New Delhi, March 27 -- As many as 2.18 lakh gram panchayats out of the total 2.68 lakh in the country have been made service-ready for providing high-speed internet services under the BharatNet project, according to information tabled in Parliament. Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, SP Singh 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.

The minister informed the Upper House that all states are striving to implement the e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) based on the resources available to them. However, due to varying levels of preparedness amo...