Umri Village Becomes India's First 'Phygital' Model for Rural Service Delivery

This initiative is the part of a pilot project by the Department of Telecommunications to demonstrate how villages can benefit from integrated physical and digital services.

It aims to combine physical facilities with digital services to improve access to essential services in rural areas.

The centre in Umri village will function as a one-stop service hub located in the Panchayat Bhawan.

During the visit, the minister will review demonstrations of various services offered at the centre and interact with local beneficiaries.

He will also inaugurate a health check-up and cataract awareness initiative and address a public gathering.

According to the government, the initiative is designed to showcase how high-speed digital infrastructure created under BharatNet can be used to deliver integrated citizen services at the village level.

BharatNet is one of the world's largest rural broadband programmes and aims to provide high-speed internet connectivity to villages across India.

The Samriddhi Kendra in Umri will provide services across multiple sectors including education and skill development, agriculture support, health and telemedicine, e-governance services, financial inclusion, e-commerce, digital connectivity, and surveillance and safety.

The Umri project is part of a larger pilot initiative that also includes villages in two other states.

These include Narakoduru in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district and Chaurawala in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district.

Each Samriddhi Kendra will serve several nearby villages within a five-kilometre radius and represents different demographic settings.

The pilot programme is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunications with support from the Digital Empowerment Foundation, which is acting as the field operations and community mobilisation partner.

Officials said the Samriddh Gram Phygital Services Pilot will help the government understand how integrated service delivery models can be built using BharatNet connectivity.

The initiative is also expected to create a replicable model for strengthening rural digital service ecosystems by bringing together connectivity infrastructure, service delivery platforms and community participation.

- IANS