Lok Sabha Question No. 2535 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-08-04
Subject: Electronics and IT Facilities
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: E. T. Mohammed Basheer

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2535

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 04.08.2021

## ELECTRONICS AND IT FACILITIES

## 2535.   SHRI E.T. MOHAMMED BASHEER:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:-

(a) whether it has come to the notice of the Government that electronics and IT facilities are not reachable to economically weaker students of the country and if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto; and

- (b) the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## (SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR)

(a) and (b) :  Government is aware that there are regions in the country where Internet access has yet to reach and therefore  use  of  Electronics  &  IT  facilities  remains  low.  However,  Government  has  ambitious  schemes  to connect every unconnected citizen in far-flung area through BharatNet and Digital India Programme.

The  access  to  electronic  and  IT  facilities  are  available  to  a  significant  section  of  the  society  including economically weaker section. There are 115.4 crore mobile phone subscribers, out of which, there are 63 crore urban subscribers and 52.4 crore rural subscribers. Total internet subscribers are 79.5 crore, out of which, urban internet  subscribers  are  48.7  crore  and  rural  internet  subscribers  are  30.8  crore.  There  are  3.56  lakh  functional Common Services Centres, out of which, 2.71 lakh CSCs are available at Gram Panchayats.

It  is  estimated  that  out  of  5,97,618  inhabited  villages  (as  per  Census  2011)  in  the  country,  a  total  number  of 5,72,551  villages  have  internet  facility  with  mobile  wireless  coverage.  In  its  endeavour  to  provide  high  speed internet connectivity, Government of India is also implementing BharatNet project in all the  Gram Panchayats(GPs) and villages of the country. As on 01.07.2021, a total number of 1,57,383 GPs have been made service ready with high speed internet/broadband infrastructure. Under the BharatNet Programme, to improve the internet connectivity in rural areas the CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd (CSC-SPV) has been assigned the task of providing Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connectivity to the Government Institutions, including schools.

In addition, various schemes are being implemented under Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to enhance mobile internet services in the rural and remote areas of the country including North Eastern Region (NER), areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), Border areas, Aspirational Districts and Islands during last five years.

During pandemic times, special emphasis was put on digital services, mobile enabled services through UMANG and other mobile apps and assisted public service delivery through Common Services Centres. Direct to home and free  educational  TV  channels  have  been  also  utilised  to  teach  students  across  the  country.  There  is  dedicated educational TV channel one each from Class I to Class XII. There are dedicated channels for higher education. The  quality  teaching  is  facilitated  by  academic  institutions  of  excellence  such  as  IITs,  NPTEL,  UGC,  CEC, IGNOU, NCERT and NIOS.

Some of the major digital initiatives steps taken by the Government are enclosed at Annexure.

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## Initiatives of Ministry of Electronics & IT, Govt of India

The  various  schemes/projects/activities  being  implemented  by  MeitY  in  Electronics  and  IT  sector inter alia include the beneficiaries  from economically weaker section of the society. Some of the key initiatives of MeitY are listed below:

## i) IT for Masses Programme:

This programme  aimed at initiating/promoting activities in ICT for focus groups (Women, Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Senior Citizen, Differently Abled & Economic Weaker Section) and underprivileged areas for inclusive growth of IT Sectors by providing activities related to IT Infrastructure Creation,  IT  &  Electronics  Training,  Deployment  of  IT  Tools,  Cluster  Development,  Capacity Building  &  Entrepreneur  Creation. Under  the  aforesaid  programme  a  project  namely  'Skill Development  of  SC  / ST/ EWS  youths  in Aspirational District in area of IECT  leading to enhancement in Employability' is being implemented for the benefit of 4320 Economically Weaker students of 60 Aspirational districts.

## ii) Post Graduate and Doctorate Level

Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme for Electronics and IT: This scheme provides support for 3000PhDs (1000 Full Time & 2000 part Time), to promote innovation and development of new products in IT/ITES and ESDM sectors.

