National Digital Literacy Mission

The main challenge in the Digital India Mission is its reach and proper internet connectivity. With the help of many NGOs and many local government centres, it is feasible today for the government to reach even the remotest parts of the country and help its citizens get the benefits of the various schemes and programs launched by the government for the betterment of the public at large. In order to achieve this, to make digital India a reality and to impart the skills that are necessary in even the remotest corner of the country and to make them Digitally literate, the Government of India initiated the NDLM scheme which aims at making at least one person in every rural India household digitally literate by 2020.

As a means to achieve this, the Universal Services Obligation Fund (USOF) has set up Bharat Broadband Network Ltd. (BBNL) to roll out the National Optic Fiber Network (NOFN) plan. BBNL is tasked to lay out the optic fiber cable to reach all the Gram Panchayats of the country and digitize them. This optic fiber will provide connectivity at the speed of 100 MBPs and be used as the information highway to be utilized by all the stakeholders in the best possible manner to ensure the maximum digital reach and success of the NDLM. The BBNL has identified three pilot blocks for implementation and analysis of installing the fiber optic cable. These three trial blocks are in Arain (Rajasthan); Naogang (North Tripura) and Pravada (Visakhapatnam). The ultimate aim of this project is to implement digital literacy to at least one person from each household in the rural and poor areas of the country.

Vision of NDLM

The vision of the NDLM is a creation of a consortium involving a lot of stakeholders that work in coordination/sync with the Government of India and their various schemes and programs to show a few panchayat constituencies he benefits of digital empowerment with respect to aspects like social inclusion, empowerment, educational and employment and social governance.

Following are the objectives of the NDLM – 

• To make rural communities more competent with training and capacity building programs and make them digitally literate.
• To create economic, cultural and social advantages for rural communities in India with content and information gateway.
• To enable deployment of citizens in rural areas via digital means.
• To develop a digital data house at all rural communities to enable them to be economically viable.

Stakeholders of NDLM

The various stakeholders of the National Digital Literacy Mission and their scope are detailed below.

BBNL :- 

BBNL (Bharat Broadband Network Limited) was established as a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) in the year 2012. In 2011, the Government of India had approved the setting up of National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) in order to bring together all the 2,50,000 gram panchayats by using all existing optical fiber and bringing it to Gram Panchayats. As per the Mission plan, for executing this strategy, other important players like RailTel, PGCIL and BSNL have also been assigned. C-DOT, BSNL, NIC, TCIL, PGCIL, RailTel are working together with BBNL on this NOFN project which is funded by USOF.

Intel Corporation :-

Intel Corporation is another important stakeholder in the NDLM project with the aim to educate at least one person per household about digital literacy, its benefits and scope for the advancement and betterment of the public at large.

DEF :-

The idea behind the initiation of the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) was the upliftment of the downtrodden and creation of economic and commercial feasibility with the use of Information Communication and Technology resources. DEF had complimented the efforts of the BBNL up on its initiation by the Universal Services Obligation fund (USOF) with the development of the NDLM. The main objective of the National Digital Literacy Mission is to equip the rural masses of the country with the advantages of digital literacy and to ensure their better and brighter future as well as maximum economic inclusion.

The Panchayat Committee :- 

The Panchayat Committees have a crucial role to play in the NDLM and they are the bridge between the various stakeholders of the mission and the ultimate recipients of the benefits of the program. The knowledge consortium developed by the various stakeholders of the program in coordination and co-operation of the Government would show the Panchayat Committees the fruits of digital literacy in terms of employment, education, social inclusion, better governance, and overall empowerment of the rural population of the country. To this end, the co-operation of the Panchayat Committees is of utmost importance for the success of this mission.

Component of NDLM

The purpose of the NDLM is to achieve the following through its efforts,

• Initiate and promote entrepreneurship and deliver uniform digital Literacy
• Bring socio-economic impact at rural regions;
• Offer the necessary tools for information security and digital literacy.
• Contribute towards Supplementary Education
• Inculcate critical thinking in the youth through Digital Literacy Skills
• Contribute towards Women Empowerment
• Act as complete and thorough Knowledge Centres

The project also aims to create the following as its components

• Wireless for communities program
• Skill Development Program for employment
• e-NGO program
• Community Information Resource Centre
• Tele-Health Services
• Digital Panchayat Program
• Web based sanitation and drinking water system
• Rural BPOs
• Women Literacy mission program
• Digital Panchayat Program

Training provided to the citizens under NDLM

The NDLM program provides two levels of training to the citizens with the aim to fulfill the Digital India vision of the Prime Minister. The details of such training, cost involved, eligibility etc. are mentioned below.

