IS Policies
Government of Rajasthan : Online BPL census
June 03, 2008, PC Quest
The Rajasthan Government had launched a project to have a web based monitoring system for the Below Poverty Line family census in the state. The article profiles the challenges and achievements of the project through a series of questions and their coresponding answers.
AP govt to launch portal about departments, schemes
June 13, 2008, The Economic Times
The Andhra Pradesh government is all set to launch an integrated portal which will contain information on all development schemes across departments. Citizens can obtain information on the various stages on implementation of development schemes. The government also aims to publish an e-gazette on the Internet very soon. The portal has been created by Centre for Good Governance.
10,000 mobile phones sold in India every hr
June 19th, 2008, Business Standard
The availability of low cost handsets has meant that mobiles are now within the reach of almost anyone. This news-report shows that over the past year (April 2007- March 2008), there has been a tremendous growth in the handset market. In this period, India shipped close to 85 million hand-sets, registering a growth of 29% over the previous year. In the last quarter of financial year 2008, the figure has touched 22.3 million handsets, which accounts for the 10,000 mobiles per hour.
Free software projects in public enterprises of Kerala
2004, SPACE
Kerala is one of those few states which have successfully implemented a number of e-governance projects. However not many people are aware that many of these e-governance projects are powered by FOSS. This document provides a list of successful FOSS projects which have been implemented in the state of Kerala.
Fixed mobile convergence: subscriber’s ultimate dream!
May 2008, Deepa Tyagi, egov
Surveying India's telecom sector, this article points out the great possibilities that it offers as well as the crucial issues that impede India's progress in this field. The author takes the example of fixed mobile convergence (FMC), which is considered as the telecom business of the future. FMC will enable the user to have a uniform service experience, both while on the move and at the home or office combining the convenience, freedom of movement and personalised services of the wireless world with the high quality and speed of fixed communications.
Internet content filtering in India: Variations in compliance and accuracy
May 27, 2004, The OpenNet Initiative
India has now joined the group of nations which has provisions to enforce Internet content filtering. The recent case of Indian ISPs blocking access to the HinduUnity.org website throws up interesting observations. The mechanism for denying access seems to be based on IP address blocking as opposed to domain name blocking which may lead to legitimate websites becoming inaccessible.
Government may soon find BlackBerry solution
May 16, 2008, Kalyan Parbat and Joji Thomas Philip, The Economic Times
This news report talks about the recent developments in the controversy over monitoring Blackberry traffic in India. It started when the Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM) that owns Blackberry services in India, refused to share the decryption code with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This had raised security concerns since the security agencies could not monitor the data that were being sent due to the high encryption codes.
One held for posting obscene Orkut message on Sonia
May 18, 2008, The Times of India
This news story is about an IT professional who was arrested on charges of posting derogatory comments on Sonia Gandhi, the chief of the Congress party, on a community named 'I hate Soniya Gandhi' on Orkut, the popular social networking site. The police traced the person through the IP address as well as the user information provided in the e-mail by which the comment was posted. The interesting part, however, is that the owner of the community has not been charged.
Election signs
May 11, 2008, Sevanti Ninan, The Hindu
Electronic communication is now one of the key mechanisms of reaching out to the masses of India, both in urban and rural areas. Prasar Bharati which determines the public broadcasting content has unfortunately become a tool for successive governments for its own publicity. Its impartiality and autonomy has suffered a further setback with the appointment of civil servants to the primary posts.
DoT to allow niche operators in rural areas
March 27, 2008, The Business Line
Teledensity rates in rural India is still quite abysmal, the latest figures showing them to be 20 times less than that in urban areas such as Mumbai and Delhi. However, this sector has been given a fillip by the government which is now allowing niche operators to provide services in rural areas. These operators can lease the telecom infrastructure from the big telecom players and provide services to their particular area.
