Lok Sabha Question No. 1237 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-09
Subject: Features of PMGDISHA
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Jaskaur Meena, Kripanath Mallah

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1237

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 09.02.2022

## FEATURES OF PMGDISHA

## 1237.   SHRIMATI JASKAUR MEENA: SHRI KRIPANATH MALLAH:

Will  the  Minister  of  ELECTRONICS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGYbe  pleased  to state:

- (a) the main features of Pradhan MantriGramin Digital SakshartaAbhiyan (PMGDISHA);
- (b) the details of the funds sanctioned, allocated and utilised under the above said Abhiyan in the State of Rajasthan and Assam;
- (c) the  details  of  the  number  of  candidates  enrolled,  trained  and  certified  under  the  said Abhiyan in the State of Rajasthan including the Dausa district;
- (d) the details of the targets fixed and achievements made till date under the said Abhiyan; and
- (e) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to cover the remote and rural areas under the said Abhiyan?

## ANSWER

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

(a):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  the industry requires. To further aid digital adaption, the Ministry has focused on digital literacy for citizens across the country especially in rural areas. In line with this, the Pradhan MantriGramin Digital  SakshartaAbhiyan(PMGDISHA)  was  approved  by  Union  Cabinet  in  February  2017  to usher in digital literacy in rural India.The main features of the PMGDISHA scheme are as under:

-  The scheme is being implemented only in rural areas i.e. Gram Panchayat/Village to cover 6 crore rural households (one person per household).
-  The  beneficiaries  are  provided  with  20  hours  of  training  consisting  of  5  modules namely  (i) Introduction  to  Digital  Devices,  (ii)  Operating  Digital  Devices,  (iii) Introduction to the Internet, (iv) Communications using the Internet, (v) Application of the Internet (includes Citizen centric services) and use of financial tools for undertaking digital cashless transactions.
-  The training content is  made available in 22 scheduled languages and English. This content is made available on both online and offline mode. In addition, keeping in view the  thrust  of  the  government  on  promoting  cashless  transactions  through  mobile phones,  the  content  on  digital  wallets,  mobile  banking,  Unified  Payments  Interface
- (UPI), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), and PoS has also been included.
-  After training of the candidate, a third party Assessment of the trained candidates is carried  out  through  online  mode  remotely  proctored  examination  conducted  by recognized Certifying Agencies namely National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), Centre for  Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Haryana Knowledge Corporation Limited  (HKCL)  and  ICT  Academy  of  Tamil  Nadu  (ICTACT).Digitally Signed Certificates are issued for all successful candidates and directly uploaded in their DigiLocker accounts.
-  For authorised Training Centres, a minimum Physical, IT infrastructure along with a faculty at the training centre has been prescribed. Geo-tagging of the training centres have been implemented. Physical verification/inspection of the training centre is part of the process for training centre approval.
-  State  Level  and  District  level  committees  are  set  up  for  effective  evaluation  and monitoring at the State & District levels.
-  Dashboard access to Central/ State Govt./State Implementing Agency/District Administration have been provided for effective management and reporting.
-  Grievances/Complaints Redressal Mechanism have been put in place.
- (b):  Pradhan  MantriGramin  Digital  SakshartaAbhiyan  (PMGDISHA)  Scheme  is  funded  as  a Central Sector Scheme, hence funds are not sanctioned and allocated to States/UTs.
- (c):    In  the  state  of  Rajasthan,  so  far,  a  total  of  30,17,568  candidates  have  been  enrolled  and 25,12,939 candidates have been trained, out of which 18,32,757 candidates have been certified under the PMGDISHA Scheme. In the Dausa district of Rajasthan, 88,780 candidates have been enrolled  and  71,796  candidates  have  been  trained,  out  of  which  52,253  candidates  have  been certified under the said Scheme.
- (d): Out of the total training target 6 crore beneficiaries, around 5.53 crore candidates have been enrolled  and  4.68  crore  have  been  trained,  out  of  which  3.48  crore  candidates  have  been certified, as on 3 rd February 2022, under the PMGDISHA Scheme.
- (e): Government has taken up several steps to cover the remote and rural areas of the country, which  include  scaling  up  the  awareness  and  promotional  activities  towards  Digital  literacy program and expand it multifold through campaigns, workshops, seminars, digital vans, etc. to cover various segments of the population in an all-inclusive manner. 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.

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