## iii) Niche Area

- a) FutureSkills  'PRIME': MeitY  in collaboration with IT/ITeS Sector Skills  CouncilNASSCOM has initiated a programme titled FutureSkills PRIME (Programme for Re-skilling/Upskilling of IT Manpower for Employability). FutureSkills PRIME is an 'aggregator of aggregators' platform  comprising  of  various  online  skills  providers  to  provide  digital  skills training on a national scale in online mode in 10 new/emerging technologies.
- b) Information  Security  Education  and  Awareness  (ISEA)  Project  Phase-II :  This  project aims at capacity building in Information Security, training of Government personnel and creation of mass Information Security awareness.
- c) Special Manpower Development Programmes (SMDP) for VLSI and Chip Design: The aim of the project is to train   specialized manpower in the area of VLSI design and inculcate the culture of System-on-Chip/System Level Design at Bachelors, Masters and Research level at 60 academic/Research  &  Development  institutions  spread  across  the  country  including  IITs,  NITs, IISc, IIITs & other institutions.
4. iv) Vocational, Skill development level: Two Schemes on Skill Development in ESDM sector Skill  Development  in  ESDM  sector: The  Government  has  approved  two  schemes  for  Skill Development in ESDM Sector viz. (i) 'Scheme for Financial Assistance to select States/UTs for Skill Development in Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector' (Scheme-1) and  (ii)'Skill Development in ESDM for Digital India' (Scheme-2) to  facilitate  creation  of  an eco-system for development of ESDM Sector in the entire country.   The target beneficiaries of the scheme includes 8th/10 th Pass, ITI holders, Polytechnics, Under Graduates, Graduates (Engineering &Non-Engineering) candidates. The financial Assistance for Skilling and Certification  is  75%  to  General  Category  and  100%  to  SC  /  ST/  EWS  Category.Under  both schemes so far, a total of 3,97,903 candidates have been enrolled out of which 3,95,622 candidates have been trained, and 2,62,856 candidates have certified.
- v) Grass root level: Scheme for spreading Digital Literacy to the masses in the Country Pradhan  Mantri  Gramin  Digital  Saksharta  Abhiyan  (PMGDISHA): The  Government  has approved a new scheme titled 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)' to  usher  in  digital  literacy  in  rural  India  by  covering  6  crore  rural  households.  Under  the

PMGDISHA so far, a total of 4.99 crore candidates have been enrolled and 4.20 crore have been trained, out of which 3.11 crore candidates have been certified.

- vi) Setting up of Campus  of  NIELIT(National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology)

Create skill development facilities in deprived areas through strengthening of NIELIT : The objective of the project is to Upgrade & newly setting up of 18 NIELIT Centres/extension centres for imparting training in various Electronics & ICT courses in North East region. Total 18 NIELIT Centres/extension centres have been established/made operational under the project and additionally, two more NIELIT center (with campus facilities) has already been set up at Kohima and Agartala.  One more Center has been set up at Maujuli, Assam by own resources of NIELIT. So  far  all  21  Centres  are  conducting  training  courses  in  all  8  NER  States.  Around  1.78  lakh candidates have been trained in various Electronics & ICT courses so far. Further, new centres are being set up at Kargil, Daman, Dimapur, etc.

## vii) e-Learning Tools

- a) Technology Mediated Delivery of Courses in Medical Science Education for NER Medical Colleges: The  objectives  of  the  project  is  to  assist  and  supplement  the  medical  colleges  of primarily  the  North  East,  in  providing  expert  medical  education  and  continued  classes  through technology mediated education by Virtual teaching through the online learning platform.   Under the project so far,  the  virtual  teaching  assistance  has  been  provided to  1270 students  of  various NER medical colleges.
- b) Establishment of intelligent educational Infrastructure (Smart) in Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs ): The objective is Setting up of intelligent educational Infrastructure (smart) in Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs) by creating echo system using latest tools and technologies with internet connectivity, which helps to improve the learning outcome of the schools children.
- c) Rollout of Online Labs (OLabs) for schools: MeitY has funded the project entitled 'Rollout of Online Labs (OLabs) for schools  aims to create infrastructural and support framework for making OLabs  accessible  and  usable  by  students  and  teachers  across  India.  Online  Labs  (Olabs)  is available for public access at www.olabs.edu.in. For Olabs Offline, Olabs Live bootable DVD and Olabs   Under the project, so far 35349 CBSE teachers have been trained from 9404 CBSE schools and 4,997 State Board teachers trained from 1654 State Board Schools and more than 15 lakhs students benefited by the OLAB project.
4. viii) National Scholarship Portal: It is one-stop solution through which various services starting from  student  application,  application  receipt,  processing,  sanction,  and  disbursal  of  various scholarships to Students are enabled.
5. ix) Common Services Centres: CSCs are front-face eservice delivery centres in rural India. Their services include educational services.
6.  Number of functional CSCs: 3.56 lakh as in April 2021
7.  Number of functional CSCs in Gram Panchayats: 2.71 lakh as in April 2021
8.  Number of e-Services: 350+
- x) DigiLocker: It is the paperless initiative of GoI that aims to provide public documents of citizens in their personal digital locker. It is notified National Academic Depository and Academic Bank of Credits.
10.  429+ crore issued documents are made digitally available.
11. xi) Under the National Digital Library (NDL) project of MeitY,  5.5 Lakh books has been Digitized and made available on portal www.ndl.gov.in
12. xii) National  Knowledge  Network  of  MeitY  provides  connectivity  to  1746  institutions  which contain  both  government  organisations  and  including  Research  &  Education  institutions  and National Mission on Education through Information & communication Technologies (NMEICT).
13. xiii) ERNET  India  has  been  providing  internet  facility  over  satellite  to  educational  institutes/ schools  in  far  flung  areas  of  the  North-Eastern  States,  A&N  Islands  and  Lakshdweep  Islands. Installed  High    speed  links  over  satellite  in  09  islands  of  Lakshadweep    and  providing  internet access to Government Schools located at Lakshadweep Islands.
14. xiv) ERNET India (EI) has  implemented    project 'Smart Virtual Classrooms' in 3204 schools and 50 DIETs across seven States of India which have immensely benefitted  students and teachers by conducting virtual classes.
15. xv) ERNET India has implemented project titled as 'Tele-education project-  Establishment  of Smart  Virtual  Classrooms  in  Aspirational  District  of  NER'  for  setting  up  of  Tele-Education facilities  by  establishing  Smart  Virtual  Classroom'  in  75  Schools  &  4  DIETs  of  Sikkim  and Assam.
16. xvi) ERNET India  has set up National Medical College Network  in 50  Medical Colleges.
17. xvii) ERNET has set up Wi-Fi enabled campus networks in 5 universities namely Allahabad, Pune, Osmania, NEHU and Utkal University.

