The Odisha’s Recently Discovered ‘Hello Point’ (mobile network) Odisha topped the list back then as well, with 6,549 uncovered villages.
We have long seen that in Odisha, progress and necessary improvements are not being made. In the modern world, it is difficult to live without a phone or a mobile network. Odisha has the greatest percentage (6,549) of populated villages without access to mobile networks. There are certain areas in Odisha that still lack a functional network. Many wealthy individuals and businesses have begun the race to get the 5G spectrum, a small portion of the public is being disregarded.
A “hello point” has recently been discovered by the residents of Bengaon village and the villages that surround it in the Lanjigarh block of Kalahandi district. There is just a mobile network in this place, which is a little area under a peepal tree. In this tribally dominated block, more than 70% of the communities are completely disconnected from cell networks.
COVID-19’s impact
It got worse because of COVID-19. “Online learning and education are unavailable to us. Mamita, a fifteen-year-old from a nearby hamlet who treks more than six kilometres each day to get to the greeting point, said, “We didn’t have any chance to study and learn since the schools stayed closed for around two years. (Source: Down to Earth )
According to information provided to the Lok Sabha by the Union Minister of State for Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on February 5, 2020. There are 27,721 inhabited villages in India that lack access to mobile signals in a world where these devices have become essential. . In addition to lowering socioeconomic inequities, access to telecommunication and information services is really important. Network in rural areas will put positive effects on banking, government, agriculture, education, healthcare, and other sectors.
As per the government, 43,088 localities in the nation lacked network access in 2018. Odisha has the most of these villages at that time with 9,940. There were 27,721 at the start of 2020. Odisha topped the list back then as well, with 6,549 uncovered villages.
Universal Service Obligation Fund
Due to the economic cost modelling potentially being considerably different from that of metropolitan regions, commercial telecom corporations may not be interested in this region. In 2003, the government approved the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) programme to give everyone in rural and isolated regions access to high-quality ICT services. There is still no connection in about 43% of the USOF-included communities.
In a society marked by extreme inequality, we often debate and refer to the digital divide in terms of people’s familiarity with utilising digital services .But we seldom raise the issue of people’s access to these services. Having digital gadgets and especially a network is now very necessary in this digital age. There are numerous settlements outside that don’t even have a proper network and are ignorant of any developments taking on in the outside world.
Therefore, providing a network to these locations has actually become the responsibility of the government today.