Lok Sabha Question No. 2001 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-07
Subject: Digital Expansion in Remote Areas
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: NIHAL CHAND CHAUHAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2001

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 07.03.2018

## DIGITAL EXPANSION IN REMOTE AREAS

## 2001.  SHRI NIHAL CHAND:

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

- (a). the  details  of  the  effective  steps  taken  for  better  expansion  of  digital  facilities  under Digital India in remote and border areas/villages of the country;
- (b). whether  the  Government  is  considering  to  cooperate  with  the  private  sector  for  better expansion of digital facilities in remote and border areas/villages;
- (c). if so, the details thereof;
- (d). whether the Government proposes to promote information technology infrastructure for providing digital connection in village panchayats; and
- (e). if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (Shri K. J. ALPHONS)

- (a) to (c): The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India has initiated the 'Digital India' programme with the vision to transform India into a digitally  empowered society and knowledge economy. The steps taken by the Government for  better  expansion  of  digital  facilities  under  Digital  India  in  remote  areas/villages  of  the country are as follows:
-  BharatNet :  Provisioning of internet connectivity at rural areas is under the purview of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under Ministry of Communications. DoT is implementing National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project, renamed as BharatNet. It has been envisaged to provide 100 Mbps broadband connectivity to  all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.50 lakhs) in the country by using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media. Under the BharatNet project, 2.65 lakh KMs of optical fibre laid for 1,12,677 GPs and 1,03,289 GPs have been connected so far till 25.02.2018.
-  Various  measures  undertaken  to  expand  and  improve  telecommunications  services  in rural and remote areas are as follows:
- o Comprehensive  Telecom  Development  Plan  for  the  North-Eastern  Region: Telecom Commission has approved installation of 1694 mobile towers to cover 2128 uncovered villages of North Eastern States.
- o Mobile Communication Services in LWE affected areas: 2336 mobile towers out of 2355 are operation.
- o Provision of 2G+4G mobile services in uncovered villages and seamless mobile coverage along NH223 in Andaman & Nicobar Islands: Telecom Commission in

its  meeting  held  on  09.01.2018  has  approved  the  proposal  to  cover  172  uncovered villages in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

-  National  Information  Infrastructure  (NII): A pilot  project  on  National  Information Infrastructure (NII) for a period of one year of operation 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).
-  Common  Services  Centre  (CSC): Common  Services  Centres  are  internet  enabled centres operated by local entrepreneur, called Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) and provide eServices to rural citizens. CSCs deliver various Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Business-to-Citizen  (B2C)  services,  Aadhaar  services,  financial  inclusion  services, Educational services including Digital Literacy, Financial Literacy, Legal Literacy, Skill development  services etc. to citizens. For this, the Ministry of Electronics and Information  Technology  (MeitY),  Government  of  India  has  initiated  a  project  namely 'Common Services Centre (CSC) 2.0' in August, 2015 under Digital India Programme for  a  period  of  four  years,  which  envisages  setting  up  of  at  least  one  CSC  at  Gram Panchayat (GP) to cover all the 2.5 lakh GPs across the country. Till  January,  2018,  there  are  2,92,406  Common  Services  Centres  (CSCs)  functioning across the country; among which, 1,83,005 CSCs are at Gram Panchayat (GP) level.
- (d) and (e): The steps taken by the Government for providing digital connection in village Panchayats are as follows:
-  BharatNet: Provisioning of internet connectivity at rural areas is under the purview of Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under Ministry of Communications. DoT is implementing National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project, renamed as BharatNet. It has been envisaged to provide 100 Mbps broadband connectivity to  all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.50 lakhs) in the country by using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media. The project is planned to be implemented in three phases: Under first phase of the project, 1 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) are to be connected by laying underground Optical Fibre Cable(OFC) which is under implementation  and    expected  to  be  completed  by  November  2017.  Under  Phase-II, connectivity will be provided to remaining 1.5 lakh GPs in the country using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media, and provision of last mile access to the network and broadband service provisioning through Wi-Fi or any  other  broadband  access  technologies  in  all  2,50,000  GPs  in  the  country,  which  is targeted to be completed by March, 2019. Under third phase, a state-of-the-art network with ring architecture, is planned to be completed by 2023.
- Under the BharatNet project, 2.65 lakh KMs of optical fibre pulled for 1,12,677 GPs and 1,03,289 GPs have been connected so far till 25.02.2018.
-  National  Information  Infrastructure  (NII): A pilot  project  on  National  Information Infrastructure (NII) for a period of one year of operation 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).

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