## Initiatives of  Ministry of Education

- i) The Central Government is constantly advising States/UTs through guidelines  and meeting with respect to interventions for reducing impact of pandemic on education. The guidelines issued so far are as follows:
2. 
3. PRAGYATA Guidelines on  Digital Education : https://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/pragyata-guidelines\_0.pdf
4.  Guidelines for the development of e-content for Children with Special Needs (CWSN). https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/CWSN\_E-Content\_guidelines.pdf
5. ii) Apart from all these, a comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYA has been initiated as part of  Atma  Nirbhar  Bharat  Abhiyaan  on 17th  May,  2020, which  unifies  all  efforts  related  to digital/online/on-air  education  to  enable  multi-mode  access  to  education.  Various  digital initiatives  are  also  undertaken  by  Ministry  of  education  viz.  SWAYAM  ("Study  Webs  of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds"), SWAYAM Prabha, National Digital Library (NDL), Virtual Lab, e-Yantra, NEAT (National Education Alliance for technology), FOSSEE (Free  Open-Source  Software for  Education) etc to  ensure  quality  education  to  the  students. The details of initiative are as follows:
- a. DIKSHA (one nation, one digital platform) : It is the nation's digital infrastructure for providing  quality  e-content  for  school  education  in  states/UTs  and  QR  coded Energized  Textbooks  for  all  gradesare  available  on  it.    It  offers  engaging  learning material,  relevant  to  the  prescribed  school  curriculum,  to  teachers,  students,  and parents.
7.  Learning  contents  from  NCERT,  CBSE,  NIOS,  and  States/UTs  are available at DIKSHA learning platform.
8.  Learning sessions facilitated: 327.32 crore
9.  Usages of Diksha (in time): 66.36 Crore Hours
- b. SWAYAM: It is a massive online open course (MOOCs) platform. The courses are also available in regional languages. It is available on web and through mobile app.
11.  203 Partnering Institutions
12.  4024 Completed courses
13.  1.84 crore students enrolled
- c. SWAYAM PRABHA: It is a group of DTH channels devoted to telecasting of highquality  educational  programmes on 24X7 basis using the GSAT-15 satellite. Every day,  new  content  for  at  least  (4)  hours  which  are  repeated  5  more  times  in  a  day, allowing  the  students  to  choose  the  time  of  their  convenience.  The  channels  are uplinkeded from BISAG-N, Gandhinagar.
15.  The contents are provided by NPTEL, IITs, UGC, CEC, IGNOU, NCERT and NIOS.
16.  Total DTH Channels for education: 34
17.  Cost for the channel: Free
18.  Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani.
19.  Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible  Information  System  (DAISY)  and  in  sign  language  on  NIOS  website/ YouTube.

All these schemes/programmes are available for all the students across the nation.

- iii) In  order  to  promote  online  education,  UGC  has  notified  necessary  regulation,  which facilitates  the  Universities  to  offer  full-fledged  Online  Program.  Further,  the  current provisions  of  20  per  cent  Online  courses  in  a  programme,  as  per  provisions  of  UGC SWAYAM  and  ODL  Regulations  to  be  enhanced  up  to  maximum  40  per  cent  for implementation  considering  'National  interest  during  COVID-19'  and  also  to  ensure effective utilization of e-resources.

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