The Indian Prime Minister recently introduced the ‘Ghar Tak Fibre’ scheme in Bihar, a noteworthy development directed towards enhancing digital connectivity across this state. The project intends to provide all 45,945 villages in Bihar with high-speed optical fibre internet by March 31st, 2021.
About the Ghar Tak Fibre Scheme
The Ghar Tak Fibre Scheme is a central government initiative aimed at benefiting the people of Bihar by connecting their households with a fast and reliable internet connection. As per the program’s guidelines, Bihar is expected to provide a minimum of five fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connections in every village, along with at least one WiFi hotspot. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will spearhead the implementation of the scheme.
The primary objective of the scheme is to facilitate access to various digital services like e-Education, e-Agriculture, Tele-Medicine, Tele-law, among other social security schemes for all residents of the state. Furthermore, it promises to stimulate local employment generation through the implementation of the Bharat Net initiative, using the expertise of local workers.
Internet Penetration in Bihar
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) reports that a meagre 30.35% of Bihar’s population has internet connectivity, much lower than India’s average connectivity of 55%. In rural areas, the percentage drops further to 22.61%. Compared to Kerala’s record of 98.10% rural internet connectivity, Bihar’s digital infrastructure demands significant improvement.
Conversely, the urban sectors show a slightly better picture, with 73.26% of the urban populace having internet access. This figure, however, remains lower than that of Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, all of which boast an urban digital subscriber base of over 90%.
Surprisingly, almost all of the 8,745 gram panchayats (GPs) in Bihar are connected to the state’s primary internet grid under the BharatNet Project. BharatNet Project, initially launched as the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) in 2011, aims to connect all the 2,50,000 GPs through a high-speed optical network.
Challenges and Moving Forward
Despite significant accomplishments, there persist some daunting challenges that threaten to disrupt the smooth execution of the project. Among all the GPs of Bihar covered under phase one, around 3,591 GPs are non-operational, and the status of another 200 remains unclear. The primary issues include power deficiencies, equipment malfunctions, thefts, and faulty fibre connections. Additionally, the lack of users in these regions has resulted in minimal or zero follow-ups on repair and maintenance work.
The Ghar Tak Fibre scheme is a leap towards achieving the Prime Minister’s announcement made on August 15th, 2020, about connecting all six lakh villages in India with optical fibre internet within the next 1,000 days, i.e., by 2024. The telecom sector in India has shown remarkable growth and resilience by adopting emerging mobile technologies. However, to evolve into a dominant digital economy, the government must prioritise achievable targets and ensure a steadfast implementation of such initiatives.
