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Digital Bharat Nidhi, under the Department of Telecommunications, has signed an agreement at Sanchar Bhawan, New Delhi for implementing the Amended BharatNet Programme in Chhattisgarh under the State-led model.
The signatories are Digital Bharat Nidhi, the Government of Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh State BharatNet Infrastructure Limited, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and the Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society, with CSBIL implementing the project.
The Government of India has approved ₹3,942 crore of financial support, and the programme is expected to enable more than three lakh rural home fibre connections in the State.
The scope covers 11,682 gram panchayats — 4,048 Phase I panchayats to be upgraded from linear to ring topology, 5,964 Phase II panchayats, and 1,670 newly created panchayats — plus on-demand connectivity to 8,328 villages.
Digital Bharat Nidhi is the renamed Universal Service Obligation Fund, an attached office of the Department of Telecommunications; the Union Cabinet approved the Amended BharatNet Programme on 4 August 2023.
Upgrade, consolidate and expand the existing BharatNet network so that every gram panchayat, and any village that asks for it, has robust and future-ready broadband.
Key: Approved by the Union Cabinet on 4 August 2023 with an outlay of ₹1,39,579 crore covering 2.64 lakh gram panchayats in ring topology; implemented through either a State-led model, as in Chhattisgarh, or a centrally driven model.
Provide optical fibre backhaul to gram panchayats as the backbone for rural digital services.
Key: Launched in October 2011 as the National Optical Fibre Network and renamed BharatNet in 2015; Bharat Broadband Network Limited, a special purpose vehicle under BSNL, has been the executing agency, and the network is now being upgraded from linear to ring topology.
Extend mobile coverage to villages that still have none.
Key: One of the Digital Bharat Nidhi-funded schemes, executed largely through BSNL.
Cover regions the market will not serve on its own.
Key: Digital Bharat Nidhi funds mobile services in uncovered parts of aspirational districts, Left Wing Extremism-affected areas, Himalayan and border areas, islands and the North Eastern region.
The first phase of BharatNet largely used linear or tree topology: fibre ran outward from a block headquarters to each gram panchayat along a single path. It is cheap to build and fragile to operate, because a single cable cut — a road-widening excavator, a landslide — takes every panchayat downstream off the network until it is repaired. In ring topology the fibre leaves the exchange, passes through the panchayats and returns, so traffic can travel either way round the loop and a single break is survivable. That is the difference between a link that carries occasional browsing and one that a school examination, a telemedicine consultation or a bank's business correspondent can depend on. It is why the Chhattisgarh scope lists 4,048 Phase I panchayats for upgradation separately from the 5,964 Phase II panchayats being covered: the first group already has fibre and needs resilience, the second needs the fibre itself. The 8,328 villages come on a demand basis, which reflects the other lesson of BharatNet's first decade — that connectivity reaching the panchayat office is not the same as a household being connected, which is what the target of three lakh rural home fibre connections addresses.
Simple Analogy: A linear network is a dead-end street: block it anywhere and everything beyond is cut off. A ring is a roundabout — if one arm is blocked, traffic goes the other way.
Funds universal service — access to telecommunication services in underserved rural, remote and urban areas — through BharatNet, the 4G Saturation Project and connectivity schemes for difficult areas.
Policy and licensing authority for telecommunications and the parent department for DBN and BSNL.
State-owned telecom operator, a signatory to the Chhattisgarh agreement and the long-standing executing arm for BharatNet and rural connectivity projects.
The State-level implementing company for the Amended BharatNet Programme in Chhattisgarh under the State-led model.
| Aspect | State-led model | Centre-driven implementation |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds and operates | A State government company, here CSBIL, with BSNL as a partner | Central agencies and contractors engaged by the Department of Telecommunications |
| Funding | Central financial support released through Digital Bharat Nidhi — ₹3,942 crore for Chhattisgarh | Digital Bharat Nidhi funding directly to the central executing agency |
| Advantage claimed | State ownership of last-mile execution, right-of-way and integration with State e-governance | Uniform standards and central procurement scale |
| Instrument | A multi-party agreement between DBN, the State government, the State SPV, BSNL and the State IT society | Central work orders under the programme |
BharatNet is the physical backbone assumed by every digital public service — DBT, digital payments, telemedicine under eSanjeevani and online school education.
Digital Bharat Nidhi is funded by a levy on telecom operators' revenue, so it connects to the adjusted gross revenue debate and to the Telecommunications Act, 2023 framework.
DBN's mandate expressly covers LWE-affected districts, Himalayan and border areas, islands and the North East — connectivity as security and integration policy.
The State-led model, with a State SPV and a State IT society signing alongside the Centre and BSNL, is a working example of shared implementation of a central scheme.
BSNL's role as executing agency ties this to the revival package for BSNL and to the debate on the place of state-owned operators in a competitive telecom market.
GS Paper 2 > Governance > e-Governance, government policies and interventions; GS Paper 3 > Infrastructure
General Awareness > Government schemes and institutions
General Awareness > Government schemes and rural infrastructure
General Awareness > Current events of national importance
Which one of the following is not a feature of Indian federalism?
Answer: It is the result of an agreement among the federating units.
BharatNet and USOF/Digital Bharat Nidhi recur in Prelims and in banking awareness whenever rural connectivity funding is announced, and the renaming makes the topic freshly testable.
The renamed Universal Service Obligation Fund, an attached office of the Department of Telecommunications that funds telecom access in underserved areas.
The 2023 recast of BharatNet, approved on 4 August 2023 with an outlay of ₹1,39,579 crore, to upgrade panchayats to ring topology and connect villages on demand.
A network layout in which fibre forms a loop, so traffic can reach a node from either direction and a single cable cut does not isolate it.
Implementation of the Amended BharatNet Programme by a State government company with central funding, as against central execution.
The special purpose vehicle under BSNL created to execute BharatNet.