Minister for Communications & IT, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, commissions India’s first Hi-Speed Rural Broadband Network (NOFN) in Idukki District, Kerala, under the Digital India Programme.
Speaking on this·occasion, Minister for Communications & IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, 'India today witnesses a new era of digital empowerment. The new government has firmly set its focus on the all round development and inclusive growth of the country. NOFN Project is a giant leap in order to bridge the digital divide in India by linking all Gram Panchayats through the common platform of Optical Fibre Cable. I extend my complete support to this project and I am proud to be a part of this new digital journey in India's history'.
NOFN is a landmark initiative in taking forward the vision of Digital India which aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. NOFN is set to link 600 million rural citizens of India across 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats of India spread over 6600 blocks and 631 districts through Broadband optical fibre network.
A historic milestone was achieved when Ravi Shankar Prasad received the first mobile phone call ever from the Gram Panchayat of Edamalakuddy in Idukki district. This tribal Gram Panchayat is 34 kms away from the nearest town and has no road connectivity, electricity or piped water. Today, this settlement has been connected to the NOFN through VSAT media which has also provided them with voice connectivity.
The Hon'ble Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri Oommen Chandy, welcomed this initiative, 'As the most literate state in India, the people of Kerala look forward to the new economic development opportunities that NOFN has opened for the state.'
NOFN will provide a minimum bandwidth of 100 Mbps to each of the 2.5 lakh GPs thereby facilitating delivery of e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, public internet access, G2C, B2B, P2P, B2C etc., weather, agricultural and other services to rural India. The project also seeks to achieve a huge employment generation opportunity through operation and maintenance activities, BPO services, rural entrepreneurship etc.
Rakesh Garg, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Govt. of India, said 'India is gearing up for the digital age through the undertaking of the NOFN which will usher in a new era of good governance and inclusive development.'
NOFN is intended as a Transport network to enforce Digital India through delivery of utilities for Panchayats through:
· Panchayat Management – Gram sabha meetings, village records, updating of citizen databases, effective performance monitoring of Panchayats.
· Community Participation – Intra-village, Intra-district sharing of practices and resources Communication with Block, and District.
· Knowledge Dissemination – Sharing of Agricultural practices, productivity techniques, Small enterprises, Vocational learning.
· Delivery of Citizen Services – Delivery of services including Health, Education and Finance, etc. A single point of Government-to-citizen interaction for Centrally sponsored/Central sector/ State sponsored schemes and Grievance redressal.
· Developmental planning – Road, transportation and power connectivity; knowledge connectivity in the form of good educational & training institutions. Provision of drinking water and upgradation of existing health facilities. Market connectivity to enable farmers to get the best prices for their produce.
Idukki in Kerala State, a relatively inaccessible and having a large tribal and rural population, is the first district in India for piloting this NOFN project at district level. Currently the district's 8 Block Offices & 52 Gram Panchayats have been connected with NOFN.
Digital India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India to integrate the government departments and the people of India to ensure effective governance. It also aims at ensuring that the government services are made available to citizens electronically by reducing paperwork. The initiative also includes a plan to connect rural areas under high-speed internet networks. NOFN network is an important step towards realization of this ambitious vision.
Sharing his vision for 'Digital India' in his speech at the 68th Indian Independence Day celebrations on August 15, 2014, at Red Fort, New Delhi, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, said, 'When I talk of 'Digital India', I don`t speak of the elite, it is for the poor people. You can imagine what a quality education the children in villages will get, if all the villages of India are connected with Broadband Connectivity and if we are able to give long distance education to the schools in every remote corner of the villages'. He further added, 'I say that today it is IT that has the potential to connect each and every citizen of the country and that is why we want to realise the mantra of unity with the help of `Digital India`'.
