Lok Sabha Question No. 3311 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-09
Subject: PMGDISHA
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Midhun Reddy, Arvind Dharmapuri

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3311

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 09.08.2023

## PMGDISHA

## 3311.   SHRI P.V. MIDHUN REDDY: SHRI ARVIND DHARMAPURI:

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

- (a) whether it is a fact that  under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan since  2017,  only  9.36  lakh  students  have  registered  and  9.32  lakh  students  have completed their training in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the number of students trained and the steps being taken  to  raise  further  awareness  about  PMGDISHA  and  increase  the  number  of registered and trained students, State/UT-wise;
- (c) whether it is a fact that out of 9.36 lakh students, only 5.53 lakh students have actually been certified in the State;
- (d) if so, the reasons for the same and the steps being taken by the Government to redress this issue;
- (e) the manner in which the Government is redressing the problems in the scheme;
- (f) whether  the  Government  has  undertaken  any  study  on  the  on-ground  functioning  of PMGDISHA, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (g) the details of the total number of people certified under the scheme as digitally literate, since its inception; and
- (h) the details of the total number of certifications and enrolments under the PMGDISHA scheme, District-wise especially in Nizamabad?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (e) and (g):  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 the 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 6.08 crore candidates have been trained, out of which 4.53 crore candidates have been certified under the PMGDISHA Scheme across the country. The State/UT wise status is at Annexure I .

In the state of Andhra Pradesh, so far, more than 20.85 Lakh candidates have been enrolled and 17.09 Lakh candidates have been trained. Out of these, around 12.20 Lakh candidates have been duly certified.  Further,  in  the  state  of  Telangana,  so  far,  more  than  12.72  Lakh candidates have been enrolled and 10.36 Lakh candidates have been trained. Out of these, around 7.19 Lakh candidates have been duly certified.

The various steps taken to raise the awareness about PMGDISHA and to increase the number of registered and trained students including the State of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are as below:

- i. Scaling  up  the awareness  and  promotional  activities  towards  Digital  literacy through campaigns, workshops, seminars, digital vans, etc.
- ii. Some rural schools have been engaged for training and examination of candidates in order to cover the rural populous districts.
- iii. Various  mechanisms  have  been  adopted  to  disseminate  information  regarding  the scheme to the intended beneficiaries such as word of mouth publicity, online, print & electronic media including posters, banners, radio, newspaper, television, social media etc.
- iv. The training content is made available on both online and offline mode.
5. (f): The  PMGDISHA scheme has been assessed by  three agencies till  date  namely  IIT Delhi, Council for Social Development (CSD) and Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA). The last Impact Assessment study of the PMGDISHA scheme has been conducted by the  Indian  Institute  of  Public  Administration  (IIPA).  The  findings  of  the  IIPA  impact evaluation report of the PMGDISHA Scheme are at Annexure-II .
6. (h):  Under the PMGDISHA Scheme, in Nizamabad district of Telangana, so far, a total of 33,987 candidates have been enrolled and 14,095 candidates have been certified. The district wise status may be seen athttps://www.pmgdisha.in/students-count-list/.

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## State/UT wise status of the PMGDISHAScheme

| S. No.   | State/UT                           | Registered   | Trained     | Certified   |
|----------|------------------------------------|--------------|-------------|-------------|
| 1        | Andaman And Nicobar Islands        | 5,239        | 2,678       | 1,659       |
| 2        | Andhra Pradesh                     | 20,91,197    | 17,12,425   | 12,23,024   |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh                  | 8,471        | 5,856       | 3,908       |
| 4        | Assam                              | 27,07,602    | 23,47,991   | 18,65,471   |
| 5        | Bihar                              | 78,54,384    | 70,19,986   | 51,48,492   |
| 6        | Chhattisgarh                       | 25,04,227    | 21,55,181   | 16,29,755   |
| 7        | Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu | 15,734       | 12,374      | 8,974       |
| 8        | Goa                                | 58,569       | 53,784      | 40,000      |
| 9        | Gujarat                            | 29,03,805    | 25,54,363   | 18,83,647   |
| 10       | Haryana                            | 18,70,129    | 15,89,082   | 11,91,000   |
| 11       | Himachal Pradesh                   | 5,61,694     | 4,36,559    | 3,22,191    |
| 12       | Jammu and Kashmir                  | 7,93,086     | 6,31,090    | 4,57,982    |
| 13       | Jharkhand                          | 26,63,483    | 22,03,542   | 16,25,477   |
| 14       | Karnataka                          | 18,92,972    | 13,95,262   | 9,63,279    |
| 15       | Kerala                             | 91,798       | 44,634      | 32,829      |
| 16       | Lakshadweep                        | 142          | 35          | 0           |
| 17       | Madhya Pradesh                     | 57,27,927    | 51,00,915   | 37,84,166   |
| 18       | Maharashtra                        | 58,83,985    | 50,68,867   | 36,61,594   |
| 19       | Manipur                            | 26,615       | 17,063      | 11,067      |
| 20       | Meghalaya                          | 1,48,977     | 1,03,279    | 69,360      |
| 21       | Mizoram                            | 28,648       | 21,479      | 13,339      |
| 22       | Nagaland                           | 9,872        | 6,149       | 4,247       |
| 23       | Odisha                             | 35,34,929    | 29,99,545   | 22,73,614   |
| 24       | Puducherry                         | 22,002       | 15,861      | 11,068      |
| 25       | Punjab                             | 17,37,888    | 15,07,613   | 11,60,647   |
| 26       | Rajasthan                          | 41,93,428    | 36,52,200   | 26,74,858   |
| 27       | Sikkim                             | 25,842       | 22,166      | 16,233      |
| 28       | Tamil Nadu                         | 15,87,621    | 12,91,356   | 9,57,627    |
| 29       | Telangana                          | 12,75,226    | 10,37,527   | 7,19,891    |
| 30       | Tripura                            | 3,16,201     | 2,45,479    | 1,95,000    |
| 31       | Uttarakhand                        | 7,88,200     | 6,75,131    | 5,06,000    |
| 32       | Uttar Pradesh                      | 1,64,46,000  | 1,46,65,463 | 1,11,10,632 |
| 33       | West Bengal                        | 26,67,740    | 22,31,783   | 17,41,160   |
| 34       | Ladakh                             | 24,785       | 22,082      | 17,357      |
| Total    | Total                              | 7,04,68,418  | 6,08,48,800 | 4,53,25,548 |

*Chandigarh  and  Delhi  are  in  urban  agglomeration,  hence  not  covered  under  the scheme.

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## Annexure I

PMGDISHA Scheme : The findings of IIPA impact evaluation report are given below:

-  PMGDISHA is an unique scheme due to its mass scale and use of remotely proctored examination.
-  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 will 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.
-  Almost 50% respondents stated that PMGDISHA helped them get a better Job.
-  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 training has had a formidable impact on the use of ICT and other forms of digital media.
-  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.
-  COVID  19  has  put  an  unprecedented  situation  of  uncertainty  even  in  rural  India. Digital  initiatives  have  made  a  lot  of  things  function  even  in  the  time  of  complete lockdown.  Right  from  the  banking  systems,  e-governance  systems  and  PDS  were aided immensely because of the availability of online processes. People in the rural areas  have  continued  with  their  livelihood  with  the  help  of  digital  systems  helping procure their produce, doorstep financial services, information gathering among other thing using digital technologies. The need of programs like PMGDISHA has become a  necessity  in  times  of  such  paradigm  shifts  in  new  environments.  Understanding digital tools & ICT and using them effectively is the need of the hour and has proved as the saviour for the current crisis in supporting economic and social activities.

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