

## (i) Through Common Services Centres (CSCs):

Various  types  of  citizen  centric  eServices  can  be  delivered  through  national  level  integrated platform of CSC-Digital Seva once State/UT level service access portals are integrated with Digital Seva portal. Number of services in national CSC portal (Digital Seva) was increased from 32 to 170 during  last  3  years.  Out  of  the  total  target  of  around  2.5  lakhs  of  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  to  be covered through CSCs under the ongoing CSC 2.0 project within 4  years (by August, 2019)  for delivery of citizen centric eServices, more than 1.33 lakhs GPs (more than 53%) have been covered with around 1.97 lakhs of CSCs for delivery of eServices to citizens till June, 2017.

(d) and (e): Provisioning of internet connectivity at rural areas is under  the  purview  of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under Ministry of Communication.

DoT is implementing National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project, renamed as BharatNet. It is one of the pillars of Digital India Programme to establish network infrastructure by connecting all Gram Panchayats (GPs) (approx. 2.5 lakhs) in the country through Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) and by using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media, for providing  broadband  connectivity  by  all  categories  of  service  providers  on  non-discriminatory basis. The BharatNet project is planned to be implemented in three phases. Under first phase of the project,  1  lakh  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  is  to  be  connected  by  laying  underground  OFC  by November 2017. Under second phase, connectivity will be provided to remaining 1.5 lakhs GPs in the country using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media,  by  March,  2019.  Under  third  phase,  a  state-of-the-art  network  with  ring  architecture,  is planned to be completed by 2023.

Under  the  said  project  (phase-I),  2,38,489 KMs  of  pipeline  has  been  laid  in  1,06,276  GPs,  2.20 lakhs KMs of optical fibre pulled for 1,00,152 GPs and 23,147 GPs have been connected so far till 09-07-2017.   The detailed status of BharatNet project is given in Annexure-II .

Apart from that, the CSC Special Purpose Vehicle (CSC -SPV) launched an initiative calledWi-Fi Choupal for 5,000 Gram Panchayat (GP) , a rural Wi-Fi service initiative in financial year 201617 at the behest of Telecom Commission, Department of Telecommunications, Govt. of India at an estimated cost of Rs. 100 cr. Wi-Fi Choupal project has been launched to provide Wi-Fi Internet access in rural India through CSCs. As on date, Wi-Fi Infrastructure has been deployed in 2500 GPs across 9 States (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Bihar,  Maharashtra,  and  Karnataka)  and  2  Union  Territories  (Chandigarh  and  Puducherry).  The activation of the internet service has been done at 650 GP locations.

