Lok Sabha Question No. 923 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-07-26
Subject: Digital Infrastructure
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Goddeti Madhavi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 923

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 26.07.2023

## DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE

## 923. SHRIMATI GODDETI MADHAVI:

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

- (a) whether the Government  has a separate budget allocation for enhancing digital infrastructure particularly in rural areas of the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether  the  Government  conducts  any  survey  to  assess  the  digital  literacy  rate  in  the country; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  and  (b):    For  enhancing  digital  infrastructure  in  rural  areas  of  the  country,  Bharat  Net project is the major initiative of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) implementedin a phased  manner  to  provide  broadband  connectivity  to  2.64  lakh  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs) across the country. Funds for BharatNet project are allocated State/UT wise. The State-wise details of the funds allocated in the first and second phase is given at Annexure-I.

(c) and (d): Yes, Sir. The National Statistical Office (NSO) under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation conducted a Multiple Indicator Survey in India: Education & ICT  Skills  as  part  of  the  78 th round  of  National  Sample  Survey  (NSS)  from  20202021(Report published in March, 2023). The extracts of the said report with the gender-wise percentage of persons of age 15-24 years and 15-29 years with various ICT Skills (including digital literacy parameters) in rural as well as urban India are given at Annexure-II .

*******

Annexure-I

## State-wise/UT-wise  details  of  the  funds  allocated  in  the  first  and  second  phase  of BharatNet

|   S. No. | Name of State / UT                         |   Capex Total Phase-I (in Rslakh) |   Capex Total Phase-II (in Rslakh) |   TotalOpex (Phase-I &II) (inRslakh) |
|----------|--------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------|------------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
|        1 | AndhraPradesh                              |                          30056.5  |                           62079.8  |                              1974.59 |
|        2 | Andaman &Nicobar                           |                           1660.41 |                               0    |                                58.98 |
|        3 | Arunachal Pradesh                          |                           7497.23 |                            4637.24 |                              2714.63 |
|        4 | Assam                                      |                          16779.2  |                              15.82 |                              5069.51 |
|        5 | Bihar                                      |                          50605.6  |                           50187.1  |                             17423.1  |
|        6 | Chhattisgarh                               |                          56003.8  |                          187515    |                              8528.59 |
|        7 | Gujarat, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu |                          50422.6  |                          245826    |                             32929.7  |
|        8 | Haryana                                    |                          39016.6  |                               0    |                              9168.31 |
|        9 | HimachalPradesh                            |                           8505.04 |                            2915.46 |                               251.01 |
|       10 | Jammuand Kashmir                           |                           7711.27 |                            9574.82 |                              5770.22 |
|       11 | Jharkhand                                  |                          30181.7  |                           54360.5  |                              3339.2  |
|       12 | Karnataka                                  |                          65451.7  |                             588.55 |                             36055.8  |
|       13 | Kerala                                     |                           5970.61 |                               0    |                              9051.34 |
|       14 | Ladakh                                     |                              0    |                              68.91 |                                 0    |
|       15 | Lakshadweep                                |                             10.34 |                              11.39 |                                 0    |
|       16 | MadhyaPradesh                              |                         172454    |                          158562    |                             32425.3  |
|       17 | Maharashtra                                |                         174675    |                          236597    |                             32229.5  |
|       18 | Manipur                                    |                           5211.52 |                            1379.02 |                               300.62 |
|       19 | Meghalaya                                  |                           8068.24 |                            1074.12 |                               728.77 |
|       20 | Mizoram                                    |                           6069.59 |                             522.37 |                               106.17 |
|       21 | Nagaland                                   |                           8923.09 |                              84.09 |                               209.36 |
|       22 | Odisha                                     |                          54146.8  |                           52930.4  |                              9182.41 |
|       23 | Puducherry                                 |                            520.48 |                               0    |                               176.13 |
|       24 | Punjab& Chandigarh                         |                          38577.6  |                           58764.9  |                             14265.4  |
|       25 | Rajasthan                                  |                          94105.3  |                            6867.08 |                             43887.4  |
|       26 | Sikkim                                     |                           1520.95 |                           10193.8  |                                23.21 |
|       27 | TamilNadu                                  |                           1080.55 |                           30292.2  |                                 1.04 |
|       28 | Telangana                                  |                          23042.8  |                          145384    |                              3421.11 |
|       29 | Tripura                                    |                           7321.91 |                             288.82 |                              1056.24 |
|       30 | UttarPradesh                               |                         172595    |                          239176    |                             30263    |
|       31 | Uttarakhand                                |                          26371.1  |                             617.32 |                              3379.89 |
|       32 | WestBengal                                 |                          40435.4  |                             226.59 |                             10492.5  |

