(a) the total population made digitally literate under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) vis a vis target fixed for the purpose during each of the last three years, State/UT-wise including the State of Maharashtra and Jharkhand;
(b) the reasons for slow pace of implementation of the said scheme; and
(c) the steps taken by the Government for proper implementation of this scheme particularly in remote rural areas of the Country?
): Under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan, as on 21st June 2019, more than 2.29 crore beneficiaries have been enrolled and 2.21 crore have been trained, out of which 1.33 crore are duly certified by duly authorized 3rd party Certifying Agencies. The state-wise/UT-wise targets and the number of candidates trained and certified under the scheme since FY 2017-18 are given at Annexure. It may be seen that as against a target of 44,33,000 candidates for Maharashtra, so far, 11,70,820 candidates have been trained, out of which 6,95,969 candidates have been duly certified. Similarly, as against a target of 18,03,000 candidates for Jharkhand, so far, 12,93,007 candidates have been trained, out of which 7,21,497 candidates have been duly certified.
(b): Some of the key reasons for the slow implementation of the scheme include low internet connectivity in remote rural/far-flung areas, poor awareness about benefits of digital literacy, difficulty in covering non-accessible and sparsely populated areas and other infrastructure related issues.
(c): Government has taken up several steps for proper implementation of the scheme particularly in remote 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.
*******
Annexure
The State/UT-wise details of targets, number of candidates trained and certified year-wise under PMGDISHA Scheme:
(As on 21-06-2019)
S.
No. State Targets
(no. of candidates) Achievement Status (no. of candidates)
FY 2017-18 FY 2018-19 FY 2019-20
Trained Certified Trained Certified Trained Certified
1 ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS 18000 0 0 225 18 0 0
2 ANDHRA PRADESH 2028000 218761 118893 301045 142034 12625 5951
3 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 77,000 381 70 1848 465 47 33
4 ASSAM 1929000 89788 12929 988724 640771 86177 110858
5 BIHAR 6630000 795999 409886 727427 494820 72532 60793
6 CHANDI-GARH 2000 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 CHHATTIS-GARH 1412000 713563 358546 618543 459752 55909 41463
8 DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI 13000 1 0 672 124 13 108
9 DAMAN AND DIU 4000 0 0 464 246 43 43
10 DELHI 30000 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 GOA 40000 3 0 181 2 5 59
12 GUJARAT 2497000 756670 416867 397698 289883 22984 25169
13 HARYANA 1191000 678104 383619 393341 268983 56082 46406
14 HIMACHAL PRADESH 444000 81968 32343 36393 21685 6761 5061
15 JAMMU AND KASHMIR 658000 140398 74203 96984 71505 20833 12029
16 JHARKHAND 18,03,000 968471 477010 293011 218031 31525 26456
17 KARNATAKA 27,05,000 314184 172607 167506 103146 6297 4973
18 KERALA 12,57,000 12406 4095 9638 4194 1280 876
19 LAKSHA-DWEEP 1000 0 0 6 0 0 0
20 MADHYA PRADESH 3784000 758857 364122 771886 513283 78380 71222
21 MAHA-RASHTRA 4433000 545138 283065 530508 357473 95174 55431
22 MANIPUR 137000 6126 1766 1755 910 300 50
23 MEGHALAYA 171000 507 3 42986 15386 8744 7735
24 MIZORAM 38000 4387 2254 834 212 67 29
25 NAGALAND 101000 1173 773 1459 633 474 260
26 ODISHA 2517000 772041 414710 456118 338211 43069 33677
27 PUDU-CHERRY 28000 6443 2661 3448 1977 243 51
28 PUNJAB 1247000 273886 161814 438969 314444 35043 25159
29 RAJASTHAN 3712000 721780 357402 491318 339133 55122 40581
30 SIKKIM 33000 0 0 39 3 2 0
31 TAMILNADU 2679000 350604 198848 171365 109509 9033 6265
32 TELANGANA 2028000 218540 116069 147465 98518 15308 9620
33 TRIPURA 195000 32612 17844 38196 17724 4239 2696
34 UTTARA-KHAND 5,06,000 162127 93431 95647 65474 12283 9775
35 UTTAR PRADESH 11171000 2473387 1231890 2322173 1628818 275449 220668
36 WEST BENGAL 4481000 317367 141971 198484 146421 28278 17530
Total 60000000 11415672 5849691 9746356 6663788 1034321 841027
*******