Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant launches STL's digital inclusion initiative - Garv

In the past twenty-five years, India has successfully brought the first half of its population online and in the coming ten years the plan is to bring the second half. But, to unlock rural growth, connectivity has to be supplemented with powerful rural digital applications that actually transform rural lives for the better.

To be part of that digital drive and inclusivity industry-leading integrator of digital networks, STL  launched STL Garv

Garv is a rural digital platform, that will work to bridge the digital divide in Indian villages and this was launched by Amitabh Kant, CEO Niti Aayog virtually on November 12th.

STL Garv, uses BharatNet connectivity and aspires to transform rural lives and usher in growth and prosperity across rural India. It is designed to instill a sense of equality in the people of rural India.

It aims to empower rural Indian communities with meaningful digital services like Telemedicine, e-Tutoring, Government to Citizen services, and assisted e-Commerce.

STL started the design of Garv ecosystem in 2018 and today is piloting in 11 villages - impacting over 54k lives across Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh. These services have especially helped people in the challenging times of this pandemic. With Garv, STL says it is contributing to PM Narendra Modi's Digital India mission, where access to information has no barrier.

While talking about STL Garv, Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said, "When lives of people get transformed, that is when a nation is transformed. India is truly witnessing digital disruption in areas like digital payments, e-education, e-healthcare, and going forward, technology can accelerate the development of India, especially rural India. By transforming rural lives, STL Garv shall bring about this technology revolution in rural India. I am extremely excited to launch STL Garv. I wish STL a successful journey of enabling and empowering Rural India."

Talking about Garv, Anand Agarwal, Group CEO, STL said, "We are privileged to have Amitabh Kant launch STL Garv.  STL has been a trusted partner for rural digitization, and we are excited to be a part of India's digital journey. To connect villages with urban services and educate people to utilize Internet connectivity in meaningful ways, we started project Garv. In our pilot phase, we have successfully touched over 54,000 lives across villages in Maharashtra, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh."