Virtual loss

BharatNet's broadband revolution in rural India fails to gather momentum even after missing seven deadlines

- RAJU SAJWAN, VIVEK MISRA

NEHA VERMA, a class 10 student at the government school in Baba Mohtara gram panchayat in Bemetara district of Chhattisgarh, could not study at all in the past two years. “I was in the eighth grade when our school closed down in March 2020 because of the pandemic," says the 14-year-old. "We were all promoted, and asked to attend online classes from the next academic session. I could not take the classes as there is no internet at my house. This is true for most families here," she says.

This is surprising as Baba Mohtara is connected with high speed internet under the Centre's BharatNet scheme, which aims to provide high-speed broadband connectivity in rural areas at affordable prices. One of its primary objectives is to facilitate e-education, besides digitising all gram panchayat offices. The scheme also has the provision of providing internet connections to households.

When Down To Earth (DTE) visited the village on February 15, 2022, it found that the rural internet box, kept inside the gram panchayat bhawan, had been lying idle since it was installed in early 2021. The box was inside a locked room, as the officials who had come to install it had said it should be kept in a cool place. The room was dusty and full of cobwebs, and the village secretary, responsible for implementing government schemes, said he did not know why it had been installed there. DTE visited three other villages near Baba Mohtara and found the same situation: they had an internet box, but no internet.

BharatNet was rolled out in October 25, 2011. The scheme has since missed several deadlines, and the current plan, revised in this year's Union budget, is to finish it by 2025. The pandemic served as the litmus test for the scheme, which is not only delayed, but also poorly executed.

MISSING LINK

Only 55 per cent of service-ready gram panchayats have an active internet connection