Free WiFi For 48,000 Villages Announced By Govt; All Common Service Centres Will Provide Banking Services
In yet another major step towards Digital India, Govt. of India has announced that 48,000 villages will be provided free WiFi till March, 2020.
Which are these villages where free WiFi will be provided?
In a related announcement, Govt has informed that every CSC in the country will now offer banking services as well.
48,000 Villages To Get Free WiFI
All 48,000 villages which have been connected with the national broadband plan under BharatNet, will be now offered absolutely free WiFi connectivity till March, 2020.
Although there are 1.3 lakh panchayats which have been connected under BharatNet, there are only 48,000 villages which have WiFi connectivity. Rest of the villages have optical fiber based broadband service.
Govt. aims to expand broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats now.
While announcing this, Telecom and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “We have already connected 1.3 lakh gram panchayats through BharatNet optical fibre network… Our target is to take this to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats. To promote utilisation of BharatNet services, we will provide WiFi free in all villages connected through BharatNet till March 2020.”
This free Wifi internet for 48,000 villages has been announced so that the villagers are able to utilize the Internet and understand its potential.
Every CSC Will Now Offer Banking Services
CSC or Common Service Centers have been established across villages and rural areas, where citizens can avail of digital services.
Now, every CSC in the country will provide banking services as well.
In 2014, there were only 60,000 CSCs in India, which have been expanded to 3.6 lakh currently.
For instance, in Harayana, there are 11,000 CSCs, wherein citizens can avail 650 digital services.
Once a CSC is established in a village, it becomes a Digital Village, wherein anyone can avail government-to-citizen services through the digital seva portal.
CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd is implementing CSC services across India, and Govt. wants to create 100,000 such Digital Villages.
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