Lok Sabha Question No. 2287 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-02
Subject: Impact Assessments of PMGDISHA
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Rajashree Mallick

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2287

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 02.08.2023

## IMPACT ASSESSMENTS OF PMGDISHA

## 2287.   SHRIMATI RAJASHREE MALLICK:

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

- (a) the details of rural households that have been covered under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) out of the six crore rural households in the country, State/UT-wise;
- (b) whether marginalised sections of the society including Scheduled Castes (SCs)/Scheduled  Tribes  (STs),  women,  differently  abled  persons,  etc.  have  been enrolled and certified, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Standing Committee on Information Technology emphasised the need to scale up and also conduct quality impact assessments of PMGDISHA and other digital literacy programmes; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the action taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

(a): India over the last 9 years has become a pre-eminent nation in deploying technologies for the benefit and transforming the lives of its citizens. Keeping this in view, the Government is focusing on providing digital literacy to citizens across the country, especially in rural areas. In line with this, the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) was launched  in February 2017 to usher in digital literacy in rural India with a  target to cover 6 crore rural households (one person per household) across the country. So far, a total of more than 7.04 crore candidates have been enrolled and 6.07 crore have been trained, out of which 4.52 crore candidates have been certified under the PMGDISHA Scheme across the country. The State/UT-wise status of the scheme is given at Annexure .

- (b): This Scheme is especially relevant to digitally empowering the marginalized sections of the  society  viz.  Scheduled  Castes  (SCs),  Scheduled  Tribes  (STs),  Women  and  differentlyabled. The details are given as under:

| Category               | Registered   | Trained     | Certified   |
|------------------------|--------------|-------------|-------------|
| Scheduled Castes (SCs) | 1,30,84,244  | 1,13,83,542 | 86,67,831   |
| Scheduled Tribes(STs)  | 62,81,446    | 53,50,235   | 38,66,541   |
| Women                  | 3,83,44,273  | 3,36,72,764 | 2,59,54,289 |
| Differently-abled      | 12,22,646    | 10,60,288   | 7,59,707    |

(c)  and  (d):  In  line  with  the  recommendations  of  the  Standing  Committee  on  Information Technology, the training under the PMGDISHA scheme was scaled up and as on date, a total of 7.04 crore candidates have been enrolled under the PMGDISHA Scheme, out of this, 6.07 crore candidates have been trained and 4.52 crore candidates have been duly certified.

So far,  three  impact  assessment  studies  of  the  Scheme  have  been  carried  out.  First  impact assessment study was carried out by Council for Social Development (CSD) in 2017-18. The second  impact  assessment  study  was  conducted  by  Indian  Institute  of  Technology  (IIT)  Delhi in the year 2019. The last impact assessment study of the scheme was carried out by Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) in FY 2020-21. The aim of the study was to analyse the ground level situation of the scheme, with a larger aspect of continuation of the scheme  beyond  the  12 th plan  period.  IIPA,  after  the  comprehensive  and  methodological evaluation  of  scheme,  concluded  in  the  report  that  PMGDISHA  as  a  digital  literacy programme plays an indispensable part in not only bridging the digital gap in the country but also  transforming  it  into  a  knowledge  economy  and  society.  IIPA  recommended  the continuation of PMGDISHA Scheme.

*******

Annexure State/UT wise status under PMGDISHA scheme

| S. No   | States/UTs                         | Registered   | Trained     | Certified   |
|---------|------------------------------------|--------------|-------------|-------------|
| 1       | Andaman and Nicobar Islands        | 5,193        | 2,658       | 1,639       |
| 2       | Andhra Pradesh                     | 20,82,241    | 17,01,761   | 12,17,620   |
| 3       | Arunachal Pradesh                  | 8,463        | 5,851       | 3,907       |
| 4       | Assam                              | 27,06,509    | 23,47,178   | 18,64,992   |
| 5       | Bihar                              | 78,41,198    | 70,00,071   | 51,31,516   |
| 6       | Chandigarh*                        | -            | -           | -           |
| 7       | Chhattisgarh                       | 25,61,463    | 22,10,516   | 16,79,240   |
| 8       | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu | 14,990       | 12,025      | 8,708       |
| 9       | Delhi*                             | -            | -           | -           |
| 10      | Goa                                | 58,569       | 53,784      | 40,000      |
| 11      | Gujarat                            | 29,00,076    | 25,48,303   | 18,79,228   |
| 12      | Haryana                            | 18,91,943    | 16,09,714   | 12,09,212   |
| 13      | Himachal Pradesh                   | 5,58,917     | 4,34,904    | 3,21,253    |
| 14      | Jammu &Kashmir                     | 7,89,573     | 6,28,414    | 4,55,180    |
| 15      | Jharkhand                          | 26,63,483    | 22,03,061   | 16,24,796   |
| 16      | Karnataka                          | 18,76,738    | 13,77,049   | 9,51,013    |
| 17      | Kerala                             | 90,645       | 44,210      | 32,451      |
| 18      | Lakshadweep                        | 140          | 35          | 0           |
| 19      | Madhya Pradesh                     | 57,27,927    | 51,00,896   | 37,84,166   |
| 20      | Maharashtra                        | 58,67,576    | 50,58,777   | 36,53,603   |
| 21      | Manipur                            | 26,615       | 17,063      | 11,067      |
| 22      | Meghalaya                          | 1,48,847     | 1,03,216    | 69,322      |
| 23      | Mizoram                            | 28,608       | 21,436      | 13,337      |
| 24      | Nagaland                           | 9,149        | 6,097       | 4,196       |
| 25      | Odisha                             | 35,31,957    | 29,92,895   | 22,67,531   |
| 26      | Puducherry                         | 21,813       | 15,750      | 10,982      |
| 27      | Punjab                             | 17,37,888    | 15,07,588   | 11,60,617   |
| 28      | Rajasthan                          | 41,81,420    | 36,34,744   | 26,63,643   |
| 29      | Sikkim                             | 25,784       | 22,159      | 16,231      |
| 30      | Tamil Nadu                         | 15,84,515    | 12,85,410   | 9,51,791    |
| 31      | Telangana                          | 12,69,125    | 10,29,072   | 7,14,447    |
| 32      | Tripura                            | 3,16,201     | 2,45,479    | 1,95,000    |
| 33      | Uttarakhand                        | 7,88,200     | 6,75,131    | 5,06,000    |
| 34      | Uttar Pradesh                      | 1,64,46,000  | 1,46,49,215 | 1,10,95,275 |
| 35      | West Bengal                        | 26,62,971    | 22,26,749   | 17,38,026   |
| 36      | Ladakh                             | 24,785       | 22,082      | 17,357      |
| Total   | Total                              | 7,04,49,522  | 6,07,93,293 | 4,52,93,346 |

*******