PANAJI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday inaugurated the Goa government-sponsored broadband network — the first of its kind in the country that looks to integrate all state - and taluka-level departments and all households through optic fibre cables. “Knowledge is the key success factor to find gainful employment in new emerging sectors.
We need to invest in technology and its related tools, we need to invest in knowledge capabilities,” he pointed out during the question answer session with localites from the various talukas, who were connected to the main venue via broadband.
And while the economist in him urged people to accept industrialisation and growth of services sector, as a ‘common trend that takes place in all nations’; the PM also laid emphasis on developing agriculture. “We must diversify and focus on horticulture, animal husbandry that creates employment and generates income. This can grow simultaneously along with other sectors,” he said.
The PM laid heavy emphasis on creating BPOs, call centres and other IT enabled online services in Goa, in addition to boosting tourism. According to him, a state with a high literacy rate and good English speaking crowd shows high potential in developing human resource and therefore must focus on service sector. “This broadband network will hopefully open doors to knowledge economy to Goans,” he adds.
The Goa Broadband Network Project will connect households with a bandwidth of 2-10 Mbps; and can be used to access various schemes and projects. The network will provide internet-based services like e-governance, education, healthcare, video conferencing and IP telephony services.
“Our aim is to create a single window clearance system, which offers all government services in one single portal,” said IT minister Dayanand Narvekar. The state government also has plans to use this high bandwidth connectivity to create ‘work from home’ facility through initiatives like tele-education, tele-medicine and also tele-agriculture.
In the first phase of the project which was inaugurated on Thursday, all district and taluka level headquarters have been brought under 10 Gbps connectivity. The second phase will connect all Panchayats with 1 Gbps connectivity to taluka headquarters by March 2008, while in the third phase 2-10 Mbps connectivity by December 31, 2008.
The fourth phase will be wireless connectivity. The Rs 125-crore project is being developed on a Public Private Partnership model.
Meanwhile, Mr Singh promised full co-operation to create world class infrastructure in Goa. The Centre is also to provide an additional sum Rs 150 crore, along with Rs 1,500 crore to upgrade Panjim, besides assisting Goa in hosting the 2011 national Games, adds PM Singh.
Source : EconomicTimes
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment