HYDERABAD: The southern States of the country are lagging behind when it comes to the enrollment and training of candidates under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA), a scheme which aims to impart digital knowledge among rural citizens, data obtained by Express showed.
The southern States of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka had significantly lower number of “students registered” and “certified students” than that of Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh.
In fact among the States with the lowest implementation was Kerala, where out of the 25,116 registered students, only 9,416 got certified. In contrast, Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of enrollment with 55 lakh, and 32 lakh getting certified.
A source opined that it could be because none of the southern States are governed by BJP. “When it comes to Rythu Bandhu or other State government initiatives, the district collectors are asked to give maximum promotion to it. But that is not the case when Central government initiatives are involved,” the source said. “Similarly, most of the States where there is a higher number of enrollment are BJP-ruled States.
They are free to advertise with the photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a facet that could prove to be of little trouble for officials there,” the source opined. In fact, majority of the States from the northern part are ruled by BJP governments.