In January 2017, the District Administration of Anuppur in Madhya Pradesh decided to cover some of the remotest tribal villages of Pushprajgarh Block in Anuppur viz., Padmnaiya, Baditummi and Sarai under ‘SUGAM’ initiative of Digital India Programme of the Government. These villages had no telecommunication facility, let alone internet facility. Predominantly tribal, these villages are surrounded by forests and are still primarily dependent on them for their needs. Till recently, no conventional form of mobile communication was available in these villages because of its topography. The limited number of users, also made it financially and technically less viable for companies to set up towers in the region. This lack of connectivity hampered the overall development of these villages. The District Administration of Anuppur, however, found a cost effective and sustainable solution to solve the problem of information lag with a customised railway tower. Hence, resolving the issue of delayed service delivery. Customised towers, provided by the railways are a means of providing internet connectivity in remote areas through Radio Frequency (REF). It is a point-to-point connectivity system with one point on the railway side and the other point on the user end... Read More