Governance2.Org

The Kerala IT Mission and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing or CDAC has launched a web portal, the first of its kind in the country, to check cyber crimes.
Users can log on to www.cyberkeralam.in and register themselves. They will be given a password using which they can share their grievances with experts at C-DAC.
Users can expect immediate tips but if the problem requires a detailed investigation it will be referred to the high tech cell of the Kerala police. Read on …

In July 2007, as part of the new “Knowledge Communities” project, UNESCO Bangkok launched an online ICT-in-Education community: an interactive forum which welcomes educators, teachers, administrators and policy makers and others to share their ideas and opinions on topics relating to the use of ICT in education.
The purpose of the online community is to foster discussion of topics relating to the integration of ICT in teaching and learning. Topics will cover areas such as ICT for Policy Makers, ICT in Teaching and Learning, ICT in Teacher Training, and Free and Open Source Software in education. Read on …

Livemint: In a bid to supply manpower to India’s booming organized retail sector institutes, government agencies and even non-profit groups are stepping in. Huge investment plans by home-grown and foreign retailers are fuelling a great demand for people with basic skills in organized retailing. Consultancy firm Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd says the country’s modern retailers will create more than two million direct jobs in the next five years. Reliance Industries Ltd said it will need more than a million direct and indirect people by 2010 to staff its stores and its allied logistics operations.
Currently, only 50,000-100,000 people possess skills in modern retail trade. Read on …

Hindu: An estimated one lakh broadband enabled service centres are expected to come up in the country by March 2008 at a cost of Rs. 5,400 crore if Union Minister of Communication and Information Technology A. Raja is to be believed. One centre will come up for every six villages with all e-governance services. A sum of Rs 1,600 crore will be put up by the Central government and the rest by the private sector under the Public Private Partnership (PPP).
The Minister said that for the implementation of e-governance, the government on its part is trying to provide basic infrastructure including internet, window facilitation centre and last leg connectivity for implementation of e-governance. However participation of the private sector and citizens is a key for providing totally transparent services to the public.
The application of IT to government processes, e-governance in short, could have a profound impact on the efficiency, responsiveness and accountability of government and on the quality of life and productivity of citizens, especially the poor. Read on …

Livemint: The shift to e-filing of statutory documents such as annual returns and balance sheets by companies with a minimum authorized capital of Rs1 crore is expected to see a fresh spurt in compliance in India, potentially bringing it on par with the standards prevalent in developed economies of Singapore and the UK.
E-filing was introduced by the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) in May 2006.
“While we saw a compliance level of 50% among such companies for returns filed for year ended March 2005, this figure rose to around 70% for the year ended March 2006 and we are expecting this to rise to 90% for the year ended March 2007,” according to a senior MCA official who did not wish to be identified. He was speaking on the sidelines of a national conclave on corporate governance organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry. The average compliance rate, including all public firms, is much lower at 45%. Read on …

Times of India:  Vijaya S Mulay, a retired municipal nurse, filed a query under the Right to Information (RTI) Act which sought to track the movement (or non-movement) of papers pertaining to her retirement dues. The papers had been pending with the administrative department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation for more than a year.
The RTI response revealed the names of the officials who ‘sat’ on the file for months together. The format also gave a detailed reply which showed where the papers got stuck and for how many days. Following her RTI query, the civic authorities were forced to take action against the errant officials and penalise two BMC employees for the delay.
Read on …

Reuters: State restrictions on use of the Internet have spread to more than 20 countries that use catch-all and contradictory rules to help keep people off line and stifle feared political opposition, a new report says.
In “Governing the Internet”, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) presented case studies of Web censorship in Kazakhstan and Georgia and referred to similar findings in nations from China to Iran, Sudan and Belarus.
“Recent moves against free speech on the Internet in a number of countries have provided a bitter reminder of the ease with which some regimes, democracies and dictatorships alike, seek to suppress speech that they disapprove of, dislike, or simply fear,” the report by the 56-nation OSCE said.
Download the report [pdf]

Business Standard: Close on the heels of Pune and Baramati (a small city in Maharashtra), India’s infotech capital, Bangalore, too will provide seamless wireless connectivity as a part of its Rs 800 crore “Unwire Bangalore” project.
Even as Delhi has been planning to make the city “wireless”, the Karnataka government has reportedly given the go-ahead to all the five bidding consortia to roll out the services in a phased manner. Three of the bidders have started deploying the required infrastructure and services will be rolled out this year.
Conceptualised on a build, operate and own model, the Unwire Bangalore project aims at creating an infrastructure network that will provide wireless Internet connection to the entire city using world interoperability for microwave access (WiMax) and Wi-Fi technologies. The project is expected to cover 679 square kilometres of the city in a phased manner. Read on …

Economic Times: In a country of over a billion people, only 31.5 million people pay taxes, and this is after the number of taxpayers has grown by nearly 11 percent between March 2002 and March 2006. The Directorate of Income Tax (Systems) has said that a total of 54 million Permanent Account Numbers (PAN) had been allotted till July 5, 2007.
PAN numbers are also needed to open a bank account, pay income tax, purchase and sell shares and securities, purchase movable property that needs registration, apply for visas and passports or bank loan and to file tax returns. Read on …

Reuters – A nonprofit group that designs low-cost computers for poor children may start selling $350 laptops on the commercial market by Christmas, an executive said on Monday.
The One Laptop Per Child Foundation’s chief technology officer, Mary Lou Jepsen, said the computer could sell initially for about $350, or twice its production cost, although the group is also considering a higher price tag.
Although the green-and-white XO was designed for elementary school children in poor countries, analysts say that some of the features make it attractive to kids in wealthier countries as well as adults.
The foundation has kept its costs down by developing its own technology, including the display, and using a relatively inexpensive microprocessor from Advanced Micro Devices Inc. It also uses free Linux software, saving the cost of paying to use Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Read on …