India over the last 7 years has become a prominent nation in deploying technologies for the benefit and transforming the lives of its citizens. Keeping this in view, the Government is focusing on providing digital literacy to citizens across the country, especially in rural areas. In line with this, Government has been taken various steps as under:

  1. During the years 2014 to 2016, Government of India had 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 including rural India. Under these two schemes, a total of 53.67 lakh beneficiaries were trained, out of which around 42% candidates were from rural India. Both schemes has been closed now.
  2. In the year 2017, Government was approved a Scheme titled ”Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)” to usher in digital literacy in rural India with a target to cover 6 crore rural households (one person per household) across the country. So far, a total of more than 6.62 crore candidates have been enrolled and 5.68 crore have been trained, out of which 4.22 crore candidates have been duly certified under the PMGDISHA Scheme across the country.

Several young, talented youth who are well conversant in information technology have set up Common Service Centres (CSCs) as Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) at the Panchayat level. The CSCs, which meet the eligibility criteria as per PMGDISHA Scheme guidelines, are also approved for imparting digital literacy training to the rural population. Such youth who meet the eligibility criteria for becoming a trainer under the PMGDISHA are employed by the VLEs for imparting digital literacy training. In addition, the beneficiaries, who are trained under the PMGDISHA Scheme, are also helping their family members and friends to become digitally literate.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Friday.

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