Bhubaneswar, Feb 6: Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday said India would be the world leader in the Telecom sector in the next three to five years.
Talking to media persons here Vaishnav said the Prime Minister has directed to develop 4G and 5G technology indigenously. He said while the development of 4G technology has been completed and its testing is going on the designing of the 5G technology has progressed satisfactorily and would be made available for mobile phone and radio networks soon.
The Union Minister said the technology adopted by India for the development of 4G and 5G technology is far better than the technology adopted by other countries which would help India to become the world leader in the Telecom sector. The Union Minister said his ministry has identified as many as 6,000 villages for the installation of mobile towers in Odisha. He said 3,933 mobile towers would be installed in these villages to provide telecom and internment network. He said a survey is going in the direction of the Prime Minister to find out if any more village other than these 600 villages has no mobile phone connectivity. If any such village is found it would also be covered, he said.
Taking a pot shot at the UPA government, the Union Minister said the BSNL came to near-bankrupt condition during the UPA rule. The BSNL regained financial stability and registered operating profit last year for the first time after Prime Minister Narendra Modi provided it with a revival package of Rs. 90,000 crore. This year a sum of Rs. 45,000 crore allocation has been made in the budget for the telecom sector to take the BSNL to its next stage.
The Union Minister said while during the UPA rule Odisha was given Rs. 800 crore for the development of Railways, the allocation was hiked to Rs. 4126 in 2014 after BJP came to power. This year a record Rs. 9,734 crore was sanctioned for the development of railways in Odisha.
He said more funds would be available to the state if the money sanctioned was utilised. At present up-gradation of around 12 railway stations is going on. The Union Minister said his government was committed to the 4.5 crore people of Odisha and the agenda for the development of the state should not be diluted by political division.
Vaishnav said the Minimum Support Price of Paddy would be transferred directly to the Accounts of the farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to save the farmers from exploitation by middlemen and will boost the rural economy. Vaishnav said the system has proved to be a success in Punjab, Haryana and Western Odisha. The introduction of the system has changed the equation in the village completely.
