Lok Sabha Question No. 5656 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-04-06
Subject: Digital Literacy and Niti Aayog
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Mohammad Jawed

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5656

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 06.04.2022

## DIGITAL LITERACY AND NITI AAYOG

## 5656.  DR. MOHAMMAD JAWED:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  on  track  to  meet  the  objective  of  ensuring  100%  digital literacy by 2022 as per the NitiAayog strategy for New India report;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  if  not,  the  reasons  therefor  including  the  revised target/deadline for the said purpose;
- (c) the  details  of  the  digital  literacy  rate  in  India,  gender,  urban/rural  category  and  yearwise from 2014 till date;
- (d) the  total  number  of  internet  subscribers  per  100  people  in  India  (rural  and  urban households); and
- (e) the percentage of urban and rural households that own a computer?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a) and (b): The NITI Aayog Report titled "Strategy for New India @75" inter-alia indicates that  India needs to eliminate the Digital Divide by 2022-23. In this regard, it is stated that Skill  development  and  creating  skilled  talent  is  an  important  mission  to  ensure  that  the rapidlygrowing Digital Economy of India is provided with the trained and skilled manpower that is required. To further aid digital adoption, the Ministry has focused on digital literacy for citizens since 2014, across the country, especially in rural areas.

Ministry  of  Electronics  &  Information  Technology  (MeitY)  has  taken  the  following initiatives to expand digital literacy and skills in the country:

- i. In  the  years  2014  to  2016,  two  Schemes  titled  'National  Digital  Literacy  Mission' (NDLM)  and 'Digital SakshartaAbhiyan' (DISHA) were implemented by the Government with a target to train  52.50  lakh  candidates  in  digital  literacy  across  the country. Under these two schemes, a total of 53.67 lakh beneficiaries were certified.
- ii. In 2017, a scheme titled 'Pradhan MantriGramin Digital SakshartaAbhiyan (PMGDISHA)' was  approved  by  Union  Cabinet  to  usher  in  digital  literacy  in  rural India by covering 6 crore rural households (one person per household). So far, a total of around 5.80 crore candidates have been enrolled and 4.91 crore have been trained, out of which around 3.64 crore candidates have been certified under this scheme.

(c): As per National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 71 st Round report released in June 2015 on social consumption relating to education, the gender-wise details for the age 14 years and above, the ability to operate computer in rural and urban areas was reported as under:

| Proportion (per 1000) of population (age 14 years and above) able to operate a computer   | Proportion (per 1000) of population (age 14 years and above) able to operate a computer   | Proportion (per 1000) of population (age 14 years and above) able to operate a computer   | Proportion (per 1000) of population (age 14 years and above) able to operate a computer   | Proportion (per 1000) of population (age 14 years and above) able to operate a computer   | Proportion (per 1000) of population (age 14 years and above) able to operate a computer   | Proportion (per 1000) of population (age 14 years and above) able to operate a computer   | Proportion (per 1000) of population (age 14 years and above) able to operate a computer   | Proportion (per 1000) of population (age 14 years and above) able to operate a computer   |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Gender                                                                                    | Rural                                                                                     | Rural                                                                                     | Rural                                                                                     | Rural                                                                                     | Urban                                                                                     | Urban                                                                                     | Urban                                                                                     | Urban                                                                                     |
| Gender                                                                                    | Age group (years)                                                                         | Age group (years)                                                                         | Age group (years)                                                                         | Age group (years)                                                                         | Age group (years)                                                                         | Age group (years)                                                                         | Age group (years)                                                                         | Age group (years)                                                                         |
| Gender                                                                                    | 14-29                                                                                     | 30-45                                                                                     | 46-60                                                                                     | 60 and above                                                                              | 14-29                                                                                     | 30-45                                                                                     | 46-60                                                                                     | 60 and above                                                                              |
| (1)                                                                                       | (2)                                                                                       | (3)                                                                                       | (4)                                                                                       | (5)                                                                                       | (6)                                                                                       | (7)                                                                                       | (8)                                                                                       | (9)                                                                                       |
| Male                                                                                      | 227                                                                                       | 64                                                                                        | 22                                                                                        | 6                                                                                         | 536                                                                                       | 309                                                                                       | 209                                                                                       | 106                                                                                       |
| Female                                                                                    | 135                                                                                       | 19                                                                                        | 5                                                                                         | 1                                                                                         | 438                                                                                       | 173                                                                                       | 87                                                                                        | 28                                                                                        |
| persons                                                                                   | 183                                                                                       | 41                                                                                        | 14                                                                                        | 3                                                                                         | 489                                                                                       | 243                                                                                       | 148                                                                                       | 68                                                                                        |

Further, the National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation conducted a survey on Household Social Consumption: Education as part of the 75 th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) from July 2017 to June 2018. As per the report,  the  gender-wise  details  of  the  person  having  ability  to  operate  computer  in  the  age groups mentioned below in rural and urban India are as under:

| Age group of the Person   | %Able to operate a Computer   | %Able to operate a Computer   | %Able to operate a Computer   | %Able to operate a Computer   |
|---------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|
|                           | Rural                         | Rural                         | Urban                         | Urban                         |
|                           | Male                          | Female                        | Male                          | Female                        |
| 15-29 years               | 29.4                          | 17.6                          | 60.6                          | 50.9                          |
| 15-59 years               | 16.4                          | 8.6                           | 44.3                          | 31.4                          |

(d):  The  Department  of  Telecommunications  (DoT),  Ministry  of  Communication  has informed that as per 'The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators' report published by Telecom  Regulatory  Authority of India  (TRAI)  on 10 th January, 2022, as  on 30 th September, 2021 there were 37.67 rural internet subscribers per 100 population and 104.75 urban internet subscribers per 100 population.

(e): As per the NSO 75 th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) Report only 4.4% in rural households and 23.4% in urban households have a computer.

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