Education

African schools to be connected via ICT networks
At least 600 000 schools in Africa will be connected to one another via a satellite network in a bid to help schools produce mathematics and science whiz kids.

This is aimed at equipping all African primary and secondary schools with Information Communication Technology apparatus such as computers, radio and television sets, phones and fax machines, communication equipment, scanners, digital cameras, copiers and to connect them to the internet. People in rural areas within the proximity of these schools could also benefit if necessary capacity was created in business and entrepreneurial skills.
http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/view/121269/1/1138

India’s first e-Literate district in Kerala
In November 2002, the state government of Kerala put into place a project, piloted in Malappuram that aimed for one person in every family to be computer literate in that district. One year later, over 500 Akshaya centres, the basic computer labs, had been built throughout the district, and a village, Chemaravattom, was already fully computer literate, perhaps the first of its kind in the world. Today, with the help of the IT services company Tulip, the entire district of Malappuram is connected entirely wirelessly.

Now there is plan to initiate the Akshaya IT project in other districts like Kasargod, Kannur, Kozhikkode, Thrissur, Ernakulam and Kollam, for 100 per cent computer literacy. .
http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/oct/24mal.htm

Radio Instruction in Indian states
The Indian state government of Chhattisgarh has expanded an EDC-developed interactive radio instruction initiative (IRI) to reach approximately one million children.

The program “English is Fun” is part of a two-state (Chhattisgarh and Karnataka) radio initiative that involves 7 million children in more than 80,000 schools. The Chhattisgarh program builds upon the existing state English curriculum, which emphasizes listening and speaking skills. Students practice skills when they sing songs, play local games, or conduct chain exercises during the 30-minute broadcasts.
http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/newsletter/article.php?article_id=133

IITs 3rd best tech schools in world
According to the Times Higher Education Supplement, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) have been declared the third best technology universities in the world for 2005.

The research table shows technologists regard Imperial College London as the UK’s best university, ahead of Cambridge University and fifth in the world.
http://www.asianage.com

Microsoft to start computer literacy in Indian schools
Going by its earlier commitments, Microsoft is going to take up experimental programme in extending computer literacy to schools that will enable teachers to use three dimensional teaching tools in Indian languages to handle classes and provide necessary clarifications to students.

The pilot scheme of computers in classrooms would cover six states and Microsoft would provide 5,000 computers, besides the necessary interactive software.
http://sify.com/finance fullstory.php?id=13958765

Agriculture

Commodity Suchna Kendra consolidates farm market
In an attempt to link the traders across the Indian state Maharashtra with each other, Comodity Suchna Kendra hub has been launched at the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), Pune.

With this 290 APMCs across Maharashtra got place in the digital map. The idea is to furnish national and future commodity prices alongside India’s first Composite Commodity Futures Index, Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX)-COMDEX, on a real time basis to all the APMCs hooked to the Pune hub.
http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/oct/24mal.htm

e-Governance

Jharnet to connect 4500 government offices by June
All the government offices in the Indian state Jharkhand will be linked through a statewide communication and information network ‘Jharnet’ by June next year.

Jharnet will connect about 4500 state capital, district and block level government offices by the end of this financial year. It would function as an information super highway for the state government and would satisfy all the information needs of the state, besides allowing access to the other nodes which will work as the dissemination points of information.
Source: http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=42149

Free regional language software tools The department of information technology, Government of India, will now provide free software tools and fonts in southern Indian language Telugu to the general public. The department has so far brought out this initiative in Tamil and Hindi. After Telugu, tools and fonts in Punjabi and Urdu will be launched. http://www.businessstandard.com/bsonline/storypage.php?&autono=204062

Punjab tops Indian states in e-Governance
According to the second Skoch report, Punjab’s Suwidha is the only rural citizen services delivery project in India covering every district of the state, making it the topmost state in e-Governance.

While other projects like the Rajiv Gandhi Computer Literacy Programme in Assam, Rural e-Seva in West Godavari, Citizen Services Centre in Temi in Sikkim also scored 8.9 out of 10 in terms of citizen approval, the scale of Punjab’s Suwidha gave it the extra edge. There were 18 Suwidha centres - one each for every district in Punjab.
Source: http://www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=37119

Indian varsity towards e-Governance
The University of Madras in India has taken a step into the e-Governance with the Syndicate approving a total e-Solutions package that will cover all academic departments and administrative offices.

The project will start with the examination system with e-Delivery of question papers to affiliated colleges and speedier evaluation and certificate delivery, then move across to distance education centres and finance. All university departments will be interconnected.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/08/stories/2005100817600700.htm

Technology

Intel launches ‘Intel Digital Transformation Initiative for the Middle East’
Intel has announced the launch of the ‘Intel Digital Transformation Initiative for the Middle East,’ a comprehensive, multi-year program that will expand Intel’s economic, educational and technology-related support throughout the region.

