Jahnavi Mukul ENT-2006: Governance Entrepreneurship Professor Piyush Tiwari Teaching Fellow Ananya Sharma 26th September 2021 Assignment One Problem Statement: According to the World Economic Forum, 685 million people in India are still unconnected. The problem particularly exists in rural areas where there is a lack of infrastructure to support internet access. Limited penetration of broadband connections is an important infrastructural limitation which restricts instant access to virtual resources providing information on crucial areas such as banking, education, healthcare, neonatal care, etc. Ask: The central government needs to work on a rural broadband policy framework, which facilitates rural infrastructure by developing infrastructure sharing options, such as licensing for companies to support cost-effective services and exclusive access to companies on a region-byregion basis. In rural areas, telecom infrastructure is the most viable method to provide connectivity as opposed to optic fibre because these areas are under connected with difficult terrains and the telecom industry has a flexible backhaul network system. This would help in making rural areas better connected and provide greater access to information. Theory of Change Statement: 1. Input: Rural broadband policy framework and discussions with telecom companies to work on infrastructural developments using the pre-existing telecom infrastructure which are available to the companies. 2. Output: This would lead to the development of internet infrastructure in these rural areas. The access to internet would become available to the rural population. 3. Outcome: This would lead to an increase in access to information for the rural populations. Identification of the Power Holder: The two power holders important for my problem statement are: the electronics and information technology minister and the minister of communications- Ashwini Vaishnaw and the minister of state (independent charge) for communications Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre. Power Map: First degree contact: My mother is a journalist and she directly knows Ashwini Vaishnaw since he is also the railways minister and she covers the same for her newspaper, Business Standard. Stakeholder Analysis: The stakeholders important in this scenario are: 1. Central government: Central government has formal authority and visible power in this sphere. Communication, including wireless, comes under the central government as per the union list, so the main stakeholder for this project would be the central government. Involving the central government in the project would be key because it would require the development of a rural broadband policy framework, which the ministry of electronics and it would be crucial towards bringing about. The central government will also be crucial in incentivizing telecom companies to support infrastructural development in rural areas and will also be able to allocate monetary support. This will help in subsidizing the services to the rural populations. The central government also has the power to award exclusive access to companies on a region-by-region basis. 2. Telecom companies: Telecom companies also yield formal authority and visible power in the ability to bring about change in this sphere. This is because telecom companies are the main providers of communications service. Telecom companies have the crucial networks and the technical know-how to develop internet infrastructure in rural areas. The challenge here would be to get the telecom companies to agree with the Once the central government has agreed to the ask, the next main step would be to include the telecom companies, which would be done with the help of the government by providing monetary and exclusive access incentives to the companies. 3. Local administration: Local administration in the specific rural areas will be crucial stakeholders in handling the day-to-day operations of the specific infrastructural projects. They will also be able to provide how to map the terrain and other localized knowledge needed for the projects to come to fruition.
