To assess the implementation of the BharatNet project and internet usage in rural Gujarat

Abstract

Internet usage has become vital to a progressive society. A wide array of economic, social and educational benefits can be attained by people with the availability of internet. The rate of this utilization can be increased by increasing internet penetration in the largely rural population of India. To facilitate the penetration, Government of India has announced several ambitious projects to provide free Wi-Fi access to about 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats (GP) by 2019. One such initiative is the National Optical Fibre Network (NFON), later renamed as the BharatNet project. It is an ambitious project under which all the GPs of the country will be provided with broadband connections set up by Bharat Broadband Network Limited (BBNL), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) set up by the government for this project, to serve the residents of the respective GPs. This paper will try to measure the awareness of the scheme, assess its benefits in the GP and identify the impact on the economic development of the region. This paper studies the implementation of this project in the state of Gujarat and two districts, namely, Gandhinagar and Mahesana, are studied to assess the implementation and usage of the service promised under the project.