Level 1 - Appreciation of Digital literacy :- 

• The idea or purpose of this module is to equip the individual with basic digital literacy so as to enable him to operate basic communication devices like mobile, laptops, tablets, etc. The rationale behind this module is to empower the citizens with enough knowledge that they can send/receive emails, use the internet for searching and obtaining necessary information.
• The course duration of this level is 20 hours where the eligible candidates have to input a minimum of 10 days and a maximum of 30 days for this course
• The eligible candidates for this course are the Non–IT literate/illiterate public and having a basic education of up to 7th standard pass.
• The fees of this level 1 course is Rs. 125 for General Category candidates and free for the SC/ST/BPL Households

Level 2 – Basics of Digital Literacy :-

• This module is the next level of training under the NDLM where the individuals are not only offered an advanced level of digital literacy but also the necessary training to access e-Governance services and the services offered by other agencies effectively and in the best possible manner.
• The course duration of this level is 40 hours where the eligible candidates have to devote a minimum of 20 days and a maximum of 60 days for this course
• The eligible candidates for this course are the Non–IT literate public and having a basic education of at least 8th standard pass.
• The fees of this level 1 course is Rs. 250 for General Category candidates and free for the SC/ST/BPL Households

Documentation required for admission in Level 1 & 2 of the training Program

The documents required for the Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers and ration dealers are,

• Official ID issued by the government is mandatory
• Aadhaar card at the time of registration

The documents required for General Candidates are

• BPL Card for families that are below poverty line
• Caste Certificate for reserved categories (mandatory requirement)
• Aadhar card at the time of registration (mandatory requirement)

Role of a Training Partner of NDLM

The Training Partners have to appoint the Training Centres in the selected Gram Panchayats that would need minimum human, technical and infrastructural requirement. A training partner would have the responsibility of managing all the centres registered under it.

They are required to meet the following criteria: 

• A training centre must be part of a registered organization in India with reliable and proven training and facilitation credentials in the domain of education/IT literacy
• After all the documentation is completed by the Training Partner, a Screening Committee constituted by NDLM PMU will visit/inspect the Training Centre and on receipt of satisfactory report of the Screening Committee will receive an accreditation.

Role of the Training Centres

The training centres appointed are responsible for the following: 

• Conducting household survey and digitization of data 
• Screening and Selecting the beneficiaries eligible under the project and enrolling them for the course
• Imparting the appropriate training course to the eligible candidates under the project, including providing course materials
• Registering the beneficiaries, marking the attendance, and conducting the continuous assessment using the OMA-cum-LMS
• Keeping a record of all beneficiaries that enroll in the course, certifying their attendance and ensuring that the beneficiary appears for the examination.

Role of CSC SPV in NDLM

CSC SPV is the programme management unit (PMU) in order to monitor and implement the NDLM. The responsibilities of PMU include providing the required support to state agencies in various tasks that involve development of curriculum, development of online mechanisms that would enable the authorities in monitoring and registration, conducting workshops, managing events, programme design, etc. The objectives of PMU in NDLM include the following.

• Development of courseware and curriculum framework.
• Setting up an online monitoring system for registration, monitoring and training of beneficiaries.
• Coordinating with all stakeholders at the state and district level.
• Coming up with accreditation norms for training centers after consultation with agencies that offer accreditation like NIELIT etc.
• Conducting seminars and workshops and other awareness campaigns for stakeholders to create awareness about NDLM.
• Developing certification norms and examination norms in consultation with IGNOU, NIELIT and other related industries.
• Ensuring the implementation, coordination and management of the entire scheme.

Highlights/Achievements of the DEF under the NDLM

The DEF was founded/established in the year 2002 and has come a long way in achieving its goals. Following are a gist of the highlights or the milestones achieved by the program

• 60 digital resource centres set up
• About 12,086,120 citizens digitally empowered
• About 6000 NGOs digitally enabled
• 10,000 digital innovations documented
• 4,00,0000 women digitally included
• 1,000 digital Panchayats
• Presence in 23 states, 126 districts and 500+ locations

FAQs