The Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) flagship rural digital transformation initiative, Samriddh Gram: Integrated Phygital Service Delivery Model Enabled by BharatNet, has won the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes 2026 under Action Line C6 – Enabling Environment.
The award was presented during the WSIS Forum 2026 in Geneva, recognising India’s model of using digital public infrastructure and telecom connectivity to deliver integrated services in rural areas.
Instituted under the World Summit on the Information Society process led by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the WSIS Prizes honour projects that use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to advance sustainable development.
Minister Hails Global Recognition
Union Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region Jyotiraditya M. Scindia described the award as “another feather in the cap for Bharat on the global stage.”
Sharing the achievement on X, the minister said the recognition reflects global acknowledgement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of an inclusive Digital India, where the benefits of technology reach even the remotest villages.
He said the BharatNet-powered Samriddh Gram initiative converts connectivity into opportunity by delivering healthcare, education, digital banking and livelihood services through village-level Samriddhi Kendras. He added that the award reinforces India’s leadership in Digital Public Infrastructure and demonstrates the global scalability of solutions developed to address India’s unique needs.
What is Samriddh Gram?
Samriddh Gram is an integrated rural digital transformation initiative built on the BharatNet network. At its core are Samriddhi Kendras, which function as one-stop village-level centres providing digital as well as assisted physical services.
The centres offer a wide range of citizen-centric services, including healthcare, education, agriculture, financial inclusion, skilling, e-governance and e-commerce.
Healthcare services include tele-consultation, diagnostic facilities through Health ATMs and access to medicines through PM Jan Aushadhi Kendras. The initiative also provides smart classrooms, AR/VR-based skill development, IoT-enabled soil testing, drone-assisted fertiliser and pesticide spraying, app-based smart irrigation, Common Service Centre (CSC) services, Banking Correspondent services, e-commerce support for local products, FTTH and PM-WANI connectivity, CCTV-based village surveillance and community-level digital facilitation.
According to the DoT, the project demonstrates how BharatNet and last-mile telecom infrastructure can be leveraged to generate measurable socio-economic outcomes by combining digital connectivity with local facilitation and community participation.
Global Recognition
The recognition highlights India’s efforts to create an enabling environment for digital inclusion by integrating robust telecom infrastructure with citizen-centric service delivery.
The DoT said BharatNet, one of the world’s largest rural broadband initiatives, has made more than 2.17 lakh Gram Panchayats service-ready and online, expanding digital access across rural India.
Samriddh Gram was selected as the Global Winner after a multi-stage evaluation process that included project submission, international screening, global online voting, selection among the top five Champion Projects in its category and final adjudication by the WSIS Expert Committee. More than 2.2 million votes were cast globally across all nominated projects during the online voting phase.
Among the 18 award categories under the WSIS Prizes 2026, only two projects from India were selected as Champion Projects. Samriddh Gram went on to emerge as the Global Winner in Action Line C6 – Enabling Environment.
The project also contributes to multiple Sustainable Development Goals by promoting healthcare, quality education, financial inclusion, livelihoods, innovation, reduced inequalities and digital empowerment.
