BharatNet Scheme launched by Government of India under the Digital India Programme being the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity project is aimed at making rural areas reap the benefits of high-speed digital connectivity by covering 2.5 lakh Panchayats and 6 lakh villages of the country under this scheme and, therefore, the village Panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir too had to be be made ”service ready” by 2021. However, it is learnt that only 1055 Panchayats have been brought under the scheme so far which has prompted the Union Communication Ministry conveying concern over poor implementation process. When schemes like the one are not implemented with the speed they deserve and by the timeframe suggested, how can the vision of transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy be fulfilled, is the moot question. Our rural areas can no longer afford to remain bereft of broadband connectivity as in modern era, it has become an inalienable ingredient of trade, commerce, knowledge and connectivity .
We feel that the process of covering rest of the Panchayats in Jammu and Kashmir which so far have not been brought under the BharatNet Scheme internet connectivity infrastructure must be expedited. In this connection , the satisfactory implementation process of the scheme in the UT Ladakh is worth emulating where out of 193, as many as 188 Panchayats have been covered which means nearly 98 percent of implementation. What is required is greater coordination between the service provider or the project executing agency and the concerned authorities in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir so that one hundred percent coverage of Panchayats under the flagship scheme takes place.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel