BharatNet project progress less than satisfactory: NITI Aayog -Governance Now

BharatNet project progress less than satisfactory: NITI Aayog

By December 2018, all 2.5 lakh panchayats are to be provided fiber optic connectivity

GN Bureau | May 2, 2017

#high speed internet #ISPs #gram panchayat #fiber optic connectivity #BharatNet project #Niti Aayog

Taking note of the slow progress in the execution of the plan to provide high speed internet connectivity to all village panchayats, government think tank NITI Aayog has urged the department of telecommunications to “rapidly complete” the BharatNet project.

It made these observations in draft ‘Three Year Action Agenda’.

Under BharatNet, the government had to provide 100 Mbps connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats (GPs) using optical fibre network. Under phase one, ending March 31, 2017, 2.2 lakh km underground optical fiber was to be laid down to connect one lakh GPs.

“But as of March 5, 2017, only 1.76 lakh km of fibre had been laid down with 77.8K GPs connected,” the draft report said.

In the second phase that is to be completed by December 2018, the report said, all 2.56 lakh GPs are to be provided fiber optic connectivity. “During this phase underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite are to be optimally mixed. In this phase, use will also be made of the electric pole network, on which electronic power lines are mounted,” the Aayog recommended.

It noted that the access to the internet to be made available under BharatNet is a pre-requisite for enhancing other aspects of digital connectivity. “For example, two of the pillars of the DI campaign – e-Kranti and ‘Information for All’ – require GPs to access the internet. In this respect, the current progress of BharatNet is less than satisfactory,” the report said. To speed up bringing the fibre to GPs, the option to carry the cable on electric poles should be more aggressively pursued, the report said.

“It is also important to plan for last mile connectivity. For this purpose, we must urgently provide policy support to ISPs such as Right of Way (RoW) permission and permission to promote access at select locations. We should explore commercial models to deploy Wi-Fi services. For example, we could facilitate arrangements between different ISPs to share infrastructure or transfer assets at the end of the contract period…. Our goal should be to bring 15Kbps connections to at least 30 percent of the rural household by December 2019,” the report said.

Comments

Other News

Modi inaugurates, lays foundation stone of Pune Metro projects

Prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for Pune Metro projects worth around ₹21,800 crore on Tuesday through video conferencing. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the PM extended warm Diwali greetings to the people of Pune and Maharashtra and remarked that f

Wired for good: Building sustainable cities with AI

The First Industrial Revolution in the 18th-19th centuries ushered in a paradigm shift in how cities were imagined. Fueled by railways, factories and grids, and obsessed with speed and scale, it was an ode to efficiency, which spurred unprecedented economic growth. Now, as the Fourth Industrial Revolutio

How social media is reshaping elections

Since Brazil’s return to direct presidential elections in 1985, no candidate who finished second in the first round of polling had ever won the presidency. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, now 81, has just done it. What explains the comeback, and what changed in Brazilian politics to make it possi

Cabinet approves Dearness Allowance, Dearness Relief

The union cabinet chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from 01.07.2026 representing an increase of 3% over the existing rates of 6

Cyclone Arnab strikes Andhra as warming oceans amplify storm risks

Cyclone Arnab made landfall along the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts in the early hours of Wednesday as a very severe cyclonic storm, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 125–135 kmph and gusts reaching 150 kmph. Its rapid intensification has raised concerns about how warmer oceans, global warmin

Counting matters but which ones?

The first instinct of public policy is to count. Its harder task is to count what counts. We have become remarkably good at measuring the reach of the welfare state vis-à-vis beneficiaries covered, rupees transferred, houses built, connections installed and services delivered. But some of the most