Government to focus on rural areas

The national e-gover

nance plan would focus strongly on rural areas, as the range of services is limited. This was

stated by R Chandrashekhar, Joint Secretary (e-governance), Department of

Information Technology, Government of India, at the 'Digital Inclusion Summit'

held

recently.

He said that a survey has revealed that the rate of growth

for maximum reach to these areas has been low when compared with the size of the

population.

"The main objective of the e-governance is maximum reach

to the citizens through the Common Service Centers. We are to concentrate on

these problems to fulfill the objective, as they need the maximum attention. So

the Department of Information Technology (DIT) has prepared a draft framework to

address the problem," said Chandrashekhar. He said that the plan would

focus mainly on the rural areas as the viability and sustainability in these

areas is uncertain.

According to the plan, government has targeted to establish

one lakh Common Services Centers (CSCs) in rural areas. These CSCs would connect

six lakh villages and 2,48,000 Panchayats.

Referring to the Government Assisted PC Purchase Program,

Eric Kim, VP and GM, Sales and Marketing Group, Intel Corporation, said that

they are targeting to make PCs more assessable for the citizens with limited

income. He said that through this program children benefit more, as the PC and

the Internet become an important resource for home study.

"To minimize the burden on monthly salaries of

government employees, public sector banks offer financial schemes which help

them to own a PC at home and Intel is offering its assistance to it. Our

objective is to work together which will contribute to nation building,"

Kim added. Intel has also introduced 'Gyaneepth Essay Contest', which

requires contestants to write on how PCs help in their studies. The winner of

the contest will receive a PC.

Intel expects that this contest would help in PC penetration

into different areas of the country, which in turn would help in e-governance

plan.

The company had launched some programs with state Government

of Delhi, Uttranchal and West Bengal to catalyze the rate of PC adoption.

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