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Digital Bharat Nidhi, under the Department of Telecommunications, signed an agreement at Sanchar Bhawan, New Delhi on 10 September 2026 to implement the Amended BharatNet Program in Jharkhand under the State-led model.
Signatories: DBN (DoT), the Government of Jharkhand, Jharkhand Digital Infrastructure Corporation Limited (JDICL), BSNL and Jharkhand Communication Network Limited (JCNL).
Financial support of Rs 1,684 crore has been provisioned for Jharkhand; the scope covers 4,395 gram panchayats and on-demand connectivity to 26,777 villages.
4,387 existing gram panchayats will be upgraded from linear to ring topology and 8 newly created ones added; more than four lakh rural home fibre connections are expected with Central subsidy support.
Digital Bharat Nidhi is the renamed Universal Service Obligation Fund, converted by the Telecommunications Act, 2023.
Support universal service by promoting access to and delivery of telecommunication services in underserved rural, remote and urban areas.
Key: An attached office of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications. It funds BharatNet, the 4G Saturation Project and mobile services in aspirational districts, Left Wing Extremism-affected areas, Himalayan and border areas, islands and the North East. The Telecommunications (Administration of Digital Bharat Nidhi) Rules were notified on 30 August 2024.
Predecessor fund financing rural telecom from a levy on telecom operators' adjusted gross revenue.
Key: Established under the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003 with effect from 1 April 2002; renamed Digital Bharat Nidhi by the Telecommunications Act, 2023.
Provide broadband connectivity to gram panchayats and, on demand, to villages through optical fibre.
Key: Launched in October 2011 as the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) and renamed BharatNet in 2015; Phase-I covered over one lakh gram panchayats and was completed in December 2017, with Phase-II extending coverage using fibre, radio and satellite links. The programme targets about 2.5 lakh gram panchayats.
Upgrade, consolidate and expand the existing BharatNet network for robust, future-ready broadband to all gram panchayats, with village connectivity on demand.
Key: Approved by the Union Cabinet on 4 August 2023 with an outlay of about Rs 1,39,579 crore; it converts Phase-I and Phase-II networks to ring topology and builds out the remaining gram panchayats. BSNL is the Project Management Agency, and States such as Jharkhand implement through State SPVs under the State-led model.
The Special Purpose Vehicle created to execute BharatNet; incorporated on 25 February 2012 under the Companies Act, 1956 and since merged into BSNL, which now carries project management for the Amended BharatNet Program.
State-owned telecom operator, a signatory to the Jharkhand agreement and the Project Management Agency for the Amended BharatNet Program.
New State Special Purpose Vehicle through which the Amended BharatNet Program will be implemented in Jharkhand under the State-led model.
Replaced the colonial-era telegraph framework and converted the Universal Service Obligation Fund into the Digital Bharat Nidhi, widening the mandate from rural access alone to research, pilot projects and next-generation technologies.
Gave statutory backing to the USOF, operative from 1 April 2002 - the fund that Digital Bharat Nidhi succeeds.
GS Paper 2 > Governance > Government Policies and Interventions for Development
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The renamed Universal Service Obligation Fund under the Telecommunications Act, 2023; an attached office of the Department of Telecommunications funding rural and remote connectivity.
Network layout in which each node connects to two others forming a loop, so a single fibre cut does not disconnect the panchayats beyond it - the resilience upgrade at the heart of the Amended BharatNet Program.
BharatNet implementation route in which a State Special Purpose Vehicle executes the project with Central funding, as JDICL will in Jharkhand.