FinMin sanctions ₹425 crore to set up 120 digital villages

Pilot projects for ‘digital villages’ should be up and running soon, as the government has approved in-principle the setting up of around 120 such villages across the country at a cost of around ₹425 crore.

“The Finance Ministry has in-principle approved the project outlay of ₹423.26 crore for ‘Digital Village’ projects in India. This money would be spent over a period of three years that includes 2.5 years of operations and maintenance/service delivery phase, post implementation,” a government official closed to the developments told BusinessLine.

Either the entire allocation or a part of it is likely to be announced in the upcoming Budget, the official added.

The digital push is a very important step towards the ‘Digital India’ programme and without spreading the services to the rural areas or far flung villages, it won’t be a success, the official said.

According to the official, the implementation of the pilot projects will be selected soon in 30 States and Union Territories with maximum 39 gram panchayats (GPs) for large States, 30 GPs for medium States and 27 GPs for small States.

The in-principle approval was given recently after a detailed project report (DPR) was prepared after multiple rounds of consultation with IT Secretaries of select States/ UTs, including Odisha, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, sources said.

Delivery of services in these ‘digital’ villages would include tele-medicine, tele-education (both realised as e-kranti pillars of ‘Digital India’), LED lighting and Wi-Fi Hotspot services and skill development, the official added. As part of the pilot project, some delivery points are proposed to be set up along with measurable outcomes, such as 90 primary health centres (PHCs) and 30 lead hospitals leading to more than 1.40 lakh hours of tele-medicine sessions and 1,050 tele-education locations leading to more than 11.55 lakh hours of tele-education sessions.

According to another government official, the project will be implemented in two phases – the first phase will be implemented across blocks in select 30 States/ UTs over three years, out of which the operation and implementation service delivery phase will span over two-and-a-half years, post implementation in first six months.

“Phase-II will be a pan-India roll-out and will be taken up separately. In tele-medicine services, every three Primary Health Centres (PSC) in each block would be parented by one lead hospital at block/district/State-level preferably at a government hospital,” the official said.

The pilot implementation of ‘digital villages’ involves harmonised efforts of multiple stakeholders, including State governments, line Ministries, Ministries of Electronics and IT (MeitY), industry and various service providers.

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