********

## ANNEXURE - I

| STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   |
|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| S. No.                                                  | State                                                   | No. of Gram Panchayat (GP)                              | No. of CSCs Registered including GP                     | No. of CSCs Registered at GP level                      | No. of GPs covered with Registered CSC                  | Total No. of Functional CSCs including GP               | Total No. of Functional CSCs at GP level                |
|                                                         |                                                         | 1                                                       | 2                                                       | 3                                                       | 3.1                                                     | 4                                                       | 5                                                       |
| 1                                                       | Andhra Pradesh                                          | 12833                                                   | 5488                                                    | 3475                                                    | 3475                                                    | 5212                                                    | 3119                                                    |
| 2                                                       | Arunachal Pradesh                                       | 1779                                                    | 115                                                     | 54                                                      | 54                                                      | 54                                                      | 44                                                      |
| 3                                                       | Assam                                                   | 2196                                                    | 2735                                                    | 2246                                                    | 2196                                                    | 2213                                                    | 1559                                                    |
| 4                                                       | Bihar                                                   | 8463                                                    | 22380                                                   | 17541                                                   | 8463                                                    | 19090                                                   | 11960                                                   |
| 5                                                       | Chhattisgarh                                            | 9734                                                    | 11929                                                   | 8410                                                    | 8410                                                    | 11175                                                   | 7940                                                    |
| 6                                                       | Goa                                                     | 189                                                     | 54                                                      | 37                                                      | 37                                                      | 32                                                      | 30                                                      |
| 7                                                       | Gujarat                                                 | 13735                                                   | 18062                                                   | 14845                                                   | 13735                                                   | 16805                                                   | 13885                                                   |
| 8                                                       | Haryana                                                 | 6155                                                    | 8724                                                    | 5834                                                    | 5834                                                    | 7900                                                    | 4923                                                    |
| 9                                                       | Himachal Pradesh                                        | 3243                                                    | 2624                                                    | 2269                                                    | 2269                                                    | 2552                                                    | 1952                                                    |
| 10                                                      | Jammu &Kashmir                                          | 4128                                                    | 2123                                                    | 1039                                                    | 1039                                                    | 1727                                                    | 900                                                     |
| 11                                                      | Jharkhand                                               | 4423                                                    | 9799                                                    | 7445                                                    | 4423                                                    | 9014                                                    | 5295                                                    |
| 12                                                      | Karnataka                                               | 5628                                                    | 6564                                                    | 2665                                                    | 2665                                                    | 4963                                                    | 2333                                                    |
| 13                                                      | Kerala                                                  | 979                                                     | 2676                                                    | 1969                                                    | 979                                                     | 2119                                                    | 1111                                                    |
| 14                                                      | Madhya Pradesh                                          | 23012                                                   | 19446                                                   | 13175                                                   | 13175                                                   | 16194                                                   | 11873                                                   |
| 15                                                      | Maharashtra                                             | 27920                                                   | 31066                                                   | 19464                                                   | 19464                                                   | 25324                                                   | 17788                                                   |
| 16                                                      | Manipur                                                 | 165                                                     | 646                                                     | 256                                                     | 165                                                     | 554                                                     | 207                                                     |
| 17                                                      | Meghalaya                                               | 1463                                                    | 262                                                     | 193                                                     | 193                                                     | 198                                                     | 74                                                      |
| 18                                                      | Mizoram                                                 | 776                                                     | 376                                                     | 316                                                     | 316                                                     | 316                                                     | 176                                                     |
| 19                                                      | Nagaland                                                | 1123                                                    | 232                                                     | 230                                                     | 230                                                     | 220                                                     | 138                                                     |
| 20                                                      | Odisha                                                  | 6234                                                    | 8651                                                    | 6832                                                    | 6234                                                    | 6545                                                    | 5599                                                    |
| 21                                                      | Punjab                                                  | 12800                                                   | 6261                                                    | 4282                                                    | 4282                                                    | 5229                                                    | 3464                                                    |
| 22                                                      | Rajasthan                                               | 9946                                                    | 30436                                                   | 15038                                                   | 9946                                                    | 29814                                                   | 14878                                                   |
| 23                                                      | Sikkim                                                  | 165                                                     | 37                                                      | 31                                                      | 31                                                      | 31                                                      | 23                                                      |
| 24                                                      | Tamil Nadu                                              | 12618                                                   | 11069                                                   | 5773                                                    | 5773                                                    | 7408                                                    | 4646                                                    |
| 25                                                      | Telangana                                               | 8787                                                    | 5564                                                    | 3180                                                    | 3180                                                    | 5043                                                    | 2855                                                    |
| 26                                                      | Tripura                                                 | 1038                                                    | 521                                                     | 442                                                     | 442                                                     | 366                                                     | 322                                                     |
| 27                                                      | Uttar Pradesh                                           | 51914                                                   | 67054                                                   | 41675                                                   | 7555                                                    | 58876                                                   | 35804                                                   |
| 28                                                      | Uttarakhand                                             | 7555                                                    | 5594                                                    | 4441                                                    | 4441                                                    | 4339                                                    | 3853                                                    |
| 29                                                      | West Bengal                                             | 3351                                                    | 17527                                                   | 13584                                                   | 3351                                                    | 15653                                                   | 6330                                                    |

| STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   | STATE/UT-WISE CSC ROLL OUT STATUS AS ON 30 JUNE, 2017   |
|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------|
| S. No.                                                  | State                                                   | No. of Gram Panchayat (GP)                              | No. of CSCs Registered including GP                     | No. of CSCs Registered at GP level                      | No. of GPs covered with Registered CSC                  | Total No. of Functional CSCs including GP               | Total No. of Functional CSCs at GP level                |
|                                                         |                                                         | 1                                                       | 2                                                       | 3                                                       | 3.1                                                     | 4                                                       | 5                                                       |
|                                                         | State Total                                             | 242352                                                  | 298015                                                  | 196741                                                  | 132357                                                  | 258966                                                  | 163081                                                  |
|                                                         | Union Territory                                         |                                                         |                                                         |                                                         |                                                         |                                                         |                                                         |
| 1                                                       | Andaman &Nicobar                                        | 69                                                      | 49                                                      | 26                                                      | 26                                                      | 42                                                      | 20                                                      |
| 2                                                       | Chandigarh                                              | 17                                                      | 112                                                     | 29                                                      | 17                                                      | 65                                                      | 21                                                      |
| 3                                                       | Dadra &Nagar Haveli                                     | 11                                                      | 31                                                      | 16                                                      | 11                                                      | 21                                                      | 9                                                       |
| 4                                                       | Daman and Diu                                           | 14                                                      | 11                                                      | 2                                                       | 2                                                       | 8                                                       | 1                                                       |
| 5                                                       | Delhi                                                   | 0                                                       | 2361                                                    | 0                                                       | 0                                                       | 1854                                                    | 0                                                       |
| 6                                                       | Lakshadweep                                             | 10                                                      | 3                                                       | 3                                                       | 3                                                       | 2                                                       | 2                                                       |
| 7                                                       | Puducherry                                              | 98                                                      | 192                                                     | 105                                                     | 98                                                      | 113                                                     | 92                                                      |
|                                                         | UT Total                                                | 219                                                     | 2759                                                    | 181                                                     | 157                                                     | 2105                                                    | 145                                                     |
|                                                         | GRAND TOTAL                                             | 242571                                                  | 300774                                                  | 196922                                                  | 132514                                                  | 261071                                                  | 163226                                                  |

