Ravi Shankar Prasad launches mobile app to aid digital literacy in Bihar

NEW DELHI: Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched a mobile app in Bihar to aid digital literacy in the state.

The app, Disha, is expected to help people learn about computers and Internet through selflearning modules. It is free and available on Google Play Store.

In order to offer digital literacy to tribal and Dalit women in Bihar, the minister awarded tablet computers to women who received training from common service centres in the state.

The move is seen as part of a string of initiatives being announced by the government as the assembly elections in Bihar draw near.

Prasad stressed on the need for intensified efforts to bridge the void in infrastructure and developmental between Bihar and other states. The central government would enhance direct interventional programmes “to bring rural Bihar closer to urban habitation and make the tribal population realise the benefits of development of which they have been deprived for long”, he said.

Under the initiatives to improve digital connectivity in Bihar, BSNL will install 1,000 new base stations in the state and 184 of these will be located in Naxal-affected areas. All 8,354 gram panchayats of Bihar will be connected under Bharat Net in next three years.