In the build up to the assembly elections, Common Service Centres (CSC), a Government of India initiative was announced recently to launch 5,000 Public Data Offices (PDOs) in West Bengal under the CSC PM-Wani Scheme.
It bears recall that NCCE, an arm of the apex cooperative body NCUI is partnering with the govt of India in preparing an army of trained cooperators who would manage the affairs of multi-purpose District Co-op Societies known as VLEs.
The objective of PDOs is to sell the internet services among the villagers through Village Level Entrepreneurs spread in different parts of the country. It is a move towards Digital India, a dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Make in India: HFCL ships 1 lakh indigenous Wi-Fi systems in record time
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The homegrown company, that has an order book of Rs 7,500 crore has supplied Wi-Fi gear to private players and is also eyeing to further ship the new made-in-India product worldwide.
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Last month, the Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme aimed to improve wireless connectivity by way of offering free wireless Internet in public places across the country, as a part of the Digital India program.
NEW DELHI: HFCL Limited, formerly known as
Himachal Futuristic Communications has supplied indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured 100,000 Wi-Fi systems in a record time, and believes that Wi-Fi Access Network Interface or WANI together with the Centre’s ambitious BharatNet initiative would augment broadband uptake in rural India.
PM-WANI: Government To Increase Wi-Fi Hotspots Across India To 20 Lakh By The End Of 2021
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The central government is planning a four time increase in public Wi-Fi hotspots across the country by the end of 2021 through the Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) scheme,
Economic Times reports.
The registrations for the applications to offer these services will be rolled out in the first week of January.
âC-DoT, the technology development centre of the DoT, is working to make âWi-Fi access boxesâ widely available at around half the market price and we should open the registration process by the first week of next year,â said Telecom Secretary Anshu Prakash.
The key to growing India’s economy lies in the growth of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). To add some perspective sector, in a paper dealing with investments in the sector, NITI Aayog the government’s policy think tank, explained that MSMEs, directly and indirectly, create about 70 million jobs, account for 45% of India’s manufacturing output, and 40% of exports. The sector also accounts for around 30% of the country’s GDP.
The government is well aware of the contribution and potential of MSMEs, and over the years, it has extended packages aimed at boosting growth and deepening the market. In fact, in Budget 2019, the Finance Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to providing stimulus to the MSMEs and made the highest ever allocation of Rs 7011.29 crore to its Ministry. But then came the black swan event that derailed all plans for this or any other sector the coronavirus pandemic.
PM- WANI is the right tool to achieve the objectives of creating millions of inter-operable Wi-Fi Hotspots in India : Consumer Voice Advisor
It took almost seven years after the internet was first thrown open to the public in 1995 to reach 1 percent of India’s population, and another nine years for this figure to cross 10 percent.
Dec 18, 2020 10:29:50 IST
The Union Cabinet, on 9 December, approved the establishment of public Wi-Fi networks across the country. It was really heartening to see that most of the suggestions given (by the writer of this column) to the TRAI during the consultation process initiated in 2016, were heeded. Public WiFi will be provided through Public Data Offices (PDOs) via a Central government scheme called the Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI).