Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:
(a) whether the tribal youth have the lowest literacy in electronics and information technology as compared to others;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government is considering to start a scheme to boost digital literacy by giving special focus on tribal population; and
(d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?
(a) to (d): 1. As per National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 71st Round report on social consumption relating to education, the proportion of households in the country having computer during 2014 is around 14% (only 6% of rural households and 29% of urban households possessed computer). This highlights that more than 15 crore rural households (@ 94% of 16.85 crore households) do not have computers and a significant number of these households are likely to be digitally illiterate. No specific data on tribal youth is indicated in the said NSSO report.
2. Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology is implementing several programmes which have benefitted the tribal population. Some of these programmes are given below:
(i) The Government of India has implemented two Schemes on providing digital literacy to the masses namely “National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM)” and “Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA)” with a cumulative target of 52.50 lakh persons (one person from every eligible household) across the country. The targets envisaged under NDLM and DISHA schemes have been successfully achieved in December 2016. A total number of 7,17,412 tribal candidates were certified under NDLM / DISHA schemes.
(ii) The Government has approved a scheme titled “Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)” to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 crore rural households (one person per household) by 31.03.2019. The scheme is specifically targeting the rural population especially the marginalized sections of society including Scheduled Tribes. Under this scheme, the states/UTs with major concentration of tribal population would have a total target of around 20 lakh beneficiaries.
(iii) Under the two Schemes for Skill Development in Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM), so far, a total of 13,910 Scheduled Tribe candidates have been enrolled, out of which 10,682 candidates have been trained as on March, 2017.
(iv) National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) Centres are implementing various capacity building projects for upliftment of ST population in the area of Information Technology and Electronics. Some of these projects are as under:-
a) Government has approved a project titled “Development of North Eastern Region by enhancing the Training / Education capacity in the Information, Electronics & Communications Technology (IECT) Area” with an objective of setting up 18 Centres/Extension Centres of NIELIT in tribal dominated NE Region to empower the youth in the field of IECT area. So far NIELIT Centres are operational in 17 locations and the training capacity has been increased to around 13,000 per annum.
b) NIELIT is running its own campus at Kohima wherein about 15,034 students have been trained in various long term courses such as BCA, ‘O’ level, ‘A’ level, CHM-‘O’ level and short term courses like CCC, BCC etc as on March, 2017.
c) A permanent campus of NIELIT has been setup at Agartala where about 9,000 students in various long term courses like BCA, O-level, A-level, CHM-O and short terms courses like CCC, BCC etc have been trained as on March, 2017.
d) Under Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP), the ST candidates are being trained free of cost at NIELIT Centres across the country.
(v) Under ‘IT for Masses’ Programme which targets Women, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, projects are funded for providing IT training including Digital Literacy, providing IT infrastructure to girls schools, women colleges, ST schools (Eklavya, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya) and entrepreneurship creation. The following projects have been implemented for Scheduled Tribes under this programme :-
a) ‘e-Inclusion: IT training for Rural Scheduled Tribe (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC) & Women Beneficiaries’- 17,147 ST candidates trained as on September 2015.
b) ‘IT Mass Literacy Programme for Scheduled Tribe (ST)’ - 4,392 ST candidates trained as on March 2016.
c) ‘Capacity building of 1,260 ST students of North Orissa University and its affiliated colleges in IT tools’ - 1,260 ST candidates trained as on November 2016.
d) ‘IT skills & e-Inclusion through low cost access devices based awareness program for Scheduled Tribes – Kerala’ - ICT infrastructure set up at 6 locations and 1,283 ST candidates trained as on March 2017.
e) ‘Capacity building in IT skills of Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates – Chhattisgarh’ 3,287 candidates trained on basic computer course and 857 candidates have been trained on Advance courses (Photoshop & Web Designing) as on March 2017.
f) ‘Capacity building in IT skills of Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates - Andaman & Nicobar’ – 1,006 Candidates trained as on March 2017.
g) ‘Capacity building for the upliftment of 2,000 Scheduled Tribes (ST) candidates - Union Territory of Lakshadweep’ 1,878 ST candidates trained / undergoing training as on March 2017.
h) “Empowering underprivileged (ST) youths and women of four backward districts of Nagaland through ICT skills training” approved with an objective of training 1,280 Tribal youths from 4(four) backward districts of Nagaland in 150 hours ICT course.
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