The government’s approach towards universal Internet access is marred by dichotomy. While the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005, calls Internet one of the most effective means of communication and urges authorities to post more information online, some newly issued guidelines appear to be an attempt to gag freedom of online expression. The RTI Act [ Read More ]
India’s nearly 250,000 panchayats are the gateways to its villages, where the bulk of the population resides. The objective of e-governance cannot be realised without digitizing these village councils and ensuring that their three million officers are trained to be a part of the nationwide drive. Sadly, we are a long way behind. The country [ Read More ]
HT column by Osama Manzar (Date-15-June-2011)
The environment ministry has published draft rules to regulate the management of information and communication technology (ICT) waste. Although an important step towards sustainable development, the E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2010, likely to come into force next year, fall short on some key parameters. First, the rules fail to integrate the informal sector in [ Read More ]
Technology is as good as what it does. That is the basic principle on which we started our journey at the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) and instituted the Manthan Award. The idea was to identify initiatives that use information and communication technology (ICT) tools to achieve specific goals with the long-term target of empowering the masses, especially in rural areas. 
