Full coverage: South Asia

28.02.2005 Finance Minister P Chidambaram has announced the Union Budget for the fiscal year 2005-06, largely guided by the framework set by the UPA government agenda. Building of an enabling infrastructure particularly for the rural areas and urban slums is priority in this Budget.

25.02.2005 Indian President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam reiterated the growing importance and benefits of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for achieving universal education and pro-poor growth in India, particularly in the rural areas.

25.02.2005 In his address to the joint session of Parliament today, Indian President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam once again reiterated the needs to leverage the benefits of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for achieving universal education and pro-poor growth, particularly in the rural areas.

25.02.2005 In an effort to make its software products available in local languages, Mircosoft has signed a pact today with the West Bengal government. The Bengali version of Windows operating sustem and Office package have been demonstrated during this signing ceremony.

23.02.2005 Registration for ‘.in’ domain is growing steadily, as the latest figure from the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) shows. With the opening of unrestricted real time domain registration facility on February 16, 60,000 domain names have been registered.

16.02.2005 Bangladesh government has recently approved the draft “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act-2005".

10.02.2005 The inaugural Yeomens Award instituted by the Global Knowledge Partnership and Open Knowledge Network has been conferred to three ICT for development projects in Asia and Latin America and the Carribbean. The Award aims to internationally recognise projects, which bring socio-cultural changes using local content.

10.02.2005 The Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R. Medical University in India launches a virtual library of the medical research so that user could be able to find the documents speedily and easily.

09.02.2005 The newly launched website www.keralacm.gov.in brings the people of Kerala, a state in the Southern India, one step closer to the state government. The website will largely complement to the ‘Transparent Kerala’ programme, as new complaints received by the state will be posted here.

09.02.2005 The Government of the Indian state of kerala has launched a web site www.keralacm.gov.in that enables citizens to lodge complains and it will show all information on the follow up action under “Transparent Kerala” programme. Another feature of the site is that the audio recording of the Chief Minister's cabinet briefing will be available online immediately and there will be an arrangement for giving an advance notice of the Chief Minister's various engagements.

08.02.2005 It was a Supreme Court judgement in 1995 that started it all. Hearing a case on telecast rights between the Union of India and the Cricket Association of Bengal, India’s highest court ruled that the “airwaves are public property and their use has to be regulated by a public authority in the interests of the public”.

08.02.2005 It was a Supreme Court judgement in 1995 that started it all. Hearing a case on telecast rights between the Union of India and the Cricket Association of Bengal, India’s highest court ruled that the “airwaves are public property and their use has to be regulated by a public authority in the interests of the public”.

07.02.2005 After Indian state of Gujarat banned use of mobile phones in schools, now the Delhi government also has banned using mobile phones during school hours by either teachers or students of government-aided schools.

04.02.2005 Rural community projects in Brazil, Bolivia, and South India are all inaugural winners of the Yeomans Award for Local Content, demonstrating how new technologies can benefit poor communities.
From: Open Knowledge Network

03.02.2005 With much fanfare, the national ICT internship programme was launched under the patronage of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh in April last year. But since then not a single graduate has been trained through this programme.

02.02.2005 The first Steering Committee Meeting of the National Alliance for Mission 2007 was convened at the National Academy Of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), New Delhi yesterday. The purpose of meeting was to take stock of the work done and the progress achieved by the Task Force Conveners since the National Policy Makers Workshop held in July 2004 in which the Blue print of Mission 2007 was drawn.

02.02.2005 The first Steering Committee Meeting of the National Alliance for Mission 2007 was convened at the National Academy Of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS), New Delhi on February 1, 2005. The purpose of meeting was to take stock of the work done and the progress achieved by the Task Force Conveners since the National Policy Makers Workshop held in July 2004 in which the Blue print of Mission 2007 was drawn.

02.02.2005 India is moving ahead with its agenda of putting knowledge centers (KC) in every village by the year 2007. The steering committee meeting of the National Alliance on Mission 2007, held in New Delhi in February 2005, noted positive developments and a receptive environment from the government and private sectors.

02.02.2005 India is moving ahead on its agenda of putting knowledge centers (KC) in every village by the year 2007 on a mission mode, under Mission 2007, Every Village a Knowledge Centre initiative. The steering committee meeting of the National Alliance on Mission 2007, held in New Delhi, on February 1, noted positive developments and a receptive environment from the government and private quarters.

02.02.2005 The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, today launched a speech applet on his official web site for visually challenged students.