Lok Sabha Question No. 3818 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-08-12
Subject: Digital Divide
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: RAVINDRA KUMAR RAY, VIRENDRA  KUMAR

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)

### LOK SABHA

### UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3818

##### TO BE ANSWERED ON: 12.08.2015

### 

### DIGITAL DIVIDE

**3818.    DR. RAVINDRA KUMAR RAY:**

**DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR:**

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

1. whether the Government has launched any programme to bridge the digital divide between the poor of urban and rural areas of the country;
2. if so, the details thereof;
3. whether any efforts are being made by the Government for providing computers to the people in an easy manner; and
4. if so, the details thereof ?
##### ANSWER
MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a) and (b):  Yes, Sir. The Government of India is implementing the “Digital India” programme with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy. The plans and schemes to take Digital India vision pertain to the whole country with aim of bridging the ‘digital divide’. A write up of Digital India programme is annexed. The following schemes in this regard are specially targeted to create access and connectivity in rural areas to enable people in these areas to participate in the Digital India programme.**Common Services Centres (CSCs):** The Government of India is implementing CSCs scheme to develop and provide support to the use of information technology in rural areas of the country. The CSCs are Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled kiosks with broadband connectivity to provide various Governments, private and social services at the doorstep of the citizen. As on date 1,41,606 CSCs have been made operational in 36 States/UTs.**National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN):** The Government has proposed to provide broadband connectivity to 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats under NOFN (renamed now as BharatNet) project. Optical Fibre for broadband connectivity has reached to 22,180 Gram Panchayats till date.**Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan:** The mobile connectivity is to be provided to 55,669 uncovered villages. Under Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan, 8621 uncovered villages in North Eastern region have been included.**Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (National Digital Literacy Mission):** Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) is implementing National Digital Literacy Mission for IT Mass Literacy which aims to train 10 lakh persons and Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA) which aims to make 42.5 lakh persons digitally literate in selected households throughout the country over a period of 4 years.
(c) and (d):   DeitY is implementing the Common Services Centres (CSCs) scheme to provide easy access to computers in rural areas of the country.
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**Annexure**
**Digital  Programme**
Government of India has approved the ‘Digital India’ programme with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. Digital  is an umbrella programme that covers multiple Government Ministries and Departments. It weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them can be implemented as part of a larger goal. Each individual element stands on its own, but is also part of the entire Government. Digital  is implemented by the entire Government and being coordinated by the Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY).
The vision of Digital  is centred on three key areas, viz.
    1. Infrastructure as a Utility to Every Citizen  (ii)  Governance and Services on Demand and  (iii)  Digital Empowerment of Citizens.
Digital  aims to provide the much needed thrust to following nine pillars of growth areas:
**Pillar 1: Broadband Highways**
(a) Broadband for all Rural (b) Broadband for all Urban  (c) National Information Infrastructure (NII)
**Pillar 2: Universal Access to  Connectivity**
**Pillar 3: Public Internet Access Programme**
(a) Common Services Centres(CSCs)- made viable, multi functional end-points for service delivery (b) Post Offices to become Multi-service Centres
**Pillar 4: e-Governance – Reforming Government through Technology**
(a) Government Business Process Re-engineering using IT to improve transactions
(i)    Form simplification, reduction  (ii)   Online applications and tracking, Interface between Departments   (iii)  Use of online repositories e.g. school certificates, voter ID cards, etc.   (iv) Integration of services and platforms – Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Payment Gateway, Mobile Platform,  Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
(b) Electronic Databases – all databases and information to be electronic, not manual
(c) Workflow automation inside Government  (d) Public Grievance Redressal – using IT to automate, respond, analyze data to identify and resolve persistent problems - largely process improvements.
**Pillar 5: e-Kranti (National e-Governance Plan 2.0) – Electronic delivery of services**
(a) Technology for Education – e-Education:  (i)   All Schools connected with broadband   (ii)  Free wifi in all schools (250,000)  (iii) Digital Literacy program  (iv) Develop pilot Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs)
(b) Technology for Health –e-Healthcare:  (i)  Online medical consultation  (ii)  Online medical records  (iii) Online medicine supply  (iv)  Pan-India exchange for patient information
(c) Technology for Planning:  (i)  Geographic Information System (GIS) based decision making   (ii) National GIS Mission Mode Project
(d) Technology for Farmers:  (i) Real time price information (ii) Online ordering of inputs (iii) Online cash, loan, relief payment with mobile banking
(e) Technology for Security:  Emergency Services
(f) Technology for Financial Inclusion:  (i)   Mobile Banking  (ii)  Micro-ATM program  (iii) CSCs/Post Offices
(g) Technology for Justice: e-Courts, e-Police, e-Jails, e-Prosecution
(h) Technology for Security:
**Pillar 6: Information for All**
(a) Online Hosting of Information & documents:  (i)  Citizens have open, easy access to information  (ii) Open data platform
(b) Government pro-actively engages through social media and web based platforms to inform citizens:  (i)   MyGov.in  (ii)  2-way communication between citizens and government
(c)  Online messaging to citizens on special occasions/programs
**Pillar 7: Electronics Manufacturing – Target NET ZERO Imports**
(a)  Target NET ZERO Imports is a striking demonstration of intent
(b)  Ambitious goal which requires coordinated action on many fronts:  (i)   Taxation, Incentives  (ii)  Economies of Scale, Eliminate cost disadvantages  (iii) Focused areas – Big Ticket Items : FABS, Fab-less design, Set top boxes, VSATs, Mobiles, Consumer & Medical Electronics, Smart Energy meters, Smart Cards, micro-ATMs   (iv)  Incubators, clusters  (v)   Skill development  (vi)  Government procurement
**Pillar 8: IT for Jobs**
(a)  Train people in smaller towns & villages for IT sector jobs  (b) IT/ITES in North East  (c)  Train Service Delivery Agents to run viable businesses delivering IT services  (d)  Telecom service providers to train rural workforce to cater to their own needs
**Pillar 9: Early Harvest Programmes**
(a)  IT platform for messages  (b)  Government Greetings to be e-Greetings  (c)  Biometric attendance  (d)  Wi-fi in All Universities  (e)  Secure email within government  (f)  Standardize government email design  (g)  Public wifi hotspots  (h)  School Books to be eBooks (i)   SMS based weather information, disaster alerts   (j)   National Portal for Lost & Found children
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