Introduction to Bharatnet scheme
Telecom Ministry of India runs BharatNet scheme. Under this scheme, ministry has planned to provide internet connectivity to all the villages of India. In a way, this scheme is a campaign to connect the villages of India with the Internet.
BharatNet scheme will give life to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India mission. Two and a half lakh villages already connected under this scheme. The work is still going on.
BharatNet is a multi-pronged scheme. There are many benefits of connecting the village to the Internet using BharatNet scheme. This will help in increasing employment, education, and medical e-commerce business in the village.
On 15 August 2020, the Prime Minister announced plans to connect all the villages of the country with the Internet within 1000 days. Bharatnet scheme announced immediately after that.
Stages of Bharatnet Scheme
So far, three phases have been fixed in this plan.
Phase I – The target of 100000 villages planned in the first phase. The last date for the first phase was December 2017. On 28 December 2017, the then Telecom Minister Shri Manoj Sinha ji spoke to media. As per him 101370 gram panchayats already connected to the internet. Also optical fiber cables laid in all these villages.
Phase II – It was targeted by March 2019. In this phase optical fiber internet was to be provided in all the villages. In this phase, attention was also paid to increase the participation of the state governments.
The use of radio, satellite media and electric poles was also recognized for Internet service. The target of March 2019 was set to complete the second phase. Government planned to cover Eight states in the second phase.
Phase III – The target of Phase III planned from 2019 to 2023. In this phase, a target is to connect all the blocks with the district.
Further in this article you will get to know more about Bharat Net.
Information about the completed work
On 28 December 1917, the then Telecom Minister Shri Manoj Sinha ji informed the media about the scheme. As per minister Sinha 101370 gram panchayats already connected with broadband connectivity. 2 lakh 54 thousand 895 km of optical fiber cables already laid. Optical fiber cable already installed in 1,09,926 gram panchayats.
Apart from this, on June 11, 2018, Railway Minister, Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Ravi Shankar Prasad launched schemes to strengthen CSC. Wi-Fi facility will be provided to 5000 village chaupals under CSC.
Apart from this, CSC will get railway ticket booking rights. For this, CSC has signed an MOU with IRCTC. All these works are being looked after under the Prime Minister’s Digital India Mission.
Preparations are on to promote CSC further. Will also act as Agent of CSC Bank in near future. Apart from this, CSCs will be established as a center for Insurance, Banking and Aadhar Card. In future CSCs planned to link with more facilities.
BharatNet Scheme – 2021
On June 30, 2021, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi made some improvements in the BharatNet scheme. He launched the 3P model. The 3P model means public-private-partnership. Now some private companies will also work with the government in this scheme.
Government will cover 16 indian states under BharatNet scheme. The government started this scheme by giving an advance contribution of Rs 19,041 crore.
In this phase, 3,61,000 villages will get benefit to this scheme. The total expenditure will be Rs 29,430 crore. In this the government has contributed 19041 crores. The rest of the expenses will be borne by the private companies.
As per Union Minister Government planned to spend ₹ 95000 crores in 30 years. But under the Public Private Partnership model, the government will save a lot in this.
Why is the government spending so much on planning in India?
Initially the Government of India is working closely with private companies on this scheme. According to the latest figures, Government spent Rs 61,109 crore so far.
The government is spending on this scheme for a specific purpose. By connecting the villages with modern technology, the government wants to connect them with modern India.
After the internet facility comes into the village, this will increase the education sector, medical e-commerce business. That is why the government is working closely with private companies on the BharatNet scheme.
Public Feedback of BharatNet Scheme
Certainly this plan has got very good feedback. People are feeling very good by connecting with modern technology. It is a multi-pronged plan. Surely It will have wide ranging consequences.
Due to this people are getting internet speed from 2 megabyte to 20 megabyte. This speed is justified to run any work smoothly.
CSCs have to strengthen so that the village gets the benefit of Digital India.
Stay connected with us for further information related to this scheme. From time to time we will keep publishing updates related to this scheme in this article.
