Spending by the government and its agencies is on increase India, and is estimated to have grown by 60 per cent to $480 million in fiscal 2003-2004 from around $300 million in 2002-2003,
The centre has allocated Rs 600 crores to the National e-Governance Plan, the NEGP, while the World Bank has indicated it would be willing to increase its funding for e-governance initiatives in the country. The World Bank funding, in-principle, could be up to $500 million over the next four years. According to well-informed sources, the World Bank scheme is expected to cover 10 main areas, including land records, property, registration, transport and revenue collection amongst others, across 25 separate projects. The National e-governance Action Plan has identified 22 projects, which are to be implemented in a phased manner over the next 3-4 years by line ministries at the central and state level.
State-based WANs have been identified as part of the core infrastructure for supporting these e-governance initiatives and the department of information technology has earmarked a significant outlay for supporting this activity. As per official guidelines, each department is expected to spend between two-three per cent of its annual budget on IT related activities, including e-governance. Several large IT companies have also launched e governance initiatives in India. Cisco Systems, the world's largest networking company for the Internet, has recent signed an MoU with Ministry of IT and will invest $10 million to establish a rural connectivity programme and set up a next generation network lab with BSNL in Chennai
Cisco will be helping to set up labs in state capitals around the country, under the MoU. The labs will provided SWAN Advanced Technology Enablement. These labs will serve as pilots/proof of concept labs for demonstration of technologies such as LAN/WAN, IP communications, Wireless and security," says Sudhir Narang, senior vice-president, Telecom and Government, India and SAARC, at Cisco Systems.
Mr Narang said the labs will also serve as test beds for State governments to test applications and services before they are rolled out in a SWAN environment. Cisco will also establish "Common Service Centres" in upto 100 villages in India, which will pro-vide citizens on-line access to government services in rural areas Cisco Systems will also be helping the State-owned BSNL to set up a Next Generation Network Lab.
The centre has allocated Rs 600 crores to the National e-Governance Plan, the NEGP, while the World Bank has indicated it would be willing to increase its funding for e-governance initiatives in the country. The World Bank funding, in-principle, could be up to $500 million over the next four years. According to well-informed sources, the World Bank scheme is expected to cover 10 main areas, including land records, property, registration, transport and revenue collection amongst others, across 25 separate projects. The National e-governance Action Plan has identified 22 projects, which are to be implemented in a phased manner over the next 3-4 years by line ministries at the central and state level.
State-based WANs have been identified as part of the core infrastructure for supporting these e-governance initiatives and the department of information technology has earmarked a significant outlay for supporting this activity. As per official guidelines, each department is expected to spend between two-three per cent of its annual budget on IT related activities, including e-governance. Several large IT companies have also launched e governance initiatives in India. Cisco Systems, the world's largest networking company for the Internet, has recent signed an MoU with Ministry of IT and will invest $10 million to establish a rural connectivity programme and set up a next generation network lab with BSNL in Chennai
Cisco will be helping to set up labs in state capitals around the country, under the MoU. The labs will provided SWAN Advanced Technology Enablement. These labs will serve as pilots/proof of concept labs for demonstration of technologies such as LAN/WAN, IP communications, Wireless and security," says Sudhir Narang, senior vice-president, Telecom and Government, India and SAARC, at Cisco Systems.
Mr Narang said the labs will also serve as test beds for State governments to test applications and services before they are rolled out in a SWAN environment. Cisco will also establish "Common Service Centres" in upto 100 villages in India, which will pro-vide citizens on-line access to government services in rural areas Cisco Systems will also be helping the State-owned BSNL to set up a Next Generation Network Lab.