Punjab Becomes India’s First State to Achieve Complete Implementation of Amended Bharat Net

The Punjab state has made a historic milestone by being the first state in the country to roll out its amended Bharat Net scheme in the whole state. It allows live tracking of the border condition as well as tracking the border status at any position in the country, and will serve as an indicator of a vision to close the digital divide. The broadband and internet services have already been implemented in 43 out of the 43 planned as shadow areas, and only one village is left to be covered at the expected date of the end of November. Through this implementation, all the villages in the state will come under the umbrella of the scheme, and therefore, allow improvement of e-governance, connectivity, and access.

Key Benefits of the Scheme

• it ensures high-speed broadband access to all Gram Panchayats, households and public institutions.

• Facilitates trusted e-governance services, which enable citizens to access government facilities and certificates and welfare schemes more effectively.

• Favors e-health and telemedicine centres, which enhance access to healthcare in remote locations.

• Increase the real-time monitoring and communication systems, particularly those in sensitive and border-area villages.

• Closes the rural-urban digital divide through the proliferation of the digital infrastructure on a uniform basis.

• Increases the level of digital literacy, online education and economic opportunities among villagers.

• Enhances the local governance by increasing connectivity and decision-making with data.

Conclusion

The achievement of Punjab to become the first state in India to fully implement the amended Bharat Net Scheme is a major achievement of universal digital connectivity. This is a milestone that builds rural infrastructure, improves the level of service delivery, and increases digital inclusion in the entire village. Punjab can act as a national precedent in bridging the connectivity divide by empowering the communities with technology and enabling them to have quicker and more visible governance.