Masala Today

SREI Sahaj E-Village Limited, a subsidiary of the Kolkata-based Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited, plans to roll out IPTV (internet protocol television) services at its 20 common service centres (CSCs) in the rural areas of Orissa by the end of this year. Among all the CSCs of SREI Sahaj E-Village Limited across the country, the IPTV service would be first launched in Orissa at its centre at Kalahandi . Dr.Sabahat Azim, chief executive officer, SREI Sahaj e-Village Limited said, “Our IPTV services would be first launched at the CSC at Kalahandi in Orissa by the end of this month. The content of the IPTV would focus on the local culture and traditions of the people. The IPTV service is also aimed at offering education and entertainment to the rural folks.” IPTV is a system through which digital television service is delivered using the architecture and networking methods of the internet protocol over a packet switched network infrastructure. Meanwhile, SREI Sahaj e-Village has tied u

The Government is creating a web-portal that will have comprehensive details about the skilled manpower requirements of industry and the available skilled manpower in the country. The constraints of dissemination of information to both employers and job seekers would be overcome by the introduction of this e-Governance project. The Government aims to complete the modernisation process at all 469 employment exchanges by the year-end. Once the modernisation is completed, employment exchanges across the country would do more than just keep lists of job seekers and jobs.

The Indian Railways has selected a chip technology by NXP Semiconductors, a semiconductor founded by Philips to power its contact less smart cards for automatic fare collection system. The secure micro-controller-based technology called MIFARE DESFire will be implemented across various Indian cities in the ATVMs (Automatic Ticket Vending Machines).The user-friendly ATVMs will be rolled out across five Indian cities - New Delhi, Secunderabad, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Pune. Together with card and inlay-manufacturer Siepmann's Card Systems, NXP will provide MIFARE DESFire-based ICs for approximately 6.5 lakh contact less cards over a period of one year. This project is expected to be launched in September 2009 and will initially be rolled out in Delhi and Secunderabad. The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), the IT wing of the Ministry of Railways haddeveloped the ATVMs as part of an Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS).

India would become the third largest country in terms of Internet users across the globe, according to a forecast by Forrester. The report takes into account an average growth of 10-20% in online users in India. The report also forecasts the total number of Internet users worldwide would touch 2.2 billion by2013. Currently the estimates for total online population in India ranges anywhere between 50 million to 80 million users. China currently has 300 million+ online users, it recently overtook US in terms of online user strength. Is it really possible? Indian telecom growth was just recently seen breaking records even after a stupendous growth seen in recent years and a decade of wireless services availability. The growth would largely be for the online sector in India as Telecos to garner more revenues would focus more on providing other telemedia services than just telephony. The availability of superior telecom infrastructure would thus form the backbone of broadband growth in In

If you need any proof of the government’s commitment to the cause of inclusive growth, this is it. The communications ministry has nvited bids to set up some 28,000 wireline broadband exchanges and 6,000 satellite sites in an effort to boost internet penetration in the country, especially rural India. The project will be funded from the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), to which all telecom operators contribute 5% of their annual revenues. USOF helps unviable rural telephony projects. The unutilised amount in the USOF is currently estimated to be over INR 20,000 crore. The last Union Budget had allocated INR 2,400 crore from the USOF to subsidise unviable mobile, Internet and landline operations in rural India. Both private and state-owned telcos will be eligible to bid for these 34,000 exchanges, and successful bidders will have to share the infrastructure with other operators for a fee. The subsidy from the USOF will be granted in a phased manner and will be determined by the

NEW DELHI: The government's common service centre (CSS) initiative will generate around 400,000 direct employment opportunities and as many as indirect jobs in rural India, a top government official said here on Thursday. "The scheme was likely to generate over 400,000 direct jobs opportunities as well as indirect employment avenues of a like number in rural India," Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar told reporters after inaugurating a conference on 'Common Service Centres: The Change Agents'. The CSC is a government-run one-stop shop that offers web-enabled e-governance services in rural areas, including various application forms, certificates, and utility payments such as electricity, telephone and water bills. "The scheme was structured to promote rural entrepreneurship. By creating appropriate support structures that enable demand-driven services as well as capacity building and training, entrepreneurs can be empowered as change agents for rapid socio-e

National e-Governance Plan (NeGP): Although, a number of e-Governance projects have been undertaken through individual initiatives, for the first time a programmatic approach is being adopted while implementing various e governance initiatives at the Central, State and Local Government level under the National e Governance Plan (NeGP). The NeGP , which was approved by the Government in May 2006 consists of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and 8 components Implementation of such a Plan requires buy-in from diverse stakeholders such as central ministries/departments, state governments, local government bodies, private sector agencies and citizens. The focus of the NeGP is on delivery of services to citizens in an efficient and transparent manner at affordable cost to the citizens. The NeGP envisages the creation of certain core and support infrastructure which would web enable services for anytime anywhere access and thereby radically change the way Government delivers services. The suppo

An emerging technology may be the newest heavy hitter in the competitive world of broadband Internet service. It offers high-speed access to your home through the most unlikely path: a common electrical outlet.With broadband over power lines, or BPL, you can plug your computer into any electrical outlet in your home and instantly have access to high-speed Internet. By combining the technological principles of radio, wireless networking, and modems, developers have created a way to send data over power lines and into homes at speeds between 500 kilobits and 3 megabits per second (equivalent to DSL and cable). Imagine a world where you don"t have to dig up the earth to lay down co-axial cable lines, or where accessing the internet means plugging a small black box into a power outlet in your house. That world may be around the corner. Thanks to the Broadband over Power Lines (BPL), a technology, that threatens to turn the communications world upside down by bolstering broadband compe

Unlike most other ICT reports, this one doesn't come out every year. So, when the World Bank released its Information and Communications for Development (IC4D) Report 2009 a few weeks ago -- three years after the Bank's first ever report on ICT -- expectations were high. Many were looking forward to something enlightening, or at least something that would spark some new thinking. Instead, the report dwelled on what at least half a dozen similar reports have said over the last year; and that is, access to affordable high-speed Internet and mobile phone service are the key elements for economic growth and job creation in developing countries. In fact, when studied closely, its central theme looked somewhat similar to the earlier one as well. It too harped on the fact that ICT plays a vital role in advancing economic growth and reducing poverty.Still IC4D 2009 is interesting for pulling out a significant aspect of e-government -- which is often overlooked -- by highlighting that e