Note: Goa had its own similar broadband network and thus not taken up under Ph-I & PhaseII of BharatNet Project. Delhi has no GPs and thus not taken up under BharatNet Project.

Source : Annexure referred  to  in  Part  (d)  of  the  Lok  Sabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  3595 answered by DoT on 22.03.2023

******

| Percentage of persons of age 15-24years and 15-29 years with ICT skills all- In   | Percentage of persons of age 15-24years and 15-29 years with ICT skills all- In   | Percentage of persons of age 15-24years and 15-29 years with ICT skills all- In   | Percentage of persons of age 15-24years and 15-29 years with ICT skills all- In   | Percentage of persons of age 15-24years and 15-29 years with ICT skills all- In   | Percentage of persons of age 15-24years and 15-29 years with ICT skills all- In   | Percentage of persons of age 15-24years and 15-29 years with ICT skills all- In   | Percentage of persons of age 15-24years and 15-29 years with ICT skills all- In   |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Personsableto                                                                     | Personsableto                                                                     | 15-24 years                                                                       | 15-24 years                                                                       | 15-24 years                                                                       | a 15-29 years                                                                     | a 15-29 years                                                                     | a 15-29 years                                                                     |
|                                                                                   |                                                                                   | Rural                                                                             | Urban                                                                             | All                                                                               | Rural                                                                             | Urba                                                                              | All                                                                               |
| (a) Copy or move a file or folder                                                 | Male                                                                              | 41.9                                                                              | 66.7                                                                              | 48.9                                                                              | 41.0                                                                              | n 65.8                                                                            | 48.3                                                                              |
| (a) Copy or move a file or folder                                                 | Femal e                                                                           | 28.4                                                                              | 59.0                                                                              | 36.7                                                                              | 26.1                                                                              | 55.9                                                                              | 34.6                                                                              |
| (a) Copy or move a file or folder                                                 | Person                                                                            | 35.4                                                                              | 63.1                                                                              | 43.1                                                                              | 33.8                                                                              | 61.1                                                                              | 41.7                                                                              |
| (b) Use copy and paste tools to duplicate or move information within              | Male                                                                              | 39.0                                                                              | 64.7                                                                              | 46.3                                                                              | 38.2                                                                              | 63.8                                                                              | 45.7                                                                              |
| (b) Use copy and paste tools to duplicate or move information within              | Femal e                                                                           | 26.2                                                                              | 57.1                                                                              | 34.6                                                                              | 24.1                                                                              | 54.1                                                                              | 32.7                                                                              |
| a document                                                                        | Person                                                                            | 32.9                                                                              | 61.1                                                                              | 40.7                                                                              | 31.4                                                                              | 59.2                                                                              | 39.4                                                                              |
| (c)Send e-mails with attached files (e.g documents, pictures and videos)          | Male                                                                              | 24.2                                                                              | 49.1                                                                              | 31.3                                                                              | 23.7                                                                              | 48.8                                                                              | 31.1                                                                              |
| (c)Send e-mails with attached files (e.g documents, pictures and videos)          | Femal e                                                                           | 15.9                                                                              | 43.3                                                                              | 23.3                                                                              | 14.4                                                                              | 41.3                                                                              | 22.1                                                                              |
| (c)Send e-mails with attached files (e.g documents, pictures and videos)          | Person                                                                            | 20.2                                                                              | 46.4                                                                              | 27.5                                                                              | 19.2                                                                              | 45.2                                                                              | 26.7                                                                              |
| (d) Use basic arithmetic formulae in a spreadsheet                                | Male                                                                              | 6.6                                                                               | 21.2                                                                              | 10.8                                                                              | 6.9                                                                               | 22.2                                                                              | 11.4                                                                              |
| (d) Use basic arithmetic formulae in a spreadsheet                                | Femal e                                                                           | 4.9                                                                               | 18.6                                                                              | 8.7                                                                               | 4.5                                                                               | 18.2                                                                              | 8.4                                                                               |
| (d) Use basic arithmetic formulae in a spreadsheet                                | Person                                                                            | 5.8                                                                               | 20.0                                                                              | 9.8                                                                               | 5.7                                                                               | 20.3                                                                              | 10.0                                                                              |
