The financial implications of the scheme as well as the total number of beneficiaries are not known yet. (Representational image)AHEAD OF the Lok Sabha elections, the cash-strapped Punjab government has decided to provide smartphones to youths in the state – a pre-poll promise by the Congress before the Assembly polls in 2017. The issue was taken up in a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that gave a green signal to the modalities for distribution of smartphones.
As per the plan, the state plans to provide smartphone, worth Rs 3,000-4,000, to students who pass their senior secondary examinations, graduating students of government schools, colleges and technical institutes, in the first phase.
Only those students who have never had a smartphone in their name will be considered for the scheme. Self-certification will be required from the students stating that they do not already have a smartphone.
A government statement said the smartphone would have a touch screen, camera and applications to access social media etc. In addition, one-time bundled 12 GB data and 600 local minutes talk time (voice) with a year’s validity would also be provided under the scheme.
The financial implications of the scheme as well as the total number of beneficiaries are not known yet. A government functionary told The Indian Express that the picture would be clear only after bids were invited and tender was allotted to a vendor that would supply the phones.
The vendor will be selected through an open transparent bidding process for which the tender document has already been floated by the Punjab Information and Communication Technology Corporation. Vendors will be on board within two months and the first batch of phones is expected to be distributed in March.
The state is yet to finalise the name of the scheme. The Cabinet authorised the Chief Minister to finalise the name, besides authorising the chairman of the committee for procurement and distribution of smartphones to make changes in the Request For Proposal (RFP).
The Punjab government had announced a scheme named ‘Mobile phones to youths’ in its budget for 2017-18 with the objective of providing digital access to youth and information regarding education, career opportunities, access to skill development and employment opportunities and basic citizen centric services through government applications.
The department of sports and youth affairs had constituted a committee in April 2017 with the objective of implementation of the scheme. The committee was reconstituted in August 2017 and the Department of Industries was made the nodal agency. Punjab Information and Communication Technology Corporation Ltd (Punjab Infotech) under the Department of Industries was designated as the Executing Agency of the Project.
The reconstituted committee decided that a Project Management Consultant (PMC) be appointed to assist in conceptualising the project, preparation of Detailed Project Report and planning and executing other related activities. Punjab Infotech invited open bids for selection of PMC from National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI) empanelled consulting organisations. The selection criteria was based on ‘Quality and Cost Based Selection’ (QCBS) and the bidders were required to quote for efforts for the assignment on the basis of fixed NICSI rates. The most responsive bid was found to be from M/S KPMG. M/S KPMG was thus selected to be the PMC at a cost of Rs 72.19 lakh for the duration of the project.
The government was under fire for not fulfilling its ‘smartphone’ promise. It was then decided that before the government gets on the defensive in an important election year, it should roll out the smartphone scheme.
