Lok Sabha Question No. 21 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-07
Subject: IT Service in Villages
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Malook Nagar, Jagdambika Pal, Jayant Sinha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 21 TO BE ANSWERED ON 7 TH  DECEMBER, 2022

## IT SERVICE IN VILLAGES

- †21. SHRI MALOOK NAGAR: SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL: SHRI JAYANT SINHA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has formulated any scheme to provide Internet and Wi-fi facilities to all the villages in the country for the benefit of the farmers;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof,  district  and  State/  UT-wise  along  with  the  measures  being  taken  by  the Government in this regard including Hazaribagh and Ramgarh districts of Jharkhand;
- (c) the details of the villages that have got access to IT services during the last two years, year-wise and State/UT-wise;
- (d) if so, the details of the measures being taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (e) whether the Government also proposes to frame a new policy for making people aware about different kinds of IT services in the country and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

(a) & (b) Government and Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) provide telecommunication connectivity in the country in a phased manner. Government through funding from Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) is implementing  various  schemes  for  providing  mobile  internet  connectivity  in  all  remaining  villages  of  the country. Further, under BharatNet Project, broadband internet connectivity is provided to all inhabited villages in the country including the villages in the districts of Hazaribagh and Ramgarh of the State of Jharkhand for benefits of citizen including the farmers. The infrastructure created under BharatNet project can be utilized to provide broadband internet services such as Wi-Fi Hotspots, Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connections, etc. Under BharatNet, 1,84,399 number of GPs are made service ready in the country including 252 GPs of Hazirabh and 142 GPs of Ramgarh districts of state of Jharkhand. The State/UT Wise details of the villages being covered by mobile connectivity by Government and TSPs is attached as Annexure-I. The State/UT wise details of the GPs planned and service ready under BharatNet project is attached as Annexure-II.

(c) & (d) Government  has  implemented  the  network  of  Common  Services  Centres  (CSC)  under  the Digital India Programme. CSC is an important way of extending governance in public services viz Aadhaar Services, Financial Inclusion Services, Educational Services G2C/B2C services, Healthcare services to every citizen. The CSC scheme envisages setting up of at-least one CSC in each of 2.50 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) across the country, for delivery of various Government-to-Citizen (G2C) and other citizen-centric e-Services to citizens. It is a self-sustainable entrepreneurship model which is run by Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). As on September 2022, total 5,49,465 CSCs are functional across the country out of which, total 4,36,535 CSCs are functional at Gram Panchayat (GP) level across the country.

(e) To increase the awareness and digital literacy in the rural areas, Government of India 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). To ensure equitable geographical reach, each of the 2.5 Lakhs GPs across the country are envisaged to register an average of 200-300 candidates.

## Annexure-I

Annexure referred to in reply of part (a) & (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 21 to be answered on 07/12/2022 raised by Hon'ble Member of Parliament regarding 'IT Service in Villages'

| Sr.        | State/UT Wise details of the villages being coverd by Government and TSPs   | State/UT Wise details of the villages being coverd by Government and TSPs   |
|------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| No.        | State/UT Name                                                               | No. of villages being covered by Government and TSPs                        |
| 2          | Andhra Pradesh                                                              | 2971                                                                        |
| 3          | Arunachal Pradesh                                                           | 3081                                                                        |
| 4          | Assam                                                                       | 2083                                                                        |
| 5          | Bihar                                                                       | 254                                                                         |
| 6          |                                                                             |                                                                             |
|            | Chhattisgarh                                                                | 1887                                                                        |
| 7          | Chandigarh                                                                  | NA                                                                          |
| 8 And 9    | Dadra Nagar Haveli                                                          | 33                                                                          |
|            | Goa                                                                         | 41                                                                          |
| 10 Gujarat |                                                                             | 567 7                                                                       |
| 11         | Haryana                                                                     |                                                                             |
| 12         | Himachal Pradesh                                                            | 1482                                                                        |
| 13         | Jammu And Kashmir                                                           | 822                                                                         |
| 14         | Jharkhand                                                                   | 2072                                                                        |
| 15         | Karnataka                                                                   | 1121                                                                        |
| 16         | Kerala                                                                      | 53                                                                          |
| 17         | Ladakh                                                                      | 119                                                                         |
| 18         | Lakshadweep                                                                 | 4                                                                           |
| 19         | Madhya Pradesh                                                              | 3092                                                                        |
| 20         | Maharashtra                                                                 | 3121                                                                        |
| 22         |                                                                             | 2428                                                                        |
|            | Meghalaya                                                                   |                                                                             |
| 23         | Mizoram                                                                     | 241                                                                         |
| 24         | Nagaland                                                                    | 420                                                                         |
| 25         | NCT of Delhi                                                                | 0                                                                           |
| 26         | Odisha                                                                      | 6592                                                                        |
| 27         | Puducherry                                                                  | 1                                                                           |
| 28         | Punjab                                                                      | 10                                                                          |
| 29         | Rajasthan                                                                   | 3316                                                                        |
| 30         | Sikkim                                                                      | 304                                                                         |
| 31         | Tamil Nadu                                                                  | 384                                                                         |
| 32         | Telangana                                                                   | 203                                                                         |
| 33         | Tripura                                                                     | 299                                                                         |
| 34         | Uttar Pradesh                                                               | 274                                                                         |
| 35         | Uttarakhand                                                                 | 755                                                                         |
| 36         | West Bengal                                                                 | 133                                                                         |
| Total      |                                                                             | 38901                                                                       |

