Full coverage: South Asia

29.10.2004 Come January 1, 2005, registering .in domain name online will take only 24 hours in India, thanks to the upcoming new domain name registration policy. The policy, entrusting the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) as the new registration authority, will spur the growth of internet in India.

28.10.2004 India’s communications and IT minister, Dayanidhi Maran, is soon announce a policy for .in domain registration in the country. The policy aims to promote websites with generic .in domain name as part of the website’s address. The National Internet Exchange of India is expected to be the administrative body for registration.

27.10.2004 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India invites all stakeholders to participate in the consultation to increase the reach of telecom services to rural India. Stakeholders are invited to send their comments latest by November 30, 2004.

27.10.2004 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is going to appoint a consulting firm to propose a set of guidelines for satellite broadcasting in India. Satellite broadcasting services in India provide their services without any government intervention in absence of any licensing procedure.

27.10.2004 Indian communications and information technology ministry has announced a new policy to create infrastructure needed to implement and promote e-governance in the nation.

26.10.2004 Participants at the Global Knowledge Partnership's South Asian Regional Meeting agreed that ICTs can empower people themselves to be economically sustainable.

26.10.2004 The Indian Department of Telecommunication has allocated an amount of Rs 600 crore to start tele-information centres in the country that would also provide tele-education facilities apart from issuing birth and death certificates.

25.10.2004 Indian school students will have access to interactive e-learning modules of 44,600 web pages on a variety of subjects, including maths, physics, chemistry and biology. British Council in India will provide access to the course materials developed by the Interactive University (IU).

25.10.2004 The Indian government has announced the State Wide Area Network (SWAN) policy for giving a fillip to the creation of infrastructure for e-governance in the states. Union minister for Communications & Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran said the Government accords high priority to the promotion of e-governance.

20.10.2004 Government of India has announced the State Wide Area Network (SWAN) policy as part of its national e-governance strategy. Shri Dayanidhi Maran, Minister of Communications & Information Technology, stated that the network infrastructure will connect block level administrations helping the government to reach people and business more easily.

19.10.2004 Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched a Village Resource Centre programme in Thiruvaiyaru, located in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. The centre aims to connect all Indian villages bring them the benefits of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

18.10.2004 Community Radio Madanpokhara (CRM) of Nepal, a community-owned radio station, has adopted a novel idea to finance its activities. Local villagers have donated rice and money worth USD 650 to run the station.

18.10.2004 The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA) in partnership with Anna University is going to organise an international workshop on community radio from 13 to 18 December, 2004 in Chennai. Managers of community radio stations will learn techniques of installation, commissioning and management of the radio stations in the workshop.

18.10.2004 Can information and communications technologies (ICTs) help South Asian countries overcome the current income, social and other disparities? The answer is a conditional ‘yes’, writes Nalaka Gunawardene.

18.10.2004 Can information and communications technologies (ICTs) help South Asian countries overcome the current income, social and other disparities? The answer is a conditional ‘yes’, writes Nalaka Gunawardene.

18.10.2004 Around 150 multimedia centers in schools in several Indian states are providing effective learning technology that can also facilitate knowledge sharing amongst institutions.

18.10.2004 Around 150 multimedia centers in schools in several Indian states are providing effective learning technology that can also facilitate knowledge sharing amongst institutions.

15.10.2004 Innovators and entrepreneurs from across the globe meet to discuss the scope and opportunities of business incubation in developing coutries in a symposium from October 14 to 19 in New Delhi. Organised jointly by the Indian government and World Bank, the meet seeks to explore promises of new technologies in spurring business incubation.

15.10.2004 The state government of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu will fund its village administrations to help them use ICTs to provide services to rural citizens in the tune of Rs. 1 million. The scheme is going to be implemented in all 1,113 villages in the state.

15.10.2004 A consortium comprising Microsoft, Intel, Citibank and Pac Soft Solutions has offered a software called Lyceum aimed at providing low-cost futuristic technologies for the Indian education sector through a connected learning solution.