The following Post was composed by Anil Prongs. You can follow him here on Twitter.

Internet- the network of networks brought a transformational change to our world. It made communication easier, transformed businesses, and changed how governments function. The internet revolution in India has played a key role in the country’s development.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’ envisages to connect every village to the internet through an optic fibre network but the vision of ‘tech savvy’ Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh takes it to a whole new level that is connecting every household to the internet–particularly rural households. I will confine this article to rural areas.

Providing a high speed broad band connection to every household at an affordable price (at Rs. 150) is the aim of Fibre Optic Grid (FOG) project. The main component here is laying the optic fibre over 30,000 km at a cost of RS.333 crores which enables internet connection to 1.2 million households with speed ranging from 10 Mbps to 15 Mbps. In addition business enterprises get on demand availability of 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps. The project not only aims to connect every household, but also to create a computer literate and an entrepreneur from every household. An encouraging aspect is that Google India has come forward to help make this project a success.

One area where this project is beneficial is in education; students in rural areas don’t get access to quality education. With internet access, students get the benefit of e-learning where learning is interactive, encouraging young minds to think and innovate. Nowadays, educational institutes offer online training; rural students can now learn just sitting at home. Online skill development courses can make rural youth job ready, as with internet availability learning these courses isn’t difficult.

Presently, rural youth are migrating to large cities in search of employment especially for IT / ITES based jobs. Why not bring these jobs to the rural areas itself?? Unemployed youth can get jobs which operate on internet connectivity with internet access in place. There is a huge scope for local entrepreneurship through rural startups as there is sufficient infrastructure. Imagine an e-commerce website maintained by a local entrepreneur who sells handicrafts made by local artisans or a kisan call centre which provides information on agriculture to local farmers. These startups not only encourage local entrepreneurs but provide jobs to locals.

It is imperative that the potential of the internet be tapped for the upliftment of the rural areas. Modi’s Digital India is on that very frontier combined with Chandrababu‘s Vision Andhra Pradesh. Together these will allow our villages to see sustainable development both economically and technologically.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tHCxm9Q8qk

Disclaimer: This article represents the opinions of the Author, and should not be considered a reflection of the views of the Andhra Cultural Portal. The Author is responsible for ensuring the factual veracity of the content, herein.