Agriculture

Computerised system of irrigation in South Africa
The mango and tomato farming region of Blydepoort in Mpumalanga of South Africa has installed a computerised private irrigation network that interconnects fibre optics and telemetry to allow for total communication and control across the system.

Local farmers installed the system because the old ground canal water system proved unreliable, with natural predicaments such as cave-ins affecting water delivery to farms in the area. The Adroit Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (Scada) system automatically monitors the water pressure and water flow at 70 stations in the system.

The system also makes use of SMS capability to notify operators of water pressures that are too high or low.
http://www.itweb.co.za

Community radio

Training programme on HIV/AIDS in Africa
Community radio practitioners gathered from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Niger to attend a week-long training that forms the basis of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) ‘Science of HIV and AIDS’ media training programme implemented since 2003 in Bangkok, Chennai, and Kampala.

The workshop aims to provide participants with increased confidence and skills to communicate more effectively on HIV and AIDS.
http://portal.unesco.org

e-Commerce

e-Payment facility for freight users
Having successfully launched payment and booking over Internet services in the passenger segment, the Indian Railways will now focus on implementing the same in its freight business segment, which accounts for the majority of the organisation’s earnings.

Implementing e-Payment scheme for the freight users was proving to be difficult since the amount for online transactions involved were of the order of several crores.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com

e-Governance

New centre in IT Ministry in India
The Union Information Technology Ministry of India has created a separate Productivity and Employment Centre Division under the existing e-Infrastructure/e-Learning group.

The division will play a nodal role in identifying various sectors where the information and communication tools can be extended to enhance productivity of the sector and consequently generate more employment. The department is presently working on creating a competent team depending on the manpower restraints, and infrastructure requirements.
http://www.asianage.com

Bangladesh government to reinforce e-Governance
In Bangladesh, Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia stated recently in Parliament a number of measures that the government had taken to strengthen the ICT sector and for the adoption of e-Governance. The same include acquiring of land for the establishment of an ICT village, formation of an ICT incubator for rapid development of the software industry, an ICT business council and expansion of ICT education at grassroots level.

But notwithstanding such plans and programmes and declaration of government’s policy supports, the realities in this sector and e-Governance appear to be far from what are expected. This has been reflected in the recent reported ranking of Bangladesh in a lower position than previously among the countries of the world in respect of computer use and ICT capacities.
http://www.financialexpress-bd.com

National Alliance on Mission 2007 in India
Indian President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, on 11 July, 2005 delivered the inaugural address at the second annual convention of the National Alliance on Mission 2007 for ushering in ICT-led development in rural India. The National Alliance led by Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, Chairman, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and One World South Asia announced the pan India roll-out plan for Mission 2007 for creating a network of information kiosks in 600,000 villages in India by August 15, 2007. In Phase I, the focus is on connecting 240,000 panchayats.

The National Alliance intends to create an information kiosk network that would connect village level communities to the government functionaries or to the market. The overall objective of the initiative is to leverage technology to reach the rural communities and convert the knowledge receivers into knowledge creators.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com

Rural panchayats to receive networked computers in India The Panchayati Raj Ministry is to spend over Rs. 1,000 crores in the next two years towards installation of computers in 2.4 lakh panchayats, interlink them with one another and also with a national panchayat portal. Besides linking rural areas, the programme would also provide employment to at least two persons from each gram panchayat who would be trained to operate the computers. The government would soon enter into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state governments with the target of completing the work within two years. The Ministry would spend Rs. 4,000 on training two individuals in every gram panchayat. The Ministry is making efforts to club its computerisation programme with the Bharat Nirman project that aims at providing infrastructure in rural areas. http://www.hinduonnet.com