Lok Sabha Question No. 1755 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-10
Subject: Digital Skill Initiative
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Vishnu Datt Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1755

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 10.12.2025

## DIGITAL SKILL INITIATIVE

## 1755.  SHRI VISHNU DATT SHARMA:

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

- (a)  whether  Digital  India/BharatNet  and MeitY digital-skilling initiatives are being implemented to expand digital access and employability;
- (b) if so, whether BharatNet fibre, last-mile Wi-Fi and digital literacy programmes are operational in the districts of Katni, Panna and town of Khajuraho in the Khajuraho Lok Sabha constituency and the number of persons trained;
- (c) if so, the details of measures enabling farmers, women and MSMEs to access digital payments, emarkets and online services;
- (d) if digital inclusion remains low, the barriers identified and steps planned for the same; and
- (e) the strategy to link MeitY skilling and entrepreneurship support with local job creation and microenterprise opportunities in the said districts?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a) to (e): Digital India programme was launched by Government of India in line with Hon'ble Prime Minister's  vision  to  democratize  technology  and  empower  citizens.  The  goal  is  to  ensure  that  digital technologies improve the life of every citizen, expand India's digital economy, and create investment and employment opportunities in India.

## BharatNet

Digital  India  has  contributed  to  the  rapid  expansion  of  internet  access  through  initiatives  such  as BharatNet. It aims to provide high-speed internet to rural and remote areas.

The internet penetration and usage across the country have grown substantially in last 10 years. As of October  2025,  2,14,843  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs)  have  been  made  service-ready  under  BharatNet, including 17,850 GPs of Madhya Pradesh.

Khajuraho town is not covered under BharatNet, as BharatNet connectivity is provided only to Gram Panchayats/villages .

The summary of BharatNet service-ready GPs in the districts of Katni and Panna is as under.

| District   | Number of Service-ready GPs   |
|------------|-------------------------------|

| Katni   |   115 |
|---------|-------|
| Panna   |   387 |

## Expansion of digital skills and local employability

India's digital transformation includes connectivity as well as digital skilling, employability and entrepreneurship. Key initiatives include:

## FutureSkills PRIME Programme

- National platform for advanced technology skilling with 15.5 lakh+ learners enrolled, including ~41% women
- Enables employability in emerging tech domains (AI, cloud, cybersecurity, etc.).

## NIELIT Digital Literacy & Job-linked Training

- 9000+ NIELIT centres nationwide, including 14 centres in Katni and Panna
- More than 43 lakh candidates have been trained
- Established virtual labs in semiconductor design, cybersecurity, forensics, Industry 4.0, etc., and provides credit transfer under the Academic Bank of Credits

## PMGDISHA (Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan)

- One of the world's largest digital literacy initiatives
- Targeted one person from every rural household for basic digital literacy
- Over 6.39 crore persons trained nationwide (against the target of 6 cr)

## IndiaAI FutureSkills

The aim is to develop AI skilled professionals  in  India  by  increasing  the  number  of  graduates,  postgraduate and PhDs in AI domain.

- Fellowship target of 500 PhD fellows, 5,000 postgraduates and 8,000 undergraduates.
- 27 IndiaAI Data and AI Labs established in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, in collaboration with NIELIT
- Foundation-level courses provided on AI, data and related fields such as Data Annotation, Data Curation, Data Cleaning, Data Science, etc.
- 174 ITIs  and  Polytechnics  across  27  States/UTs  have  been  approved  for  setting  up  additional IndiaAI Data and AI Labs

## Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI)

It  provides  broadband  services  through  Public  Wi-Fi  networks  across  the  country.  The  PM-WANI framework enables local entrepreneurs to set up public Wi-Fi hotspots with minimal license requirements.

| District   |   PM-WANI Hotspots* |
|------------|---------------------|
| Katni      |                  76 |
| Panna      |                  40 |

## Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)

It  is  a  central  sector  scheme  for  generating  employment  opportunities  primarily  in  rural  areas.  The prospective entrepreneurs are assisted in setting up new micro enterprises in the non-farm sector

Further,  under  the  scheme  Entrepreneurship  Development  Programme  (EDP)  training  is  provided  to beneficiaries through online and offline mode free of cost thus enabling digital inclusion and skilling.

Under Digital India Programme, there are several initiatives which enable farmers, women, youth and MSMEs  to  access  digital  payments,  e-markets,  and  online  services;  details  of  which  are  placed  at Annexure-I.

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Annexure-I

Major Initiatives under Digital India Programme enabling citizens to access digital payments, emarkets and online services:

- The JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) is a transformative initiative by the Government of India designed to foster financial inclusion, improve governance, and ensure efficient delivery of welfare benefits and public services
- Unified  Payments  Interface  (UPI): UPI  has  revolutionized  digital  transactions  across  the country. UPI has empowered millions of individuals and small businesses in rural and remote areas to make fast, secure and low-cost digital payments, significantly advancing financial inclusion. UPI is now live in over seven countries, including the UAE, Singapore, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, France, Mauritius, making India a global trailblazer in digital payments.
-   UPI serves more than 49 crore individuals, 6.5 crore merchants, and connects 683 banks on one platform, making it the world's largest digital payment system.
- UPI powers 85% of India's digital payments and nearly 50% of global real -time digital payments.
- Aadhaar: Aadhaar is the world's largest digital identity programme that provides biometric and demographic-based unique digital identity.  As of September, 2025,143+ crore Aadhaar IDs have been generated against 126+ crore in April 2022.
- The number of authentication transactions has risen from 2,291.97 crore in FY 2022 -23 to 2,707 crore  in  FY  2024 -25,  with  1,768  crore  transactions  a  in  FY  2025 -26  (for  the  period  April  to November 2025).
- DigiLocker: DigiLocker has provided anytime access to authentic digital documents from original issuer for the common citizen. More than 61.29 crore users are registered with DigiLocker to avail its  services  and  more  than  835+  crore  documents  issued  from  2261  issuers  onboarded  on  the platform.
- This number has grown from approximately 507 crore issued documents and 10.65 crore users in April 2022.
- Government e-Marketplace (GeM): GeM enables online procurement of common use Goods & Services required by various Government Departments / Organisations / PSUs. It has over 1.67 lakh government buyers and 23 lakh+ sellers and service providers.
- Common  Services  Centres -Common  Services  Centres  (CSCs)  have  been  set  up  as  an entrepreneurship-based and self-sustainable model, implemented by CSC e-Governance Services India Limited.