| (e) Connect, install new devices                                                  | Male                                                                              | 9.7                                                                               | 26.4                                                                              | 14.4                                                                              | 10.2                                                                              | 27.6                                                                              | 15.3                                                                              |
| (e) Connect, install new devices                                                  | Femal e                                                                           | 6.0                                                                               | 21.4                                                                              | 10.2                                                                              | 5.5                                                                               | 20.9                                                                              | 9.9                                                                               |
| (e) Connect, install new devices                                                  | Person                                                                            | 7.9                                                                               | 24.1                                                                              | 12.4                                                                              | 7.9                                                                               | 24.5                                                                              | 12.7                                                                              |
| (f) Find, download, install, configure software                                   | Male                                                                              | 19.3                                                                              | 37.3                                                                              | 24.5                                                                              | 19.3                                                                              | 37.8                                                                              | 24.7                                                                              |
| (f) Find, download, install, configure software                                   | Femal e                                                                           | 12.6                                                                              | 30.8                                                                              | 17.5                                                                              | 11.5                                                                              | 29.8                                                                              | 16.8                                                                              |
| (f) Find, download, install, configure software                                   | Person                                                                            | 16.1                                                                              | 34.3                                                                              | 21.2                                                                              | 15.5                                                                              | 34.0                                                                              | 20.9                                                                              |
| (g) Create electronic presentation with presentation software                     | Male                                                                              | 5.7                                                                               | 18.2                                                                              | 9.3                                                                               | 5.9                                                                               | 19.1                                                                              | 9.8                                                                               |
| (g) Create electronic presentation with presentation software                     | Femal e                                                                           | 4.2                                                                               | 15.9                                                                              | 7.4                                                                               | 4.0                                                                               | 15.6                                                                              | 7.3                                                                               |
| (including text, Images, sound, video or charts)                                  | Person                                                                            | 5.0                                                                               | 17.2                                                                              | 8.4                                                                               | 5.0                                                                               | 17.5                                                                              | 8.6                                                                               |
| (h)Transfer files between                                                         | Male                                                                              | 17.2                                                                              | 39.4                                                                              | 23.5                                                                              | 17.1                                                                              | 39.3                                                                              | 23.6                                                                              |
| a computer and other devices                                                      | Femal e                                                                           | 10.9                                                                              | 32.4                                                                              | 16.8                                                                              | 10.0                                                                              | 30.8                                                                              | 15.9                                                                              |
| a computer and other devices                                                      | Person                                                                            | 14.2                                                                              | 36.1                                                                              | 20.3                                                                              | 13.7                                                                              | 35.3                                                                              | 19.9                                                                              |
| (i)Write a computer program using a                                               | Male                                                                              | 1.5                                                                               | 5.2                                                                               | 2.6                                                                               | 1.7                                                                               | 6.1                                                                               | 3.0                                                                               |
| specialized programming language                                                  |                                                                                   |                                                                                   |                                                                                   |                                                                                   |                                                                                   |                                                                                   |                                                                                   |
| specialized programming language                                                  | Femal e                                                                           | 0.9                                                                               | 3.9                                                                               | 1.7                                                                               | 0.9                                                                               | 4.3                                                                               | 1.8                                                                               |
|                                                                                   | Person                                                                            | 1.2                                                                               | 4.6                                                                               | 2.2                                                                               | 1.3                                                                               | 5.2                                                                               | 2.4                                                                               |