Governance
In news: The scheme is launched by Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
About:
- The scheme is aligned with Prime Minister’s clarion call of adding Jan Anusandhan in the new phase of Amrit Kaal.
- The scheme entails grants to Indian entities to encourage and induct indigenous technologies tailor-made to meet domestic needs.
Objectives:
- Fund R&D in rural-specific communication technology applications
- Form synergies among academia, start-ups, research institutes, and the industry to build and develop the telecom ecosystem.
- Promote technology ownership and indigenous manufacturing
- Create a culture of technology co-innovation, reduce imports, boost export opportunities
- Creation of Intellectual Property.
- Development of standards to meet countrywide requirements and create the ecosystem for research, design, prototyping, use cases, pilots, and proof of concept testing, among others.
About USOF:
- Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) is an attached office of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications.
- It was formed under the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003 giving it a statutory
- It is headed by the Administrator, USO Fund who is appointed by the Central Government, for the administration of the fund.
Source: PIB
