You could think of India’s internet growth as a primed-up athlete finally hitting his full stride. First, there was a gentle warmup. It took 10 years for India to get her first 10 million users and another decade to hit the first 100 million. Then, the pace quickened. The next 100 million users came in three years…
In a major initiative, the Gaya district administration on Wednesday launched e-Samadhan, the flagship programme aimed at heralding e-governance. Using interactive voice technology (IVT), the programme aims at establishing a direct connect between the beneficiaries and development officials. Besides the beneficiaries/left out groups, others too may resort to e-Samadhan for grievance redressal and participatory development.…
Andhra Pradesh Government has signed an MoU with Wipro for building and implementing the State Enterprise Architecture (APSEA). The APSEA aims to be a lever for transformational change in the way government services are conceived, designed, delivered and consumed, state’s IT, Electronics and Communications Secretary B Sreedhar said, adding the Bangalore-headquartered IT major would be…
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to include the state in the country’s flagship ‘Digital India’ programme. Badal today urged the Prime Minister to fund the state government’s ambitious programme for establishing 2,174 Unified Citizen Service Delivery Centres at a cost of nearly Rs 550 crore under integrated…
The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in e-governance can bring about revolutionary changes in rural development, said Prof P Narasimha Rao of Kakatiya University, Warangal. Addressing a one-day national seminar on ‘Role of Information and Communication Technology in Rural Development’ here at SDM Siddhartha Mahila Kalasala (women’s college) here Wednesday, he said efficiency,…
Impunity is widespread for human rights abuses by state and non-state actors in India, says the latest report by Amnesty International. The 2014-15 annual report of the international human rights organisation on ‘ The State of the World’s Human Rights ’ – released on February 25 – says that despite progressive legal reform and court rulings, state…
Some of those most guilty of violence and discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender people in Asia are their families, which must instead play a key role in improving LGBTI rights, activists from the region said. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI) in Asia face the threat of violence and widespread discrimination –…
Amnesty International has pulled up India, saying impunity is widespread for human rights abuses by state and non-state actors in the country. In its annual report, to be released on Wednesday, the global human rights watchdog has said state authorities often failed to prevent and at times committed crimes against children, women, dalits and adivasi…
As Mufti Mohammad Sayeed begins his second innings as chief minister, human rights will be the single biggest issue that will test the durability of People’s Democratic Party–BJP alliance in the restive Jammu and Kashmir. This because the PDP has built a political fortune by championing the rights cause in the Kashmir valley. In the hay days, PDP chief…
The United States Department of State on Monday named its first-ever special envoy to advocate globally for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Randy Berry, an openly gay senior diplomat, has served as U.S. Consul General in Amsterdam since 2012. His earlier foreign service postings included Nepal, Bangladesh, Egypt, Uganda,…