Indian govt invests in ICT

India's union minister of state for communications and IT, Sachin Pilot, has announced a Rs 567 crore IT project especially meant to upgrade e-governance and IT services in all the north east states, Zeenews.com reports.

Pilot reviewed the progress of ICT schemes, BSNL and postal services in the region and the implementation of the ministry's flagship scheme, the National e-Governance Plan, and directed all agencies to resolve the pending issues to improve service delivery to the people.

According to The Economic Times, Pilot said the Union Cabinet has recently sanctioned a Rs 388 crore special package for north east to impart affordable ICT training to the local youth.

"Of the budgeted Rs 388 crore, Rs 63.35 crore has been targeted to be spent in this year. The project would enable the training of 14 000 youth per year, which is a five-fold increase. This would ensure the availability of trained professionals in the region, which would attract IT Industry to set up their units in the north east," he said.

Pointing out that IT infrastructure has been established in all the states for a smooth rollout of the delivery of citizen-centric services, he said total expenditure by the Department of IT in the north-eastern states is estimated to be Rs 243 crore this year, of which Rs 190 crore has been earmarked for e-governance, The Hindu writes.

Pilot also said BSNL has planned a capital expenditure of Rs 347 crore in the north east this year, while an additional Rs 300 crore will be spent on the National Optical Fibre Network and other projects.