oppn parties Expanding Bharat Net: Digitizing India

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
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  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
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  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
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  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
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  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
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Expanding Bharat Net: Digitizing India

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2023-08-07 14:28:47

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

The government has taken a significant decision to extend the benefits of information technology to approximately 6 lakh villages in the country. It has allocated nearly Rs 1.4 lakh crores for connecting around 6 lakh 40 thousand villages with the BharatNet service in India. In the past eight months, a pilot project was implemented, connecting 60 thousand villages with the service, which was successful. Based on this success, the decision to expand the project has been made.

Bharat Net is considered the world's largest rural broadband service. The project started in 2011 under the name "National Optical Fiber Network" and was later renamed "Bharat Net" in 2015. The goal of this initiative is to ensure that no part of the country remains disconnected from the internet. The plan aims to provide internet connectivity to various institutions such as schools, hospitals, post offices, police stations, and panchayats through Wi-Fi, broadband, or fiber networks.

Despite its ambitious goals the project faced challenges, including delays in implementation and increasing costs. Concerns were raised about the timely completion of the project and its escalating expenses. Another issue was the decision to involve the public sector BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) in implementing the Bharat Net project, despite BSNL's history of being a slow telecommunications service provider.

Furthermore, the PPP (Public-Private Partnership) model was used to implement the scheme but some criticized its slow progress and complained that private partners were not interested in providing last mile connections in rural areas. But with the allocation of sufficient funds, it is now expected that taking optical fibre broadband to India's remotest villages will be a dream that will come true in the next few months. It will be a huge step in making India truly digital. 

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