Information Society Watch

February 14, 2008, Preeti Parashar, The Financial Express

This news report hopes that India's e-Governance programme might get a budget allocation of 1,500 crore rupees in 2008, an increase in comparison with a figure of 1,300 crore rupees in 2007. Quoting the minister for communication and information technology, the report adds that under the National e-Governance Plan, one lakh common service centres will be set up in six lakh villages across India, bringing services to the doorsteps of its ordinary citizens. Many of the states are in the process of launching state wide area networks, with Haryana having implemented it already. The administrative hurdles of actual implementation aside, success of any programme, including e-Governance, must be judged primarily in terms of the ability to improve the lot of those left behind.

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