BharatNet Project

Why in news?

• Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj SP Singh Baghel told the Rajya Sabha that out of 2.68 lakh gram panchayats in the country, 2.18 lakh gram panchayats have been prepared to provide high-speed internet services under the BharatNet project.
• The government plans to complete this project by March 2027.

Key points of BharatNet project

Implementation of e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP)

• The Government of India launched BharatNet in October 2011
• The BharatNet project is being implemented in all the gram panchayats of the country in a phased manner by the Department of Telecommunications (DOT),
• Under the Digital India program, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj is implementing it in all the states and union territories.

BharatNet is used in various services

• Fiber to the Home (FTTH) connections
• Leased line and dark fiber services
• Backhaul connectivity to mobile towers

Network upgrades and expansions

• The Union Cabinet has approved the ‘Amended BharatNet Program’ under the 'Design, Build, Operate and Maintain' model.
• The existing network of BharatNet Phase-1 and Phase-2 will be upgraded.
• 42,000 new gram panchayats will be added, which were not service-ready till now.

BSNL to target 1.5 crore FTTH connections

• Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has been given the target of providing 1.5 crore FTTH connections in the next 5 years.

e-Gram Swaraj Application

• The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has launched an online planning and accounting application called e-Gram Swaraj.
• It is designed to make the functioning of panchayats transparent, accountable and effective.