):Skill development and creating skilled talent is an important mission to ensure that the growing digital economy of India is provided with the trained and skilled manpower that the industry requires. To further aid digital adaption, the Ministry has focused on digital literacy for citizens across the country especially in rural areas. In line with this, the Pradhan MantriGramin Digital SakshartaAbhiyan(PMGDISHA) was approved by Union Cabinet in February 2017 to usher in digital literacy in rural India.The main features of the PMGDISHA scheme are as under:
• The scheme is being implemented only in rural areas i.e. Gram Panchayat/Village to cover 6 crore rural households (one person per household).
• The beneficiaries are provided with 20 hours of training consisting of 5 modules namely (i) Introduction to Digital Devices, (ii) Operating Digital Devices, (iii) Introduction to the Internet, (iv) Communications using the Internet, (v) Application of the Internet (includes Citizen centric services) and use of financial tools for undertaking digital cashless transactions.
• The training content is made available in 22 scheduled languages and English. This content is made available on both online and offline mode. In addition, keeping in view the thrust of the government on promoting cashless transactions through mobile phones, the content on digital wallets, mobile banking, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), and PoS has also been included.
• After training of the candidate, a third party Assessment of the trained candidates is carried out through online mode remotely proctored examination conducted by recognized Certifying Agencies namely National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Haryana Knowledge Corporation Limited (HKCL) and ICT Academy of Tamil Nadu (ICTACT).Digitally Signed Certificates are issued for all successful candidates and directly uploaded in their Digi-Locker accounts.
• For authorised Training Centres, a minimum Physical, IT infrastructure along with a faculty at the training centre has been prescribed. Geo-tagging of the training centres have been implemented. Physical verification/inspection of the training centre is part of the process for training centre approval.
• State Level and District level committees are set up for effective evaluation and monitoring at the State & District levels.
• Dashboard access to Central/ State Govt./State Implementing Agency/District Administration have been provided for effective management and reporting.
• Grievances/Complaints Redressal Mechanism have been put in place.
(b): Pradhan MantriGramin Digital SakshartaAbhiyan (PMGDISHA) Scheme is funded as a Central Sector Scheme, hence funds are not sanctioned and allocated to States/UTs.
(c): In the state of Rajasthan, so far, a total of 30,17,568 candidates have been enrolled and 25,12,939 candidates have been trained, out of which 18,32,757 candidates have been certified under the PMGDISHA Scheme. In the Dausa district of Rajasthan, 88,780 candidates have been enrolled and 71,796 candidates have been trained, out of which 52,253 candidates have been certified under the said Scheme.
(d): Out of the total training target 6 crore beneficiaries, around 5.53 crore candidates have been enrolled and 4.68 crore have been trained, out of which 3.48 crore candidates have been certified, as on 3rd February 2022, under the PMGDISHA Scheme.
(e): Government has taken up several steps to cover the remote and rural areas of the country, which include scaling up the awareness and promotional activities towards Digital literacy program and expand it multifold through campaigns, workshops, seminars, digital vans, etc. to cover various segments of the population in an all-inclusive manner. Efforts have been made to identify and register new Training centres in uncovered Gram Panchayats across the country. In order to address the low internet connectivity issues, Wifi-choupals have been established at remote locations. Rural schools have been engaged for training and examination of candidates in order to penetrate the rural populous districts of identified states.
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