## Annexure referred to in reply of part (a) & (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 21 to be answered on 07/12/2022 raised by Hon'ble Member of Parliament regarding 'IT Service in Villages'

State wise / UT wise details of GPs planned and service ready under BharatNet project (as on 28.11.2022):

|   S. No. | State/UT                           |   Total Planned GPs |   Total Service Ready GPs |
|----------|------------------------------------|---------------------|---------------------------|
|        1 | Andaman &Nicobar                   |                  70 |                        51 |
|        2 | Andhra* Pradesh                    |               13420 |                      4281 |
|        3 | Arunachal Pradesh                  |                1796 |                       769 |
|        4 | Assam                              |                2665 |                      1511 |
|        5 | Bihar                              |                8404 |                      8316 |
|        6 | Chandigarh                         |                  12 |                        12 |
|        7 | Chhattisgarh*                      |               11676 |                      9451 |
|        8 | Daman &Diu and Dadra &Nagar Haveli |                  38 |                        38 |
|        9 | Goa#                               |                 191 |                         0 |
|       10 | Gujarat*                           |               14288 |                     14227 |
|       11 | Haryana                            |                6256 |                      6082 |
|       12 | Himachal Pradesh                   |                3616 |                       408 |
|       13 | Jammu &Kashmir                     |                4299 |                      1091 |
|       14 | Jharkhand*                         |                4399 |                      4335 |
|       15 | Karnataka                          |                6090 |                      6084 |
|       16 | Kerala                             |                 978 |                       978 |
|       17 | Ladakh                             |                 193 |                       192 |
|       18 | Lakshadweep                        |                  10 |                         9 |
|       19 | Madhya Pradesh                     |               22841 |                     17776 |
|       20 | Maharashtra*                       |               28238 |                     23597 |
|       21 | Manipur                            |                2782 |                      1458 |
|       22 | Meghalaya                          |                1792 |                       681 |
|       23 | Mizoram                            |                 762 |                       452 |
|       24 | Nagaland                           |                 983 |                       232 |
|       25 | Odisha*                            |                6796 |                      6779 |
|       26 | Puducherry                         |                 110 |                        98 |
|       27 | Punjab                             |               13337 |                     12668 |
|       28 | Rajasthan                          |               11352 |                      8770 |
|       29 | Sikkim                             |                 185 |                        26 |
|       30 | Tamil Nadu*$                       |               12524 |                       499 |
|       31 | Telangana*                         |               12769 |                      8716 |
|       32 | Tripura                            |                1114 |                       727 |

| S. No.   | State/UT      |   Total Planned GPs |   Total Service Ready GPs |
|----------|---------------|---------------------|---------------------------|
| 33       | Uttar Pradesh |               59365 |                     39818 |
| 34       | Uttarakhand   |                7936 |                      1760 |
| 35       | West Bengal   |                3348 |                      2507 |
|          | Total         |              264635 |                    184399 |

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