{"id":36701,"date":"2023-08-05T01:18:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-04T19:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=36701"},"modified":"2025-04-22T00:48:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T19:18:02","slug":"bharatnet-project-objectives-progress-challenges-associated-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/bharatnet-project-objectives-progress-challenges-associated-with-it\/","title":{"rendered":"BharatNet Project | Objectives, Progress &#038; Challenges Associated with It"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>About BharatNet Project<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Features &amp; Benefits of BharatNet<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Budget of BharatNet<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Implementation of BharatNet<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Progress of BharatNet<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Challenges Associated with BharatNet Project<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Union Cabinet has approved an outlay of Rs 1.39 lakh crore for BharatNet, the government\u2019s project for last-mile connectivity across 6.4 lakh villages in the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>About BharatNet Project<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>BharatNet is the world&#8217;s largest optical fiber-based rural broadband connectivity project.<\/li>\n<li>It is executed by <strong>Bharat Broadband Network Limited<\/strong> (BBNL), a special purpose organisation under the <strong>Telecom Ministry<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>It is an ambitious rural internet access programme. An initiative by the Union government under its <strong>Digital India<\/strong> programme.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Features &amp; Benefits of BharatNet<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Using optical fibre, the <u>programme is intended to bring broadband internet connectivity to each of the more than 2.5 lakh gram panchayats across the country<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>The government intends to provide a minimum of <strong>100 Mbps bandwidth<\/strong> at each Gram Panchayat through BharatNet so that everyone, especially those in rural India, can access online services.<\/li>\n<li>As part of BharatNet project, the <u>Centre will also provide last mile connectivity through Wi-Fi and other means and is setting up Wi-Fi hotspots in all gram panchayats<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>This covers services such as e-governance, e-learning, e-banking, e-commerce, and e-health.<\/li>\n<li>Also, extension of reach of BharatNet to all inhabited villages with reliable, quality, high speed broadband will enable better access of e-services offered by various Central and State Government agencies.<\/li>\n<li>The penetration and proliferation of broadband is also expected to increase direct and indirect employment and income generation.<\/li>\n<li>Under the BharatNet project, the home broadband package will start from Rs 399 a month, giving 30 Mbps unlimited data, bundled with OTT offering, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Budget of BharatNet<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <u>total budget allocation for the BharatNet project is Rs. 61,000 crore<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>Funds for the BharatNet project are allocated as a whole and not state\/Union Territory-wise.<\/li>\n<li>A lump sum amount is allocated and disbursed from <strong>Universal Service Obligation Fund<\/strong> (USOF) to BBNL for execution of BharatNet project.<\/li>\n<li>USOF is name for the levies collected by the Centre from telecom companies with a view to ensuring funding and development of communication services in rural and underserved areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Implementation of BharatNet<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In 2016, the DoT approved to implement the project in three phases.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Phase-I<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>1,00,000 GPs. under implementation.<\/li>\n<li>Being executed by 3 CPSUs viz. BSNL, RailTel and PGCIL. Targeted to be completed by March 2017.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Phase-II<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Balance GPs using optical mix of underground\/aerial OFC, radio and satellite to be used.<\/li>\n<li>To be executed by 3 CPSUs and State Govts. through their Discoms or any other agency.<\/li>\n<li>Targeted to be completed by December 2018.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Phase-III<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>Futuristic network with ring topology to be used between districts and blocks and blocks and GPs.<\/li>\n<li>Targeted to be completed by 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Progress of BharatNet<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The initial scope of the project was to cover 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country with optical fiber by August 2021.\n<ul>\n<li>However, that deadline was missed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Around 1.94 lakh villages have been connected at present and rest of the villages are expected to be connected in the next 2.5 years<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The project progress was affected due to lockdown and movement restrictions due to COVID pandemic.<\/li>\n<li>In the Union Budget 2022-23, the <strong>Government extended the project deadline to 2025<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Challenges Associated with BharatNet Project<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><u>Slow Pace of Implementation<\/u>:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The pace of BharatNet has been slow given that the government has been able to make just 194,000 gram panchayats service ready so far.<\/li>\n<li>From November 2022 till March this year, about 6,000 gram panchayats have been made service ready.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong><u>PPP Mode of Implementation<\/u>:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode for implementation of BharatNet, which was approved by the Union Cabinet in June 2021, is yet to take off.<\/li>\n<li>The first request for proposal (RFP) for implementation of the project, which was floated in July 2021, failed to get any response from private companies.<\/li>\n<li>The industry had highlighted that <u>some of the terms and conditions of the tender were too onerous for the private players while the revenue sharing model proposed by the government was also unfavourable to them<\/u>.<\/li>\n<li>The Government will come out with a revised PPP model for BharatNet project in a couple of months.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>\u00a0<\/h2>\n<h2><strong>News Summary<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>Union Cabinet approved and additional Rs 1.39 lakh crore for modernising the BharatNet project<\/strong> which involves changing its execution strategy and providing fiber connections to the last mile through <strong>Village Level Entrepreneurs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>With this upgrade, the government is looking to speed up its process in connecting all the remaining villages over the next 2.5 years.<\/li>\n<li>The Government, under the PPP model, will involve village level entrepreneurs or <strong>Udyamis<\/strong> to take the fiber connections to the homes on a 50:50 revenue-sharing basis.<\/li>\n<li>The cost for taking the infrastructure to the home will be borne by the government;<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>rural entrepreneur will only need to be involved in maintenance and operations of home connections<\/strong>, including addressing consumer complaints related to fiber cuts, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is Bandwidth in Networking?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Network bandwidth is a measure of the data transfer rate or capacity of a given network. It&#8217;s a crucial network measurement for understanding the speed and quality of a network. Network bandwidth is commonly measured in bits per second (bps).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)\u00a0 What is Public-Private-Partnership?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A public\u2013private partnership is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions. Typically, it involves private capital financing government projects and services up-front, and then drawing revenues from taxpayers and\/or users over the course of the PPP contract.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/govt-tweaks-bharatnet-clears-rs-1-39-lakh-cr-for-last-mile-broadband-link-8878685\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Govt tweaks BharatNet, clears Rs 1.39 lakh crore for last-mile broadband link<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/usof.gov.in\/en\/bharatnet-project\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>USOF<\/u><\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BharatNet is the world&#8217;s largest optical fibre-based rural broadband connectivity project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":36702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}