Lok Sabha Question No. 1489 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-27
Subject: Accessibility of Information Technology
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Vijay Baghel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1489

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 27.11.2019

## ACCESSIBILITY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## 1489.     SHRI VIJAY BAGHEL:

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

- (a) the  details  and  features  of  the  projects  implemented/being  implemented  by  the Government across the country to make Information Technology (IT) more accessible;
- (b) whether  the  Government  has  made  any  efforts  to  make  IT  accessible  to  the  people living  in  rural,  hilly  and  far  flung  areas  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  especially  with regard to the State of Chhattisgarh; and
- (c) whether Government proposes to take any step for the decentralization of the IT in the country and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR  ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI  SANJAY  DHOTRE)

(a) and (b): 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.  Digital  India  is  an umbrella programme that covers multiple projects of various Central Ministries/Departments and States/UTs.  The  Digital  India  programme  is  centred  on  three  key  vision  areas  namely Digital  Infrastructure  as  a  Core  Utility  to  Every  Citizen,  Governance  and  Services  on Demand  and  Digital  Empowerment  of  Citizens.  Some  of  the  key  initiatives  taken  by  the Government to make Information Technology accessible to the people residing in rural, hilly and remote areas including Chhattisgarh are as follows:

-  Common  Services  Centre  (CSC): MeitY  has  initiated  a  project  namely  'Common Services  Centre  (CSC)  2.0'  in  August,  2015  under  Digital  India  Programme,  which envisages setting up of at least one CSC at Gram Panchayat (GP) to cover all the 2.5 lakh GPs across the country. Common Services Centres are internet enabled centres operated by local entrepreneur, called Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) and provide eServices to rural citizens. Over 350 digital services are being offered by these CSCs. The number of functional CSCs (Urban & Rural) across the Country is 3.64 Lakh, out of which 2.62 Lakh CSCs are functional at Gram Panchayat level.
-  Digital  Village: MeitY  has  also  initiated  the  'Digital  Village  Pilot  Project'  in  October, 2018.          700 Gram Panchayats(GPs)/ villages with atleast one Gram Panchayat/village per District per State/UT are being covered across the country. The digital services being

offered are Digital Health Services (Tele-Health &  Tele-Veterinary consultation), Education Service (NIELIT

courses on BCC/CCC, Tally), Financial Inclusion Awareness Programme, Skill Development,  Solar  panel  powered  street  lights  including  Government  to  Citizens Services (G2C), Business to Citizen (B2C) Services.  The project is covering atleast one Gram Panchayat/Village  from                27  district  of  the  Chhattisgarh  for  implementation under Digital Village Pilot Project.

-  BharatNet: BharatNet is an ambitious initiative to trigger a broadband revolution in rural areas. This project is being implemented  by Department  of Telecommunications. BharatNet aims to connect all the 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats in the country and provide 100 Mbps connectivity to all gram panchayats (GPs). So far, 3,80,988 Kms optical fiber has been laid connecting 1,40,668 Gram Panchayats. 1,28,376 Gram Panchayats are ready for service.
-  Unified  Mobile  Application  for  New-Age  Governance  (UMANG): Unified  Mobile Application for New-Age Governance (UMANG) has been developed as a single mobile platform  to  deliver  major  Government  services  with  Core  Platform  integrated  with Aadhaar,  DigiLocker,  PayGov,  etc.  Citizens  can  access  pan  India  Government  services from  the  Central  Government,  State  Governments,  local  bodies  and  their  agencies  and some important utility services from corporate. 490 services from 104 departments and 21 States are already available on UMANG platform.
-  e-District  Mission  Mode  Project  (MMP): e-District  project  has  been  implemented  at district  and  sub-district  levels  of  all  States/UTs,  benefitting  all  citizens  by  delivering various  high  volume  e-Services  such  as  Certificates  (Birth,  Caste,  Death,  Income  and Local Resident), Pension (Old Age, Disability and Widow), Electoral, Consumer Court, Revenue  Court,  Land  Record  and  services  of  various  departments  such  as  Commercial Tax,  Agriculture,  Labour,  Employment  Training  &  Skill  Development  etc.  e-District services have been launched in 721 districts across all States/ UTs.

(c): National  Informatics  Centre  (NIC),  an  attached  office  of  Ministry  of  Electronics  & Information  Technology  (MeitY),  has  its  State  Centres  at  State  level  and  District  level  all over India. These State and District Centres continuously guide and assist the Government Officers in  ICT applications. NIC also provides various citizen centric services through its products and platforms across the country.

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