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How the government encourages digital skilling in rural India

Image credit: Compendium on Digital India; Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

With less than 10% of the Indian population being digitally literate, the Indian government has been pushing for digital skilling and IT education through a number of initiatives under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Although India is the fastest growing mobile market, it is behind when it comes to Internet connectivity. Connecting India’s communities to the world through the Internet is becoming increasingly essential for tech development and social progress.

According to the latest Internet and Mobile Association of India report, out of an estimated urban population of 455 million, 295 million use the Internet. In comparison, out of 918 million estimated rural population, there are 186 million users who use the Internet. In total, there are 481 million total internet users in India (as of December 2017), registering a hike of 11.34% from December 2016.

The digital divide is a manifestation of exclusion, poverty and inequality. Digital skills provide opportunities to the underserved and marginalised sections of the country and empowers them. Concerted efforts have been made by the government towards making people digitally literate in rural households and through running skilling initiatives.

Skill Development in ESDM for Digital India

  • This scheme supports existing human resources, students studying in schools (grade nine and onwards), polytechnics, in universities, and drop-outs or unemployed youth by providing them with additional skills that are recognised by the industry for employment in the EDSM sector.
  • The total target is 7,500 candidates. So far, 7,405 candidates have been enrolled and trained and out of these, 4,771 have been certified.

Information Security Education and Awareness (ISEA) Project Phase-II

  • The objective of this scheme is capacity building in the area of information security to address the human resource requirement of the country, by generating core research manpower to undertake fundamental research and applied research in the area of product making, solution design, and development in areas of national strategic importance.
  • The total outlay for five years of the project is US $95,145. The total funds released are valued at US $59,811.
  • 1,083 candidates have either been trained or are undergoing training in formal and non-formal courses.
  • 90 government officials have been trained in short-term programmes in the field of information security.
  • 41 awareness workshops on data protection have been organised covering 7,960 participants.

Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)

  • This scheme aims to make around 60 million people in rural areas digitally literate. Reaching around 40% of rural households, making one member from every household digitally literate by 31 March 2020.
  • It will train citizens to operate a computer or digital access devices (tablets and smartphones etc.), send and receive emails, browse the Internet, and use digital payment methods.
  • The implementing agency for the scheme is Common Service Centres under e-Governance Services India.

Visvesvaraya Ph.D. Scheme for Electronics and IT

  • The objective of this programme is to increase the number of Ph.D.s in ESDM and IT or IT-enabled services (IT/ITES) sectors in the country.
  • It supports 200 young faculty research fellowships in the areas of ESDM and IT/ITES with the objective to retain and attract young faculty members in these sectors.
  • The scheme aims to support 1,500 Ph.D. candidates, including both full-time (500) and part-time (1,000) candidates.

Electronics and ICT Academy

  • The MeitY approved a scheme to provide financial assistance to set up electronics and ICT academies. The scheme is for faculty and mentor development and will improve the employability of the students in various streams.
  • Seven electronics and ICT academies in two categories have been set up and are operational at leading academic institutions.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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