The CSC 2.0 project aims to deliver e-services to rural citizens and expand the CSC network to the  Gram  Panchayat  level,  offering  more  than  800  services  including  Government,  financial, Aadhaar, education, telemedicine, travel and utility services.

The project is implemented pan-India, including the State of Madhya Pradesh. As on September 2025, 5.69 lakh CSCs are functional nationwide, of which 4.43 lakh are at the Gram Panchayat level.

- Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT): DBT uses Aadhaar to deliver welfare payments directly and remove fake beneficiaries. By  October  2025,  ₹  47+  lakh  crore  has  been  transferred  through  DBT.  Majority  of  the
- disbursement of Governments' welfare schemes is being carried out through DBT.
- National Scholarship Portal (NSP): The platform enables scheme owning Ministries/Departments and States/UTs to process applications and disburse Scholarships/funds directly into the beneficiary's bank account through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.
- So far, 153 schemes belonging to 13 Ministries/Departments and 21 States/UTs are onboarded on
- NSP.
- e-Transport: eTransport Mission Mode Project is transforming India's transport sector through a centralized, nationwide digital platform with key applications such as VAHAN, Sarathi, and eChallan.
- e-Sanjeevani -e-Sanjeevani facilitates quick and easy access to doctors and medical specialists directly from your smartphone. The platform has served more than 43.22 crore patients across 1,36,525 Health & Wellness Centres functioning as spokes, supported by over 2,30,089 doctors, specialists, super-specialists, and health workers delivering telemedicine services.
- MyGov: MyGov is a Government of India's Citizen Engagement Platform which collaborates with multiple Government bodies/ Ministries to engage people in policy formulation and seeks the opinion of people on issues/ topics of public interest and welfare.
- Presently, over 6.02+ crore citizens are registered with MyGov, participating in various activities
- hosted on MyGov platform against 2.33+ crore users in April 2022.
- Jeevan Pramaan: Jeevan Pramaan is an Aadhaar biometric-enabled digital service that allows Central, State, and other Government pensioners to conveniently submit Digital Life Certificates (DLCs) from anywhere in India, including their homes, using Aadhaar-based authentication. Over 11.69 crore Digital Life certificates have been processed since 2014.
- The  annual  e-transactions  reported  at eTAAL (electronic  transaction  aggregation  and  analysis layer) have increased from 264 crore in FY 2013-14 to 34,972 crore in FY 2024-25, showcasing India's rapid digital transformation.
- Promotion of Electronics & IT Hardware manufacturing: Key projects under this sub-scheme include Semicon India Programme, Production linked incentives (PLI) for large scale electronics manufacturing,  Production  linked  incentives  (PLI)  for  IT  hardware,  Electronic  Component Manufacturing  Scheme  (ECMS),  Electronics  Manufacturing  Clusters  (EMC  and  EMC  2.0) Scheme and Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS).
- As a result of these policy efforts, electronics manufacturing has grown manifold from Rs 1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 11.3 lakh crore in 2024-25 at a CAGR of 19.5% and our electronics exports have grown from Rs 38,000 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 3.26 lakh crore in 2024-25 at a CAGR of around 24%.
- National Knowledge Network (NKN): NKN carries the digital-traffic  of  National/state  Data Centers (NDCs/SDCs), State-Wide Area Networks (SWANs) and provides connectivity to various

Digital India initiatives, and carry digital-traffic of various G2G (Government to Government) and G2C (Government to Citizen) services, District Connectivity, etc.

NKN also inter-connects all knowledge institutions across the country through high-speed data communication network to encourage sharing of resources and collaborative research.

Currently, 1,822 links to Institutions have been commissioned and made operational under NKN and 681 NKN links have been connected to NIC District Centres across India. This facilitates the Digital Governance data-traffic to ride over NKN.

- Promotion  of  IT  &  ITeS  Industries: Government  launched  India  BPO  Promotion  Scheme (IBPS) and North East BPO Promotion Schemes under Digital India Program with the aim to create  employment opportunities and dispersal of IT/ITeS industry in small cities/ towns.  The scheme has been concluded.
- Under SAMRIDH (Startup Accelerators of MeitY for Product Innovation, Development and Growth) Programme, (over the last three years) 42 accelerators have been engaged across India. Since inception, the programme has accelerated 373 startups and provided financial support to 201 startups.
- Unified Mobile App for New-Age Governance (UMANG) app :   UMANG provides a single platform for all Indian Citizens to access pan-India e-Gov services ranging from Central to Local Government bodies and other citizen centric services.
- UMANG now provides access to 2,363 services offered by 240 Central and State Government
- departments, serving a growing user base of 9.60 crore registered citizens.

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