## Annexure-II

| STATUS OF BHARATNET AS ON 09.07.2017   | STATUS OF BHARATNET AS ON 09.07.2017               | STATUS OF BHARATNET AS ON 09.07.2017   |
|----------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------|
| S.N.                                   | Description of Work                                | Status                                 |
| 1.                                     | OFC Pipe laid                                      | 2,38,489 Kms (1,06,276 GPs)            |
| 2.                                     | Optical Fibre laid                                 | 2,20,139 Kms (100,152 GPs)             |
| 3.                                     | Tenders Finalized                                  | 3324 Blocks / 1,24,412 GPs             |
| 4.                                     | Work Started*                                      | 3223 Blocks / 1,20,570 GPs             |
| 5.                                     | Current Weekly performance of Optical Fibre laying | 662Kms                                 |
| 6.                                     | Current Weekly performance of OFC Pipe laying      | 889 Kms                                |
| 7.                                     | Optical Fibre Cable Delivered on site              | 2,55,499 Kms                           |
| 8.                                     | GPON Integrated &Tested (Lit)                      | 23,147 GPs                             |

State-wise status of NOFN (BharatNet) as on 09.07.2017

|   S.N o. | States/ UTs    |   No. of Gram Panchayats (GPs)- Phase I |   Pipe laid (kms.) |   Cable laid (in kms) |   No. of GPs where Pipe laid |   No. of GPs where Cable laid |   GPs connected |
|----------|----------------|-----------------------------------------|--------------------|-----------------------|------------------------------|-------------------------------|-----------------|
|        1 | Assam          |                                    1533 |               3799 |                  4158 |                         1420 |                          1348 |             354 |
|        2 | Bihar          |                                    5754 |              12199 |                 12940 |                         4967 |                          4742 |             711 |
|        3 | Chhattisgarh   |                                    4104 |              10213 |                  7873 |                         3304 |                          3159 |            1289 |
|        4 | Haryana        |                                    6020 |               9776 |                 10993 |                         5907 |                          5801 |             894 |
|        5 | Jammu &Kashmir |                                     388 |                427 |                   388 |                          214 |                           200 |               0 |
|        6 | Karnataka      |                                    6092 |              11784 |                 12193 |                         6026 |                          6010 |            4826 |
|        7 | Kerala         |                                     977 |                720 |                   830 |                         1129 |                          1129 |            1129 |

| 8.   | Madhya Pradesh      | 12655   | 35904   | 31113   | 12026   | 11643   | 3599   |
|------|---------------------|---------|---------|---------|---------|---------|--------|
| 9.   | Maharashtra         | 15301   | 26696   | 25129   | 12664   | 11843   | 1992   |
| 10.  | Punjab              | 8049    | 9810    | 9153    | 6989    | 6745    | 637    |
| 11.  | Rajasthan           | 8194    | 21069   | 20268   | 7114    | 7046    | 1725   |
| 12.  | Uttar Pradesh       | 27974   | 48556   | 44678   | 25363   | 23409   | 2785   |
| 13.  | Uttarakhand         | 1863    | 2792    | 2636    | 1503    | 1463    | 431    |
| 14.  | West Bengal         | 2637    | 5175    | 4876    | 1822    | 1791    | 231    |
| 15.  | Andaman &Nicobar    | 69      | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0      |
| 16.  | Chandigarh          | 12      | 18      | 19      | 12      | 12      | 12     |
| 17.  | Arunachal Pradesh   | 863     | 1558    | 656     | 609     | 220     | 0      |
| 18.  | Nagaland            | 994     | 2614    | 1475    | 831     | 462     | 0      |
| 19.  | Manipur             | 904     | 333     | 232     | 154     | 122     | 26     |
| 20.  | Mizoram             | 763     | 735     | 438     | 125     | 73      | 0      |
| 21.  | Tripura             | 1021    | 1688    | 1584    | 834     | 810     | 79     |
| 22.  | Meghalaya           | 1208    | 1212    | 525     | 433     | 191     | 0      |
| 23.  | Gujarat             | 6905    | 10518   | 9542    | 5046    | 4478    | 1018   |
| 24.  | Puducherry          | 98      | 82      | 92      | 98      | 98      | 101    |
| 25.  | Andhra Pradesh      | 1673    | 2627    | 766     | 520     | 283     | 0      |
| 26.  | Telangana           | 2017    | 4538    | 4462    | 2038    | 2038    | 206    |
| 27.  | Odisha              | 3860    | 8121    | 7970    | 3109    | 3108    | 517    |
| 28.  | Jharkhand           | 2713    | 5012    | 4669    | 1864    | 1775    | 529    |
| 29.  | Himachal Pradesh    | 252     | 513     | 481     | 155     | 153     | 56     |
| 30.  | Daman &Diu          | 15      | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0      |
| 31.  | Dadra &Nagar Haveli | 20      | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0      |
| 32.  | Sikkim              | 52      | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0      |
| 33.  | Lakshadweep         | 10      | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0      |
| 34.  | Tamil Nadu          | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0       | 0      |
| 35.  | Goa*                | -       | -       | -       | -       | -       | -      |
|      | Grand Total         | 124127  | 238489  | 220139  | 106276  | 100152  | 23147  |

*All the GPs of Goa are already connected with Optical Fibre