Lok Sabha Question No. 2817 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-15
Subject: Common Service Centres for DISHA
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Ramya  Haridas

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2817

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 15.12.2021

## COMMON SERVICE CENTRES FOR DISHA

## 2817. MS. RAMYA HARIDAS:

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

- (a) whether Common Service Centres in rural areas are still in use after the termination of DISHA and if so, the details of the responsible entities for the upkeep of the same and if not, the upcoming plan for above said centres;
- (b) whether the additional plans of digital literacy are to be implemented through them;
- (c) whether any data available for the number of people who have been made digitally literate through the PMGDISHA Scheme and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) whether the cost incurred on PMGDISHA led to an increase in the digital literacy numbers in the areas affected and if so, the details thereof ?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a): Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has implemented the network of Common Services Centres (CSC) under the Digital India Programme.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 Oct, 2021, total 4,18,436 CSCs are functional across all states & Union Territories of the country, out of which, total 3,25,781 CSCs are functional at Gram Panchayat (GP) level.

The  CSC  2.0  is  envisaged  as  a  self-sustainable,  transaction-based  service  delivery  model,  for delivering a large bouquet of e-services through a single delivery technological platform known as Digital Seva (DS) Platform, which would increase the sustainability of the CSCs across the country. Therefore, CSCs can deliver any service which may be offered either by the Government, private  or  social  organisations.The  DISHA  Scheme  was  only  one  of  the  Scheme  which  was implemented by some of these eligible CSCsand even after completion of the same the CSCs are still operational under the subsequent CSC 2.0 scheme.

(b):    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). The scheme is implemented through CSCs at the rural level which are deemed as Training Centres under the said scheme.

- (c):   As on 09.12.2021, total of around 5.39 crore candidates have been enrolled and 4.57 crore have been trained, out of which 3.39 crore candidates have been certified under the PMGDISHA scheme. The state-wise details are at Annexure .

(d):  Commensurate with the fund allocated for implementation of the PMGDISHA scheme, as on 10.12.2021, a total of around 5.39 crore candidates have been enrolled and 4.57 crore candidates have been trained out of which 3.39 crore candidates have been duly certified.

Furthermore, the impact of the scheme was assessed through a study conducted by the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi in 2019-20. The study made the following observations:

- PMGDISHA  is  a  unique  scheme  due  to  its  mass  scale  and  use  of  remotely proctored  examination.  The  target  of  6  crore  candidates  under  the  scheme  is envisaged to be achieved through uniform coverage of scheme in all the states/ UTs of the country
- 18% fund used in SCSP, 12% for TSP and 11% for NER have made sure the empowerment of weaker sections.
- Women participation is very large and their inclusion at the rural level is expected to open up the path for the learning of the whole family
- More than 55% of respondents cited a direct  benefit  to  their  livelihoods  after PMGDISHA training.
- More than 40% of respondents empowered 1-5 people, 22.8% were able to help 6-10  people,  12.9%  were  able  to  help  10-20  people  with  the  knowledge  from PMGDISHA
- PMGDISHA has served the beneficiaries by facilitating their access  to  a  wide range of information points and services for multitude of purposes. It has helped to decrease the overall digital divide in the country.

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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           | 12,18,636    | 93,7,597    | 6,63,946    |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh        | 3400         | 1279        | 880         |
| 4        | Assam                    | 25,45,333    | 22,19,330   | 17,77,818   |
| 5        | Bihar                    | 57,20,627    | 50,12,880   | 36,60,436   |
| 6        | Chandigarh*              | 0            | 0           | 0           |
| 7        | Chhattisgarh             | 24,98,702    | 21,54,264   | 16,29,639   |
| 8        | Dadra and Nagar Haveli   | 1,657        | 737         | 446         |
| 9        | Daman and Diu            | 1,473        | 876         | 462         |
| 10       | Delhi*                   | 2,100        | 1,423       | 955         |
| 11       | Goa                      | 4,666        | 3,182       | 2,324       |
| 12       | Gujarat                  | 23,89,865    | 20,74,537   | 15,23,480   |
| 13       | Haryana                  | 17,22,376    | 14,55,719   | 10,96,205   |
| 14       | Himachal Pradesh         | 3,57,939     | 2,61,052    | 1,86,480    |
| 15       | Jammu And Kashmir        | 4,57,878     | 3,42,521    | 2,50,926    |
| 16       | Jharkhand                | 20,95,540    | 16,75,309   | 12,16,622   |
| 17       | Karnataka                | 9,96,531     | 7,50,019    | 4,86,104    |
| 18       | Kerala                   | 50,094       | 24,419      | 19,524      |
| 19       | Ladakh                   | 17,279       | 13,802      | 9,509       |
| 20       | Lakshadweep              | 94           | 35          | 0           |
| 21       | Madhya Pradesh           | 45,54,963    | 39,70,088   | 29,12,690   |
| 22       | Maharashtra              | 35,25,466    | 28,78,179   | 20,77,460   |
| 23       | Manipur                  | 10,240       | 5,858       | 3,691       |
| 24       | Meghalaya                | 1,11,898     | 80,616      | 53,902      |
| 25       | Mizoram                  | 9,214        | 6,654       | 3,902       |
| 26       | Nagaland                 | 5,597        | 4,011       | 2,872       |
| 27       | Odisha                   | 27,18,257    | 22,36,282   | 16,94,995   |
| 28       | Puducherry               | 13,590       | 9,645       | 6,186       |
| 29       | Punjab                   | 14,73,904    | 12,59,140   | 9,68,806    |
| 30       | Rajasthan                | 28,88,330    | 23,86,806   | 17,37,502   |
| 31       | Sikkim                   | 3,551        | 1,521       | 717         |
| 32       | Tamil Nadu               | 10,21,194    | 8,15,886    | 5,84,626    |
| 33       | Telangana                | 7,25,377     | 5,66,207    | 3,95,265    |
| 34       | Tripura                  | 2,50,385     | 1,88,867    | 1,49,282    |
| 35       | Uttarakhand              | 6,07,373     | 5,00,912    | 3,71,091    |
| 36       | Uttar Pradesh            | 1,40,55,000  | 1,23,51,826 | 92,87,790   |
| 37       | West Bengal              | 18,78,001    | 15,26,640   | 11,83,314   |
| Total    | Total                    | 5,39,36,838  | 4,57,18,228 | 3,39,59,898 |

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