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India plans massive cyber project in Kashmir, sans power & connectivity
SRINAGAR (India): The Indian government has announced an ambitious US $8.2-million plan to set up 139 Community Information Centres (CICs) connecting villages across Indian-administered Kashmir, alongside call centres and other schemes to boost Information Technology (IT), even though both power and connectivity remain elusive here. The CICs, to be set up in block headquarters, will connect the state's 2,681 villages.
In a statement last week, Indian Communications and Information Technology Minister Arun Shourie said efforts would be made to improve the functioning of the lacklustre Software Technology Park of India (STPI), established to aid IT-related projects in 1999.
Shourie issued instructions to set up a four-member committee to ensure better voice connectivity in the state. "The federal government will provide all possible support to the state for the development of the IT sector as well as related infrastructure," he said.
The federal IT Ministry would collaborate with universities in the strife-torn state, to send selected students for training and exposure to leading IT companies elsewhere in India. This would enable them to "set up their own ventures in the state," enthused Shourie.
According to him, the federal government also planned to set up call centres here.
For its part, the state government is formulating a soon-to-be announced comprehensive IT policy. "We have sought recommendations and suggestions from experts and all heads of department," says State Science and Technology Minister, Nawang Rigzin Jora.
Jora says construction work on the CICs will begin next month, with as many as 60 to be functional in a year's time.
There's a two-year deadline to link all corners of the state through the network of CICs.
"The Information Centres will be fully equipped to provide information via the Internet to common people living even in the remotest villages," boasts Jora.
Reeling under separatist violence for the past 13 years, IT development in the state is currently primitive.
But Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, who heads a one-year-old coalition government here, has just launched a massive program for e-governance .
Last month, he inaugurated a video-conferencing facility at the State Secretariat in the summer capital, Srinagar, linking it with the winter capital of Jammu and the remote Leh town in the Ladakh region.
The 14 district headquarters have been linked through the National Information Centre network, though the facility is confined to top district officials only.
Jora says the video-conferencing facility will take another two months to become fully operational.
The previous government had also attempted to develop IT in the state, allocating US $360,000 for training officials and purchasing equipment.
Following this initiative, as many as 23 government departments launched their Web sites, with many others in the process of doing so. Shortly, officials say departments like Science and Technology, Finance and General Administration, besides the Chief Minister's Secretariat, will be completely e-enabled.
"The idea is to discard the age-old system of office functioning, which promotes corruption and red-tapes", says junior minister, G. A. Mir, adding that, "The new system will allow common people easy access to the highest echelons of power."
Aiding the state government's efforts in the IT sector is one of India's leading industrial groups, the Tatas, renowned for ushering in e-governance in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
Despite the hype, local IT professionals and entrepreneurs are cynical about the state's efforts. "The government has not entrusted even a small software development project to any local professional", complains IT professional Mubashir Hassan, irked by the functioning of the STPI.
Take the case of software developer, Nasir Ali Mirza, who had to shutdown his unit due to the poor facilities and lack of support from both the government and the public.
Admits Jora, "I agree that STPI has not been able to function properly, forcing many professionals to back out. No entrepreneur is ready to invest in such conditions."
Sample the facts: the state is plagued by poor connectivity and lack of round-the-clock power supply. Internet Service Provider, the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), has no plans to upgrade its existing server.
Protests cyber cafe proprietor, Aijaz Ahmed, "Most of the time its server is down or it runs at the pace of a slug."
Jora claims Shourie has instructed BSNL "to improve its service within 15 days."
Power supply is equally erratic, with five-hour daily power cuts, which sometimes extend to ten hours.
Not to mention insecurity and lack of awareness in a state where years of insurgency have blocked development.
As computer professional Khadim Hussein remarks, "Most people in Kashmir use computers as typewriters or calculators."
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