The Government plans to set up 5 lakh km long broadband network as part of its infotech infrastructure, Union Minister of State for IT and Communications Milind Deora said today.

"At the telecom level, we are trying to bring about a new revolution by laying 5 lakh km optic fibre (OFC) broadband network which will be used by various institutions to share information. This will also allow the government to reach out to rural areas. All these things will have a massive multiplier effect on employment generation and allow entrepreneurs to flourish," he said here.

He said such infrastructure must be built on the basis of demand, and maintained that bridging the digital divide must also bridge the social divide.

Addressing an e-learning governance security meet, Deora said 60 per cent of the population was still involved in agriculture, which contributes only to 17 per cent of the GDP.

"This is not sustainable and the rural masses need to be taken from farms to factory shop-floors."

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked us to train, by 2022, five million people so as to move them to the shop floor through access to education which will make them employable."

"The Prime Minister wants us to become a knowledge society and an OFC network will help us transmit and share educational content. Technology will also help us deliver banking services through hand held devices," Deora added. PTI BA BEN RSY