In a big dampener-of-sorts before the take-off of 'Digital India' revolution on Odisha turf, the disconcerting home-truth is Odisha is the only State in the country that has as high as 20 per cent of its villages without mobile communication infra even by August last.
Over it, the distressing fact is Odisha has one of the lowest rates of broadband internet penetration in rural areas nationally. Given these hangs-on, it appears 'Digital India' has hit the great 'rural wall' in Odisha.
With around 47,675 inhabited villages in Odisha, mobile communication infrastructure doesn't exist in as high as 10,398 villages - the highest nationally. The criticality of the slip-up could well be ascertained from the fact that an insurgency-ridden State like Assam has mobile communication infra in almost 90 per cent of its villages. Even, Chhattisgarh stands a notch better in telecom infra coverage, reveals a Niti Ayog release. What appears nagging is the very premise of 'Digital India' hinging on universal access to mobile connectivity - which is described as the second pillar of its 'digital roof'.
Significantly, the overall tele-density of Odisha by June end this year is around 68 per cent against the national average of nearly 80 per cent. The State's tele-density is fifth lowest in the list nationally led by Bihar. North-eastern States have even a figure of 77 per cent. Moreover, growth of rural subscribers in Odisha has slowed down from a high of over 25 per cent in 2011-12 to around 7.8 per cent by 2014-15. This assumes significance when the rural tele-density (telephone connections per 100 rural persons) was around 43 per cent only in State in 2014-15. One of the reasons behind the poor growth has been attributed by experts to wide coverage gap of mobile communication infra in the State vis-a-vis nationally.
Also, the State failing in the first test of 'Digital India' looks pronounced as broadband internet penetration - first pillar of digital roof - in rural areas as of August, 2015 is only around 10 per 100. Rural Odisha is only ahead of Bihar and north-eastern States. As per the project, it has been envisaged to provide broadband internet connection to every Indian citizen. Though the internet penetration in urban Odisha is nearly five-times more than rural areas with around 54 connections per 100 persons, it is far below the national average of around 80. Interestingly, urban internet penetration in Bihar is around 79 per cent. However, urban Odisha is ahead of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, suggests the data with Internet Services Providers Association of India (ISPAI).
Given the lag-ins, 'Digital India' in Odisha could take wings up only via the network of over 2,600 public call offices run by BSNl and the huge network of India Post as the Digital Project has envisaged converting them into multi-service centres with internet services for public to avail electronic governance.
However, services like mobile banking for farmers would take a big hit owing to poor subscribers unless the State revives its 'mobile-gift' scheme for farmers.