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Bangladesh to use digital maps in upcoming census
Bangladesh plans to use digital maps to identify the census enumeration areas in the upcoming
fifth population census. This was announced by the country’s Planning Minister Air Vice Marshal
(retd) AK Khandaker at a seminar organised by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) on the World Standard Day 2010 in Dhaka. Earlier, the minister said the objective of the government was to switch over to a Digital Bangladesh by 2021 and for achieving that, the government would complete computerisation and digitisation of all activities on priority basis to introduce e-Ggovernance gradually.
rural connectivity
Nepal runs e-Village program for remote villages Makwanpur district of Nepal will soon get connected to the world through a wireless network that is being set up as part of the e-Village program. This initiative by the local District Development committee is aimed to support Magsaysay Award winner Mahabir Pun. Currently, a telemedicine trial is on, among other services. The e-Village program aims at providing
local people information about telemedicine and education services with the help of telephone, e-mail and the Internet. Five
schools that are getting service under this program have also received program that distributes laptop to each student.
Identity management
Europe initiatites pilot projects to test interoperabity of e-identities
STORK, a project co-funded by the EU ICT Policy Support Programme under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP), has announced that six pilots—Cross border Authentication for Electronic Services, SaferChat, Student Mobility, Cross Border eDelivery, Change of Address and Commission Services—are now available for public access. This platform enables citizens to use their national eIDs for e-Government services in several European countries. The six pilots will gradually be enhanced and will prove and test the integration into existing real live portal services of the underlying STORK interoperability platform. STORK Co-Chair Prof. Antonio Lioy has said, “The pilots will demonstrate to citizens and public administrations interoperability of electronic identities is achievable in e-Government services. They will highlight the added value citizens will receive by being able to assert their identities electronically in a protected, secure and private environment.” “The eID framework will save public money, reduce time for both government and citizens, lessen the risk of misuse or fraud and create a wealth of opportunities. It is one more step towards a borderless EU marketplace,” he added.e-identities
rural development
China adopts multi-modal approach for driving e-Governance in countryside The Government of China is exploring different and more pragmatic methods to improve e-Governance in its underdeveloped rural areas, apart from trying to spread the use
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of the Internet, according to experts at the fourth International Conference on Electronic Governance held in October in Beijing. China has been encouraging its local
egov / www.egovonline.net / November 2010
sectors to make the best use of telephones and televisions—the traditional platforms that have allowed the sharing of agricultural policies and information. Interestingly, while
more than 96 percent of Chinese rural households had access to mobile phones and televisions in 2009, years, weak infrastructure and poor education levels of the rural population have
continued to hamper the promotion of the Internet in the countryside. China has more than 700 million rural residents, accounting for over half the country’s total population.