Full coverage: South Asia

31.12.2007 GPRS mobiles will soon deliver e-governance services to villagers in Faizabad in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The project will connect rural areas with the district headquarter, while also monitoring various programmes and government functionaries at work.

28.12.2007 GPRS mobiles will soon deliver e-governance services to villagers in Faizabad in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The project will connect rural areas with the district headquarter, while also monitoring government functionaries at work and tracking the progress of various programmes.

27.12.2007 A new book, Communicating Disasters: An Asia Pacific Resource Book released during Third Global Knowledge Conference held in Kuala Lumpur in mid December takes a critical look at the communication lessons of the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, and explores the role of good communications before, during and after disasters.

26.12.2007 The Planning Commission of India has made a provision of Rs 100 crores for setting up 20 Indian Institute of Information Technology in various parts of the country. The government also promises to ensure broadband accessibility to almost every citizen in countryside, covering 97% of its geographical area by 2012.

21.12.2007 Using video conferencing to procure quality seeds, fertiliser and access market-related information to sell their products is becoming popular among Indian farmers. In ten districts of northern state of Rajasthan, the state government has recently installed the facility.

19.12.2007 Countries in South Asia like Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal will receive ADB assistance of US$ 21.2 million to develop ICTs in their respective countries. It will promote inclusive growth and help reduce poverty.

13.12.2007 Government of India this year has included two more categories of awards, which are given for excellence in e-governance. Nominations for the awards can now be filed until December 25.

11.12.2007 Kerala will soon become the first Indian state to achieve total IT literacy. ICT-based education has shown promising results. Now decision to equip 2,800 high schools with broadband internet connectivity by August next year would open up immense possibilities in the education sector.

08.12.2007 In India’s southern state of Tamil Nadu, Krishnagiri district administration has come out with a unique idea. To ensure that children attend school regularly, it is using a software known as ‘back2school’ that provides an eagle eye to district collector to keep track of all kids missing from classrooms.

08.12.2007 Indian government plans to bring e-Governance at the doorstep of every citizen in the country. Once implemented, it will be one of its kind with such a geographical spread. It is for the first time in the world that such a scheme is being implemented in a public private partnership framework.

04.12.2007 Women in Nepal villages who hitherto remained confined to the four walls of their houses are breaking the shackles and coming out to take up issues that affect them most. It is community radio, which is helping them in their endeavour to spread awareness about their rights.

04.12.2007 Village Resource Centres - to provide integrated services like tele-education, tele-medicine, etc. - have been established by the Indian Space Research Organisation in various Indian states.