Lok Sabha Question No. 1820 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-13
Subject: Schemes on Information Technology
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: VIKRAM USENDI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1820

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 13.02.2019

## SCHEMES ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## 1820.    SHRI VIKRAM USENDI:

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

- (a). the  salient  features  of  the  schemes  being  implemented  by  the  Government  to  make  Information  Technology more accessible in the country;
- (b). whether the Government has made any effort to make Information Technology accessible to the people residing in rural, hilly and remote areas;
- (c). if so, the details thereof including that of Chhattisgarh;
- (d). whether  effective  steps  are  being  taken/proposed  to  be  taken  for  the  decentralisation  of  the  Information Technology Services in the country; and
- (e). if so, the details thereof ?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI S. S. AHLUWALIA)

- (a):   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.
- (b) and (c): 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): Common Services Centres are internet enabled centres operated by local entrepreneur,  called  Village  Level  Entrepreneurs  (VLEs)  and  provide  eServices  to  rural  citizens.  For  this, 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. Over 300 digital services are being offered by these CSCs. The number of functional CSCs (Urban & Rural) across the Country is 3,12,651 CSCs,  out of which 2,12,718 CSCs are functional at Gram Panchayat level.
-  DigiGaon: MeitY has also initiated the 'Digital Village Pilot Project' in October, 2018.  700 Gram Panchayats (GPs)  with  atleast  one  Gram  Panchayat  per  District  per  State/UT  are  being  covered  under  the  project.  The digital  services  being  offered  are  Digital  Health  Services  (Tele-Health  &  Tele-Veterinary  consultation), Education  Service,  Financial  Services,  Skill  Development,  Solar  panel  powered  street  lights  including Government to Citizens Services (G2C), Business to Citizen (B2C) Services.
-  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).  3,10,097  Kms optical  fiber  has  been  laid  connecting  1,23,489  Gram  Panchayats.  1,16,876  Gram  Panchayats  are  ready  for service.
-  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  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.

(d)  and  (e): 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  such  as  e-Hospital,  e-Counseling,  Service  plus,  eTransport, Jeevan Pramaan, National Scholarship Portal etc which can also used by rural people and thus fulfilling their aspiration. In addition to these, State e-Mission Team(SeMT) has also been deployed at each State/UTs.