BHUBANESWAR: With just 4.3 per cent households having computer facility and 10 pc having internet access, Odisha is at the bottom among all states in terms of computer and internet use, reveals the National Sample Survey (NSS) report released recently.
The 75th round survey conducted from July 2017 to June 2018 also found that only 8.5 per cent people in the State have the ability to use computer while only 10.9 pc have the expertise to use internet.
As per the report, the percentage of households having computer facility is 6.4 less than the national average of 10.7 per cent and the percentage of households having internet facility is 13.8 less than the national average of 23.8 per cent.
Odisha also lags behind its neighbouring States like Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The percentage of households having computer and internet facilities is 9.8 and 16.5 in West Bengal, 4.8 and 16.6 in Andhra Pradesh, 4.4 and 18 in Jharkhand and 6.9 and 15.2 in Chhattisgarh respectively.
With 34.9 pc households having computer and 55.7 pc internet facilities, Delhi tops the list in the survey.
As per the report, only 1.8 pc households in rural Odisha have computer facility against 17.2 pc in urban areas.
Likewise, just 5.8 pc households have access to internet against 31.2 pc in urban areas of the State. Only 5.2 pc households in rural Odisha and 25.5 pc in urban areas have the ability to operate computer.
Percentage of males and females with the ability to use computer facility in the State stands at 10.8 and 6 respectively.
Similarly, only 7.4 pc households in rural and 29.3 pc in urban areas have the ability to use internet. Percentage of male and female with the ability to use internet facility stands at 14.4 and 7.3 respectively.