Lok Sabha Question No. 1680 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-08
Subject: Digital Literacy Mission
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Debasree Chaudhuri

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1680

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 08.12.2021

## DIGITAL LITERACY MISSION

## 1680. MS DEBASREE CHAUDHURI:

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

- (a) the statewise details of the status of implementation of Digital Literacy Mission;
- (b) whether the target of making six crore persons digitally literate in rural areas, across States/UTs has been achieved; and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) the  details  of  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  for  scaling  up  the  coverage  of  digital  literacy schemes; and
- (d) whether the Government has obtained feedback on reasons for low motivation amongst people to join digital literacy programs; and if so, the details thereof ?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to  (c):    Skill  development  and  creating  skilled  talent  is  an  important  mission  to  ensure  that  the growing  digital  economy  of  India  is  provided  with  the  trained  and  skilled  manpower  that  Industry requires. To further aid digital adoption, the Ministry has focused on digital literacy for citizens since 2014,  across  the  country  including  in  rural  areas.  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.

Subsequently, a scheme titled 'Pradhan MantriGramin Digital SakshartaAbhiyan (PMGDISHA)' was approved by Union Cabinet in 2017 to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 crore rural households  (one  person  per  household).  So  far,  a  total  of  around  5.38  crore  candidates  have  been enrolled  and  4.56  crore  have  been  trained,  out  of  which  around  3.39  crore  candidates  have  been certified under this scheme. The State-wise achievement under the Scheme may be seen at Annexure .

Government has taken up several steps for scaling up the coverage of digital literacy schemes which include the following:

- Scaling up the awareness and promotional activities towards Digital literacy through campaigns, workshops, seminars, digital vans, etc.
- Efforts  have  been  made  to  identify  and  register  new  Training  centres  in  uncovered  Gram Panchayats across the country.
- In order to address the low internet connectivity issues, Wifi-choupals have been established at remote locations.
- Rural schools have been engaged for training and examination of candidates in order to penetrate the rural populous districts of identified states.
- (d):    These  Schemes  have  seen  tremendous  response  for  enrolment  from  the  beneficiaries  wherever they are implemented.

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## Annexure

The  State/UT-wise  number  of candidates registered, trained and certified so far under PMGDISHA Scheme:

|   S. No. | State                    | Registered   | Trained   | Certified   |
|----------|--------------------------|--------------|-----------|-------------|
|        1 | Andaman &Nicobar Islands | 308          | 109       | 51          |
|        2 | Andhra Pradesh           | 12,13,541    | 9,33,786  | 6,61,421    |
|        3 | Arunachal Pradesh        | 3,399        | 1,279     | 880         |
|        4 | Assam                    | 25,45,034    | 22,18,788 | 17,77,702   |
|        5 | Bihar                    | 57,16,626    | 50,10,635 | 36,58,014   |
|        6 | Chandigarh*              | 0            | 0         | 0           |
|        7 | Chhattisgarh             | 24,98,702    | 21,54,263 | 16,29,634   |
|        8 | Dadra and Nagar Haveli   | 1,652        | 737       | 446         |
|        9 | Daman and Diu            | 1,470        | 846       | 450         |
|       10 | Delhi*                   | 2,086        | 1,401     | 929         |
|       11 | Goa                      | 4,650        | 3,180     | 2,322       |
|       12 | Gujarat                  | 23,87,245    | 20,71,606 | 15,21,815   |
|       13 | Haryana                  | 17,20,102    | 14,55,183 | 10,96,074   |
|       14 | Himachal Pradesh         | 3,54,939     | 2,59,390  | 1,85,625    |
|       15 | Jammu And Kashmir        | 4,54,633     | 3,41,094  | 2,50,274    |
|       16 | Jharkhand                | 20,92,199    | 16,73,448 | 12,15,415   |
|       17 | Karnataka                | 9,90,825     | 7,47,188  | 4,83,761    |
|       18 | Kerala                   | 50,068       | 24,410    | 19,520      |
|       19 | Ladakh                   | 17,279       | 13,802    | 9,501       |
|       20 | Lakshadweep              | 94           | 35        | 0           |
|       21 | Madhya Pradesh           | 45,43,049    | 39,57,566 | 29,03,180   |
|       22 | Maharashtra              | 34,91,142    | 28,62,502 | 20,69,617   |
|       23 | Manipur                  | 10,239       | 5,858     | 3,691       |
|       24 | Meghalaya                | 1,11,847     | 80,610    | 53,896      |
|       25 | Mizoram                  | 9,214        | 6,593     | 3,881       |
|       26 | Nagaland                 | 5,597        | 4,011     | 2,872       |
|       27 | Odisha                   | 27,15,434    | 22,33,186 | 16,93,495   |
|       28 | Puducherry               | 13,590       | 9,643     | 6,157       |
|       29 | Punjab                   | 14,69,681    | 12,56,997 | 9,67,725    |

| 30    | Rajasthan     | 28,74,294   | 23,71,583   | 17,28,270   |
|-------|---------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
| 31    | Sikkim        | 3,551       | 1,521       | 717         |
| 32    | Tamil Nadu    | 10,14,005   | 8,13,078    | 5,81,823    |
| 33    | Telangana     | 7,23,212    | 5,63,842    | 3,93,659    |
| 34    | Tripura       | 2,48,544    | 1,87,286    | 1,48,402    |
| 35    | Uttarakhand   | 6,06,354    | 5,00,158    | 3,70,433    |
| 36    | Uttar Pradesh | 1,40,30,962 | 1,23,28,605 | 92,71,740   |
| 37    | West Bengal   | 18,76,201   | 15,24,802   | 11,81,633   |
| Total | Total         | 5,38,01,768 | 4,56,19,021 | 3,38,95,025 |

*Chandigarh and Delhi are in Urban agglomeration, hence not covered under the Scheme.

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