The Centre will discuss with the states on May 29 the national optical fibre network project as it seeks their greater participation in the ambitious plan that aims to provide broadband connectivity to all panchayats. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has called “a meeting of IT ministers and secretaries of all the states on May…
India’s ambitious Digital India programme could get derailed due to the financial challenges faced by telcos, apart from the low quantities of spectrum deployed for commercial use and the absence of a road map for releasing more airwaves, telcos and experts say. Mobile phone operators in India face multiple challenges — lowest spectrum holdings in…
Of course, politicians don’t like free speech. But there is enough evidence that freedom of expression is not under grievous threat from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Nothing perhaps exemplifies the hypocritical attitude of Indian politicians towards freedom of expression than the story of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act. This section, which…
For the first time, after Independence, we saw another struggle for freedom, an open war for equal access to the Internet, a call for net neutrality. Unlike the revolt of 1857, the massacre of Jallianwala Bagh, Salt Satyagraha and other events that led to Independence, this war is being fought online against over-the-top (OTT) service…
Chipmaker Intel has come out with a set of initiatives to help fund start-ups and small companies working on technologies for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’ push. Called “Innovate for Digital India Challenge”, Intel has earmarked ₹2.4 crore to fund around 20 ventures, and has partnered with the Department of Science and Technology (DST)…
A tamed inflation, declining fiscal deficit, and GDP growing at 7.4 per cent. Not bad for one year Should we assess the year gone by on the basis of the 52-page election manifesto, or should we be more pragmatic and look at the ground situation? On the economic front, and going by a few significant…
The Nagaland Department of Information Technology and Communication (IT&C) in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) will be organising e-Naga Summit on May 27 at NBCC Convention Center here. According to a statement issued by Commissioner and Secretary of IT K D Vizo, the Summit has been organised with a vision to build…
Members of the Tamil Nadu e-Ticket Agents’ Welfare Association staged a protest demonstration here pressing for a charter of demands, including provision of e-service centres under the e-governance scheme to them. The protest was led by its State president K.K.R. Mohanasundaram and general secretary M. Kannan. The protestors wanted the district administration to give the…
The Centre for Organisation Research & Education (CORE) Manipur has expressed deep concern over the reported ‘encounter’ that took place at Henjang village in Senapati district on May 23 wherein three persons were killed. The Kuki Inpi-Saikul Gamkai had alleged that the reported encounter was fake, while the Assam Rifles had made a counter-claim that…
Nine people died, one of them decapitated, in a prison mutiny in Brazil which ended Monday with the release of 70 hostages, police said. “After 18 hours of negotiations, the mutiny has ended,” a police spokesman told AFP from the facility at Feira de Santana, 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the northeastern city of Salvador…