The article investigates the Geographical variations in the outreach of information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion and its effects on rural development across 341 Community Development (CD) blocks of West Bengal. The study is based on secondary data. Secondary data has been collected from Districts Statistical Handbook, Primary Census Abstract, District Census Handbook, and Socio-Economic and Caste Census. The principal component analysis technique has been used for ICT diffusion index calculation. ArcMap 10.1 has been used for Mapmaking to understand the spatial intensity of the ICT index. The study finds that West Bengal falls within the least zone (0.07–0.18) of ICT diffusion in India due to multi-dimensional socio-economic factors. Only 35 CD blocks out of 341 are located in the high ICT diffusion zone (0.49–0.79) in West Bengal, which is 6.87 percent area to the total area. The study concluded that the higher the ICT diffusion higher is the rural development in West Bengal. The study recommends that the government invest more money in ICT in rural development.

中文翻译：

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印度西孟加拉邦信息和通信技术推广及农村发展的地理差异

本文调查了信息和通信技术 (ICT) 传播范围的地理差异及其对西孟加拉邦 341 个社区发展 (CD) 街区农村发展的影响。该研究基于二手数据。二手数据是从《地区统计手册》、《初级人口普查摘要》、《地区人口普查手册》以及《社会经济和种姓普查》中收集的。主成分分析技术已用于ICT扩散指数的计算。ArcMap 10.1已用于制图，以了解ICT指数的空间强度。研究发现，由于多维的社会经济因素，西孟加拉邦属于印度 ICT 扩散的最小区域（0.07-0.18）。341 个 CD 区块中只有 35 个位于西孟加拉邦的高 ICT 扩散区 (0.49–0.79)，占总面积的6.87%。研究得出的结论是，信息通信技术普及程度越高，西孟加拉邦的农村发展就越高。该研究建议政府在农村发展的信息通信技术方面投入更多资金。