Even though India is a global IT powerhouse, the usage of IT in governance and various sectors of the economy is still comparatively low. In a paradigm shift, the government today embarks on an ambitious ‘Digital India’ programme to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. This programme is centred on three…
On the occasion of National Statistical Day, Haryana government has launched statistical software, e-vishleshak, to make their schemes more effective. Launching the software in Chandigarh, Finance and Planning Minister Capt Abhimanyu termed it as ‘Information Destination’ and said it was required for administrative and government work and entire data of various departments would be available…
The district’s achievements in e-governance and e-transaction will be the highlights of Digital India Week programmes to be launched on Wednesday. Along with the 9-point digital agenda being promoted as part of the programme, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the district-level programme would also include events to celebrate the achievements of the…
An anganwadi worker in rural Karnataka can register her attendance through a service called Mobile One, which a software professional in Bengaluru can also use to pay electricity and water bills or book tickets. This innovation is not by a start-up but by the Karnataka government’s centre for e-governance, which pitches its mobile governance offering,…
The UDF-led Kochi corporation has hardly 45 days to complete their tenure in office. And the local body is making all ‘efforts’ to execute the projects listed in the Mission Kochi 15-08-15 programme. Even as the civic body desperately attempts to at least start all the 32 projects listed in the Mission Kochi programme, it’s…
On a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared the Digital India stage with a host of telecom bosses, consumer representatives slammed those companies in the meeting of the standing committee on communication and information technology, discussing the net neutrality issue. Seven representatives of the “Save the Internet” campaign — started after a consultation paper…
That a DoT panel has come out in favour of partial regulation of over-the-top services like Skype and Viber is easy to understand. For, no matter what the proponents of the so-called net neutrality may argue, allowing a Skype or a Viber a free ride on networks—that telcos have spent upwards of Rs 750,000 crore…
Paid prioritization in the delivery of content over mobile devices has been found to be against net neutrality by a high-powered government committee, which has also censured Facebook’s controversial internet.org platform as it is seen to “extract value”, ostensibly in the name of public purpose. Paid prioritization includes specialized platforms where telecom operators provide greater…
Amidst the ongoing debate on Net Neutrality, India played host to world-famous Economist and Libertarian Theorist David D Friedman. A staunch advocate of free markets, Mr. Friedman was on a trip to India recently with talks in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. His main field of work has been market anarchist theory. This was also the subject…
The European Union has reached an agreement on Net Neutrality which said that telecom companies and Internet providers in the EU are not allowed to block or throttle online content, applications, or services. The EU agreement also banned paid prioritization of Internet traffic and ruled that all traffic should be treated equally. “These rules will be a…