Under this program, Intel will increase its investment in four key areas - local entrepreneurship, education, digital accessibility and specialized technical competencies, to help promote technology skills, knowledge transfer and jobs creation in the Middle East, Turkey and North Africa.
http://www.ameinfo.com/70751.html

Microsoft offers PCs at Rs 399
Microsoft Corporation India has announced a partnership with the government of West Bengal and Intel Technologies for the state-wide rollout of Gyandeep, the people’s personal computer (PC) programme and Gyanbridhi, the student’s PC programme, aimed at accelerating the state’s information technology (IT) initiatives.

Gyandeep, specially designed PC solution bundle for government employees would be made available at an EMI of Rs 399. Gyanbridhi would offer the student community (class IX-XII in higher education) both the hardware and software at an equated monthly installment (EMI) of Rs 499.
http://www.businessstandard.com/bsonline/storypage.php?&autono=204068

Internet access in trains picking up speed
Rail companies across the world are keen to develop wireless broadband connections for their carriages, as it encourages business travelers to use the train rather than other forms of transport.

If passengers are able to plug into their company networks, surf the net, and send and receive e-Mails, then they can utilise what otherwise might be ‘dead’ traveling time.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4363196.stm

Intel to make community PC for rural India
Chip giant Intel is developing a low-cost, low-energy community PC aimed exclusively at India’s rural communities.

The Intel-based community PC will function with a car battery as its power back-up and will meet the rigours of rural conditions with special screens and filters that reduce dust, insect infiltration. The community PC is also being designed to handle heat conditions in excess of 38 degrees Celsius.
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=79553

Good Tech working on PC-like mobiles
Within the next five years, all laptop users would be converted into using smart phones that handle similar tasks that would make it a lot more convenient to access information anywhere, anytime.

Good Technology Inc, a privately held US-based software provider for mobile applications, has embarked on this plan, which it has gained access in India through the acquisition of JP Mobile Inc.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/10/11/stories/2005101102190400.htm

Software to create personal virtual library
Greenstone, the self-paced training module on digitalisation and digital libraries, is a suite of software that helps one digitising documents and creating virtual libraries, be it for a library or for lay people.

Developed by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the National Centre for Science Information (NCSI) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISC), the kit has different modules to teach librarians and lay people to digitise documents and create virtual libraries. To use this tool, a suitable Java Run-time Environment is necessary, which can be downloaded.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/ew/2005/10/10/stories/2005101000230400.htm

HCL launches another sub-Rs 10,000 PC
HCL Infosystems has launched an AMD-powered, Linux-based PC in the sub-Rs 10,000 PC categories.

The new HCL Ezeebee Pride computer, priced at Rs 9,990 comes with a configuration of AMD x 86 1.6 GHz processor, 128 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Disk Drive, 52X CD ROM, 15-inch colour monitor and Linux Operating System. In August this year, HCL had launched a Linux-based low cost PC dubbed ‘PC for India’. Some other companies like Xenitis has also launched a below Rs 10,000 PC.

Telecommunication

Dutch telcos introduce phones for kids
Two Dutch telcos- KPN and Scarlet, have introduced mobile phones specially made for young children.KPN is unveiling a kid phone - iKids, which remains working even when the phone isn’t activated. Parents can select three ‘safety zones’, areas where their children are allowed to play. If they wonder off to another area, parents receive an SMS message. They can also look up the child’s whereabouts on a virtual map. If one pre-defined number isn’t answered, the phone will try the next one.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/25/kid_phone/

Trade through Nokia mobiles
Nokia and transaction automation software provider Financial Technologies India Ltd have announced a partnership to offer iWin, a trading application enabling users to see market rates and also enter/modify/cancel orders while on the move.

iWin allows investors to view ‘live streaming’ quotes and transact real time from their broking accounts. It ensures confidentiality by sending data over the Secure Socket Layer, a tunnel that enables secure data transfer over the Internet.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/10/26/stories/2005102603460600.htm

After Yahoo, now Microsoft in online book-content search movement Microsoft is planning to join the online book-search movement with a new service called MSN Book Search. The recently formed group called the Open Content Alliance to which microsoft plans to join, is working to digitise the contents of millions of books and put them on the Internet, with full text accessible to anyone, while respecting the rights of copyright holders. MSN is joining forces with its archrival Yahoo, which announced its support of the project this month. http://www.asianage.com/

BSNL to issue single tender for 60 mn GSM lines
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has decided to issue a single tender for installing an additional 60 million GSM lines which is the largest-ever telecom expansion deal in the world and estimated to be worth over US$5 billion.

The Public Sector Unit had earlier planned to issue two separate tenders, first for 40 million lines in October 2005, and the second one for an additional 20 million lines in mid-2007. The single tender will help negotiating lowest possible equipment and installation prices.
http://www.businessstandard.com/iceworld/storypage.php?hpFlag=Y&chklogin=N&autono= 202955&leftnm=lmnu9&leftindx=9&lselect=0

Health

Tele medicine service for remote India
A pilot project aiming at the difficult and remote areas of the Indian state Himachal Pradesh has been sanctioned by the Centre, for introducing tele-medicine service in the Shimla, Chamba and Kinnaur districts from next month.

