Science & Tech· Prelims · GS-III
Samriddh Gram Wins the WSIS Prize 2026
The Department of Telecommunications' BharatNet-based Samriddh Gram wins the WSIS Prize 2026 under Action Line C6: the phygital village model, the Samriddhi Kendras, and the WSIS Prizes.
Samriddh Gram wins the WSIS Prize 2026
The Department of Telecommunications has been announced as the global winner of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes 2026, under Action Line C6, Enabling Environment, for its flagship project Samriddh Gram: Integrated Phygital Service Delivery Model Enabled by BharatNet. The award was presented during the WSIS Forum 2026 in Geneva, Switzerland, on 9 July 2026.
- What won: Samriddh Gram, a rural digital transformation initiative built on the BharatNet broadband network.
- Category: Action Line C6, Enabling Environment, one of the 18 award categories under the WSIS Prizes 2026.
- How it was chosen: a multi-stage process of project submission, international screening, global online voting with more than 2.2 million votes cast across all nominated projects, selection among the top five Champion Projects in its category, and final adjudication by the WSIS Expert Committee.
- Field: nearly 1,600 submissions from over 120 countries; only two projects from India were selected as Champion Projects, and Samriddh Gram went on to emerge as the global winner in its category.
What Samriddh Gram does in a village
Samriddh Gram is an integrated rural digital transformation initiative of the Department of Telecommunications, built on the BharatNet backbone and piloted in Madhya Pradesh. It establishes Samriddhi Kendras as village-level service centres that combine physical facilities with digital platforms, so that a villager can reach essential services without travelling to a distant town.
- Healthcare: telemedicine and health services at the village centre.
- Digital education: learning access and digital literacy for students.
- AR/VR skilling: immersive skill training using augmented and virtual reality.
- Smart agriculture: digital tools and advisories for farmers.
- Digital banking: banking and payment services in the village.
- Common Service Centre services: e-governance services through the CSC network.
- E-commerce: buying and selling through digital marketplaces.
- Connectivity: fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and PM-WANI public Wi-Fi.
The word to remember is phygital: physical centres plus digital platforms, delivered together. BharatNet supplies the connectivity, the Kendra supplies the assisted human point of contact, and the services ride on both.
The WSIS Prizes and Action Line C6
The WSIS Prizes recognise projects that use information and communication technologies to advance sustainable development. They were established in 2012 and are organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) under the World Summit on the Information Society process.
- Action Line C6, Enabling Environment: one of the 11 Action Lines under the WSIS framework. It focuses on creating supportive policy, legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks for an inclusive and secure Information Society.
- Why C6 fits Samriddh Gram: the project is not a single app but an enabling environment in miniature, a village centre where connectivity, services and assisted access come together under one roof.
- 2026 in numbers: the 15th annual WSIS Prizes, announced at the WSIS Forum 2026 in Geneva, gave top honours to projects from 15 countries and 3 international organisations.
For prelims, the chain is short: WSIS Prizes, established 2012, organised by the ITU, Samriddh Gram the 2026 global winner under Action Line C6, built on BharatNet, delivered through Samriddhi Kendras.
Key Terms
- WSIS Prizes: global awards for ICT projects advancing sustainable development, established 2012, organised by the ITU under the WSIS process.
- Samriddh Gram: the Department of Telecommunications' rural digital transformation initiative on BharatNet, global winner of the WSIS Prizes 2026 under Action Line C6.
- Samriddhi Kendra: a village-level service centre combining physical facilities with digital platforms.
- BharatNet: India's national broadband network connecting gram panchayats with high-speed internet.
- Action Line C6: the WSIS Action Line on Enabling Environment, covering policy, legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks for an inclusive Information Society.
Prelims practice
- 1. Samriddh Gram won the WSIS Prize 2026 under which Action Line? (a) C2 (b) C6 (c) C7 (d) C10.
- 2. The WSIS Prizes are organised by (a) UNESCO (b) ITU (c) UNDP (d) World Bank.
Answer key
- 1. (b) C6, Enabling Environment. 2. (b) ITU.
Mains Practice question
Samriddh Gram won the WSIS Prize 2026 for a phygital model that combines village-level service centres with BharatNet connectivity. Discuss how such a model can close the rural digital divide, and the challenges of scaling it from pilot to nationwide coverage.