The Tamil Nadu Information Technology department is going to introduce the BharatNet program in 12,534 villages panchayats to improve connectivity in the rural areas.

August 19, 2021

With the aim to enhance connectivity in the rural areas, Tamil Nadu Information Technology (IT) department is going to introduce the BharatNet program in 12,534 villages panchayats of the state.

Minister of Information and Technology of Tamil Nadu Mano Thangaraj affirmed in a statement that the state would soon be transformed into a technology hub. He also said that the major aim of the government was to improve the infrastructure that would provide an impetus to an increase in investments that would create more jobs.

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The Tamil Nadu government, according to the IT minister, is planning to capitalise on the skilled manpower, infrastructure, competence, and policies of the state to convert it into the Artificial Intelligence capital of the country.

As per a study found by the IT department, India is ranked eighth in the top ten countries of the world with over 4,000 AI patents being filed in the past five years.

Mr. Ar Rm Arun, President of Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), told IANS, “India is doing extremely well as far as Artificial Intelligence is concerned and the country has recorded the highest increase in the use of AI at 45 percent during the pandemic. Major economies like the US recorded 35 percent, the UK 23 percent, and Japan 28 percent.”

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He said Tamil Nadu has the potential to become the IT capital of India with proper streamlining of available data, human intelligence and affordable computing power.

BharatNet program was launched with the aim to provide high-speed internet connectivity in rural areas. With the BharatNet phase-1, 1 lakh village panchayats have been connected with a high-speed broadband network.