The people living in these districts would receive medical attention without visiting the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla. The experts sitting in this hospital will be able to examine the patient through this service. The facility to consult other specialists in PGI Chandigarh will also be available through a tele-medicine network already established between Shimla and Chandigarh based institutions.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=121571&cat=Health

Tele-radiology, a medical boon in Mali
Tele-radiology, one aspect of tele-diagnosis, has come as a great medical help for Mali, the huge, landlocked, under-developed and poor country which has only about a dozen radiologists.

The tele-radiology network dubbed IKON is operational to enable remote consultation of all radiological files requiring a specialist’s opinion. A software package suitable for tele-radiology, called “Open Yalim”, was developed specifically for the network.
http://www.iicd.org/articles/iicdnews.2005-09-28.8408552289

Hospitals in Delhi get computer interlink
The municipal corporation has decided to interlink its six hospitals in the Indian capital New Delhi through a computer network, promising to make admissions to these hospitals a lot easier.

Called the Hospital Information System, the network will enable high-speed data transfer, even patients’ X-ray reports from one hospital to another.

From now onwards, a patient has to register themselves with any of the six hospitals only once. After being issued an I-card, their medical records will be maintained by MCD throughout their lives.
http://www.ndtv.com/morenews/showmorestory.asp?category=National&slug=MCD+mulls+interlinking+of+hospitals&id=80401

Revenue-based Internet kiosks in Maharashtra As part of Maharashtra’s employment guarantee scheme, 1,000 Internet kiosks in the current year are to be set up in the state, which would act as e-Governance, e-Commerce and knowledge hubs. The number will be scaled up to 4,000 in 2008-09 with an objective to generate employment for 10,000 rural youths. The proposed model is entrepreneurial and revenue-based, wherein rural users pay charges to the kiosk provider. The educated unemployed rural youth will establish the kiosk with a bank loan and a small subsidy from the government. http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=105824

Wireless

Broadband tariff to come down by half
In a bid to meet the Government of India’s target of 30 lakh broadband users by the end of the year, State-owned telecom majors Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) are going on lowering of broadband tariffs.

MTNL lowers the broadband tariff by 50 per cent to Rs 199 per month from Rs 399, where as BSNL is working on a similar idea. BSNL had recently reduced its broadband usage charges by at least 50 per cent from Rs 500 per month to Rs 250 per month for a 256-kbps connections.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/10/28/stories/2005102802560100.htm

Philadelphia to become City of Wi-Fi
Philadelphia is set to become America’s largest municipal wireless Internet hot spot, after city officials inked a deal for a vast broadband umbrella with Internet service provider Earthlink.

The network to be up and running late next year, will offer wireless Internet service to low income customers for as little as 10 dollars. Regular rates will be around 20 dollars.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/051005/1/3vg54.html

Google to offer free wireless service to San Francisco
Google is working on a plan to offer a free wireless Internet service to the city of San Francisco, in response to a program proposed by Mayor Gavin Newsom this year.

Google has said that the service would be “open”, and has proposed wholesaling wireless bandwidth to third parties who the company thinks could have interest in selling premium services.
http://www.techspot.com/news/18918-google-to-offer-free-wireless-internet-service-to-san-francisco.html

General

India govt inaugurates computerisation of Judiciary
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated a Five-Year National Programme for Computerisation of Judiciary.

The plan, aims at complete automation at the registry level, the digitisation of law libraries and court archives, and installation of video conferencing facilities in court complexes that in turn will ensure better court services and improved justice delivery system.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/06/stories/2005100617531500.htm

Aussies launch SMS Bible
The entire 31,173 verses of Bible can now be downloaded for free and sent by mobile phone as the Bible has been translated into text message-speak in Australia to allow its lessons to be disseminated more easily.

The entire Bible would be more than 30,000 messages. It took six weeks to translate the Bible into text messages.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4318750.stm
www is growing

According to a study, the web has grown more in 2005 than it did at the height of the dotcom boom.
In the year to October the web grew by more than 17 million sites. This figure exceeds the growth of 16 million sites seen in 2000 when net fever reached its most intense pitch.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4325918.stm

India to help Africa bridge digital divide
India will assist the African Union in facilitating tele-education and telemedicine across the 53 member countries through the project, to be called the Pan African Network Project (PANP).

The PANP will also put in place a communication network, including video conferencing facilities, providing connectivity to all heads of State Government in the African Union.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/10/27/stories/2005102702990900.htm

Indian BPOs set global standards in HR practice
According to Nasscom the cutting edge Human Resource practices followed by Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms in India were setting standards for even the developed nations.

As the Nasscom President, Kiran Karnik says, every head of State visiting India wants to know about Indian IT processes. It is an open challenge to anyone who can prove that their working conditions are better than that of the BPO industry.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/10/25/stories/2005102502181100.htm

India to help Africa bridge digital divide
India will assist the African Union in facilitating tele-education and telemedicine across the 53 member countries through the project, to be called the Pan African Network Project (PANP).

The PANP will also put in place a communication network, including video conferencing facilities, providing connectivity to all heads of State Government in the African Union.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/10/27/stories/2005102702990900.htm