Discuss the State-led model of BharatNet implementation as an instance of cooperative federalism. What are its advantages and risks?

Cooperative federalism means the Union and the States sharing roles to reach a common goal. BharatNet's State-led model under the Amended BharatNet Program (ABP) is an example: the Centre funds the network and the State builds and runs it. Maharashtra's agreement of 1 October 2026, covering 28,237 Gram Panchayats (GPs), is the latest case [1].

How the model reflects cooperative federalism

• The Centre pays: Digital Bharat Nidhi, the renamed USOF under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, gives ₹10,520 crore for Maharashtra [1].
• The State executes: a State special-purpose company (MDIL in Maharashtra, GFGNL in Gujarat) builds and runs the network. BSNL is the single Project Management Agency [1][2][3].
• Contractual partnership: multi-party agreements fix each party's role. Maharashtra's has five parties and Gujarat's has four [1][3].

Advantages

• Local problem-solving: Gujarat gave network equipment its own power supply and used 'Call Before You Dig' to prevent fibre cuts. Gujarat and Punjab were the only States above 95% uptime. Under the CPSU-led model, the average was 11.84% [4].
• Grassroots fit: States keep track of changes in panchayats. Maharashtra's scope includes 326 newly created GPs [1].
• Stronger design: ring topology, IP-MPLS routers and 10-year O&M (operation and maintenance) mean one fault no longer cuts off a GP [2].

Risks

• Blurred accountability: CAG found that when many agencies ran BharatNet, nobody owned the failures. Maharashtra's agreement now has five parties [4].
• Poor track record: only 33.20% of "service-ready" GPs were actually working in November 2025. Maharashtra's Phase-II ring GPs showed almost zero availability [4].
• Monitoring gap: Maharashtra's State network control room (NOC) is not yet linked to the Central NOC [4].
• BSNL's dual role: TRAI flagged a conflict of interest, because BSNL runs the network and also competes with the operators who rent it [4].
• Weak spending capacity: in 2025-26, BharatNet spending at the revised stage was 75% below the budget [5].

In short, the State-led model combines central money with State execution, but it will succeed only if someone is held accountable for results. CAG's recommendations should be written into every agreement: pay for uptime, link State and Central NOCs, create a separate BharatNet unit inside BSNL, and make government departments guaranteed customers to build demand [4]. Done well, the model can turn cooperative federalism into working rural internet and advance SDG 9 (resilient infrastructure).