PANAJI
Goa has the highest number of women in the 15-49 age group among all States who have a mobile phone that they use, with a whopping 91.2% which is far ahead of the national average (53.9%).
These figures were revealed by Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Goa was placed ahead of Sikkim (88.6%), Kerala (86.6%), Lakshadweep (84%) and Puducherry (82.8%), while the States which fared poorly were Madhya Pradesh (38.5%), Chhattisgarh (40.7%), Uttar Pradesh (46.5%), Andhra Pradesh (48.9%), Odisha and West Bengal (50.1%).
Vaishnaw stated that the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare periodically conducts the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) to collect crucial data on population, health and associated domains.
Five rounds of NFHS have been conducted in the country during 1992-93, 1998-99, 2005-06, 2015-16 and 2019-21. As per the survey report, the female internet users in India stands at 51.8% (urban), 24.6% (rural), and, 33.3% (total).
Vaishnaw stated that the May 2022 survey report of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), for the period 2019-21 revealed that 33.3 percent of women in 15-49-year age group in India have used internet.
The union minister stated that the central government had launched the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) scheme in 2017, to usher digital literacy in rural India to cover 6 crore rural households (one person per household) by March 31 this year.
To ensure equitable geographical reach, each of the 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats across the country are envisaged to register an average of 200-300 candidates, he stated.
The PMGDISHA is being implemented at the panchayat level in the State and till date, Goa has registered 55,980 citizens, of which 51,980 have become digitally literate and 37,683 have been certified. Among those who are certified, 23,633 are women and 14,050 are men, stated a report by the central government.
In the scheme, digitally literate persons are able to operate computers/digital access devices like tablets, smart phones, etc., send and receive emails, browse internet, access Government Services, search for information, undertake cashless transactions, etc.
The minister informed that under this scheme, as on January 30, a total of around 6.69 crore candidates have been enrolled and 5.77 crore have been trained, out of which 4.28 crore candidates have been certified by duly authorized 3rd party Assessment Agencies.
Out of the total certified candidates, around 2.42 crore beneficiaries are female (approx. 56% of the total certification).
