Haryana: State Cabinet says all gram panchayats will be WiFi enabled by 2019

The Haryana Cabinet today said all gram panchayats in the state will have Wi-Fi zone within the next two years.

The Cabinet, which met under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here, approved 'Haryana IT and ESDM Policy-2017', an official spokesman said.

"The policy envisages one Wi-Fi zone in all 6,078 gram panchayats within two years, broadband to every household and Wi-Fi zone at important public places in all towns and cities, 4G services in every village in the next three years," the spokesman said.

The policy aims to develop Information Technology (IT) and Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sectors over five years as key growth drivers, he said.

The five-year goal of the draft policy includes generation of employment for 15 lakh persons in the IT-ESDM sector by 2020, increasing the sector's contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the state from 9.4 per cent to 15 per cent, and making Haryana pioneer in research and development for ESDM by producing 1,000 patents.

Provision has been made under the policy for various financial incentives, simplified regulatory regime and infrastructure augmentation for different categories such as IT and ITeS, ESDM, startups, MSME backward and most backward regions and digital governance, the spokesman said.