'Centre planning to set up 20K WiFi choupals'

New Delhi: Minister of Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday said that the government is planning to set up 20,000 WiFi choupals across the country to bring government at the doorstep of people's houses.

While attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interaction with the beneficiaries of Digital India in Dankaur (Uttar Pradesh), the IT Minister said that he was inspired and excited to find out impact stories shared by the beneficiaries of digital initiative.

Prasad also congratulated a 19-year-old girl who cleared Uttar Pradesh police exam using WiFi service provided by the common services centres (CSCs). The minister said that the CSCs are serving more than its purpose and the real benefits can be seen. "This medium has brought significant changes in women's lives through village level entrepreneurs and has connected them with the government directly," the minister said.

"It's a big achievement as common people are connecting themselves with the changing environment in the country and are engaged with the government to put forth their ideas. The daughters of the country will excel and lead in every sphere of their lives with the help of CSCs," the minister said.

On an earlier occasion, the minister had reiterated that close to 2.9 lakh digital kiosks or common service centres spread across rural India will expand their services to also serve as extension counters of banks and provide rail ticket booking.

CSCs provide e-services to rural and remote locations. As part of its efforts to provide better connectivity to such locations and deliver services directly villagers, the government had on Monday said that it would turn 5,000 villages into digital villages, offering Internet under the Wi-Fi Choupal project.