The Punjab Government has decided to provide 20 MB free data per day to the students of all Government colleges in the State.
The facility will be provided to about 90,000 students from the State under free WiFi facility, which would be provided by Reliance Jio.
To begin with, the state government has decided to provide free Wi-Fi facility in all government Industrial Training Institutes (ITI), polytechnic institutions and engineering colleges.
The State Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Thursday said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for providing free Wi-Fi internet in the ITIs, poly-tech and engineering institutions had been signed between Reliance Jio and the Punjab government.
The MoU was signed in the presence of state officials Chief Secretary (Technical Education and Industrial Training) MP Singh, Technical Education Secretary Kahan Singh Pannu, Technical Education additional director Mohanbir Singh and the representatives of Reliance Jio including state head TPS Walia and Marketing Head of Reliance Jio Infocomm limited Vaibhav Mehra.
“We will provide free internet facility to the students for their academic needs and will also encourage a system of cashless transactions and digitization,” he said. Channi said that Reliance Jio will set up the infrastructure and provide its services free of cost.
Reliance Jio will also bear the cost of equipment and electricity required for functioning of the Wi-Fi and will also block all “objectionable websites” as per Government of India directions, he added.
The Minister said that all the college principals have been directed to provide suitable space and security for Wi-Fi installation and other relevant network equipment.
Notably, Congress party had promised in its election manifesto that the youth would be encouraged to use digital technology, and will be provided free WiFi facility.