Over 2 lakh gram panchayats service-ready for broadband connectivity: Union minister

New Delhi: Over two lakh gram panchayats have been made service-ready under a project that aims to provide affordable high-speed internet to rural India, Minister of State for Panchayati Raj SP Singh Baghel said on Wednesday. Baghel informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that the BharatNet project is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in a phased manner to provide broadband services to all gram panchayats in the country.