| Consider the following statements regarding Universal Service Obligation Fund. |
| 1. Provision of household telephones in rural areas. |
| 2. It has the mandate for creation of infrastructure for mobile services in remote, rural areas. |
| 3. Provision of household telephones in rural areas and broadband in villages in a phased manner. |
| 4. It is created under Ministry of Rural Development. |
| 5. It also does some allocation under gender budgeting. |
| Which of the statements given above are correct? |
A) 1, 2, 3 and 5
B) 2, 3 and 4
C) 4 and 5
D) 3, 4 and 5
Correct Answer: A
Solution :
[a] Here, the idea is to provide universal access to telecom services, i.e. focus on providing telecom services to rural and remote areas at affordable and reasonable prices fund, exclusively for meeting the above objectives, created under Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. It is a non-lapsable fund i.e. unspent amount under target financial year does not lapse, accrues for next years spending. All credits to the fund require par approval and it has a statutory support under Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003. Apart from the provision given above, it also aims for introduction of new technologies like national optic fibre network in rural areas. It is resources through a service levy at 5% of adjusted gross revenue of all telecom service providers, funds to come through Central Government grants. Specially in this scheme is that, it also does some allocation under gender budgeting for providing services to women, like broadband access women SHGs.
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