What an Idea...
Three months before polls, the CM unveils a freebie phone plan
TOUCH SCREEN CM Raman Singh, actor Kangana Ranaut launch the smartphone distribution scheme
In a scheme inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind on July 26, the Raman Singh government is doling out free, data-enabled smartphones to some 5.5 million people, including womenfolk in five million households and 500,000 college students. The Sanchar Kranti Yojana (SKY), while expected to propel mobile phone penetration in Chhattisgarh, is evidently also designed to help the ruling BJP reach voters ahead of the polls this November.
It has been in the works since April 2015, when during a visit to villages in Narayanpur district, Singh received a flood of complaints about the lack of mobile connectivity. Back in Raipur, the CM told his officers that people’s aspirations had moved beyond bijli, sadak, paani.
The villagers’ grievance was reflected in the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011: mobile penetration in rural Chhattisgarh was a mere 29 per cent against the national average of 68 per cent. There were disparities within the state too. Central districts like Raipur, Bemetara and Durg had close to 50 per cent mobile penetration, whereas in insurgency-affected Dantewada, Narayanpur, Sukma and Bijapur, it was abysmal—between 7 and 13 per cent. Network coverage followed a similar pattern.
In a bid to correct the situation, the state government launched SKY. As per modali-