Lok Sabha Question No. 704 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-02-07
Subject: Digital Literacy among Tribals
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: NISHIKANT  DUBEY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (MeitY)

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 704

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 07.02.2018

## DIGITAL LITERACY AMONG TRIBALS

## 704.    SHRI NISHIKANT DUBEY:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

- (a)          whether  the  tribal  youths  have  the  lowest  literacy  in  electronics  and  information  technology  as compared to others;
- (a) if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government is considering to start a scheme to boost digital literacy by giving special focus on tribal population especially in Jharkhand; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) to (d):   1.   As  per  National  Sample  Survey  Office  (NSSO)  71st  Round  report  on  social  consumption relating to education, the proportion of households in the Country having computer during 2014 is around 14% (only 6% of rural households and 29% of urban households possessed computers). This highlights that more than  15  crore  rural  households  (@  94%  of  16.85  crore  households)  do  not  have  computers  and  a significant number of these households are likely to be digitally illiterate. No specific data on tribal youth is indicated in the said NSSO report.

2. Ministry  of  Electronics  &  Information  Technology  (MeitY)  is  implementing  several  programmes, which have benefitted the tribal population. Some of these programmes are given below:
2. (i) The Government of India has implemented two Schemes on providing digital literacy to the masses namely  'National  Digital  Literacy  Mission  (NDLM)'  and  'Digital  Saksharta  Abhiyan  (DISHA)' with a cumulative target of 52.50 lakh persons (one person from every eligible household) across the country. The targets envisaged under NDLM and DISHA schemes have been successfully achieved in December 2016. A total number of 7,17,412 Scheduled Tribe(ST) candidates were certified under NDLM / DISHA schemes.
3. (ii) The Government has approved a scheme titled 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)' to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 crore rural households (one person  per  household)  by  31.03.2019.  The  scheme  is  specifically  targeting  the  rural  population especially the marginalized sections of society including Scheduled Tribes. Under the Scheme, in the state  of  Jharkhand,  a  total  of  9,37,011  candidates  have  been  trained,  out  of  which  4,32,094 candidates have been certified so far.
4. (iii) Under  the  two  Schemes  for  Skill  Development  in  Electronics  System  Design  and  Manufacturing (ESDM), so far, a total of 14,891 ST candidates have been trained, out of which 8,606 candidates have  been  certified  as  on  December,  2017.  In  the  state  of  Jharkhand,  1,522  ST  candidates  were enrolled and trained out of which 739 candidates have been certified.
5. (iv) National    Institute    of      Electronics    and    Information  Technology  (NIELIT)    Centres    are implementing

various projects / schemes for the upliftment of ST population. Some of these projects are as under:

- a) NIELIT Ranchi Centre is offering training in  'O'  &  'A'  level  IT  courses,  digital  literacy courses, etc through a network of 12 Accredited Institutes and 133 Facilitation Centres.  A total of around 4,000 candidates have been trained in Jharkhand.
- b) Government  has  approved  a  project titled  'Development  of  North  Eastern  Region  by enhancing the Training / Education capacity in the Information, Electronics & Communications Technology (IECT) Area' with an objective of setting up 18 Centres/Extension Centres of NIELIT in tribal dominated NE Region to empower the youth in  the  field  of  IECT  area.  So  far  NIELIT  Centres  are  operational  in  18  locations  and  have trained approximately 34,533 candidates.
- c) Permanent campuses of NIELIT have also been setup at Kohima in Nagaland and Agartala in Tripura.  These  Centers  are  offering  various  long  term  as  well  as  short  term  courses  in  IT domain.
- d) Under Tribal  Sub-Plan  (TSP),  the  ST  candidates  are  being  trained  free  of  cost  at  NIELIT Centres across the country.
5. (v) Under 'IT for Masses' Programme which targets Women, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, projects are funded for providing IT training including Digital Literacy, providing IT infrastructure to  girls  schools,  women  colleges,  ST  schools  (Eklavya,  Kasturba  Gandhi  Balika  Vidyalaya)  and entrepreneurship creation. The initiatives undertaken for STs include the following:-
- a) 'e-Inclusion:  IT training for Rural Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC) & Women Beneficiaries'- 17,147 ST candidates trained.
- b) 'IT Mass Literacy Programme for Scheduled Tribe (ST)' - 4,392 ST candidates trained.
- c) 'Capacity building of 1,260 ST students of North Orissa University and its affiliated colleges in IT tools' - 1,260 ST candidates trained.
- d) 'IT  skills  &  e-Inclusion  through  low  cost  access  devices  based  awareness  program  for Scheduled Tribes - Kerala'  - ICT infrastructure set up at 6 locations and 1,283 ST candidates trained.
- e) 'Capacity  building  in  IT  skills  of  Scheduled  Tribes  (ST)  candidates  -  Chhattisgarh'  3,287 candidates  trained  on  basic  computer  course  and  857  candidates  have  been  trained  on Advance courses (Photoshop & Web Designing).
- f) 'Capacity building in IT skills of Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates - Andaman & Nicobar' 1,006 Candidates trained.
- g) 'Capacity  building  for  the  upliftment  of  2,000  Scheduled  Tribes  (ST)  candidates  -  Union Territory of Lakshadweep' 1,878 ST candidates trained.
- h) 'Empowering  underprivileged  (ST)  youths  and  women  of  four  backward  districts  of Nagaland through  ICT skills  training'  approved  with  an  objective  of  training  1,280  Tribal youths from 4(four) backward districts of Nagaland in 150 hours ICT course.
- i) 'IT  oriented  Handloom  Sector  Development  Program  for  creative  design,  development  & deployment by Artisians / Weavers of Jharkhand & Odisha State' - 05 IT based CAD Centres for  Weavers/Artisan  set  up  at  Ranchi,  Deoghar,  Hazaribag,  Latehar,  Kharsawan;  a  total  of 426 women including 91 candidates from Tribal community trained as CAD Master Trainer Weavers.
15. (vi) Centre  for  Development  of  Advanced  Computing  (C-DAC)  is  implementing  Vikaspedia  project under which a multilingual collaborative knowledge sharing platform (www.vikaspedia.gov.in) has been developed in 22 official Indian languages including Hindi and Santhali. The platform provides

digital content on key livelihood domains - Agriculture, Health, Education, Energy, Social Welfare and  E-Governance.  Under  this  programme,  121  Capacity  building  workshops  on  digital  content access & sharing in regional languages were organized covering 10,579 first level service providers, Common Service Centre operators, Self Help Group Federation leaders, etc. across 15 districts with predominantly tribal population in Jharkhand. Further, theme based Mass media campaigns such as Digital  payments  were  also  taken  up  covering  about  10  lakh  population  in  the  tribal  belt  of Jharkhand.