From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Feb 1 17:57:30 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA119033; Thu, 1 Feb 2001 17:57:29 +1000 (EST) Received: from ns1-isb.sdnpk.org ([203.135.44.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA118990 for ; Thu, 1 Feb 2001 17:57:16 +1000 (EST) Received: from localhost (rizvi@localhost) by ns1-isb.sdnpk.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA15353 for ; Thu, 1 Feb 2001 12:58:28 +0500 Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 12:58:28 +0500 (PKT) From: "Hasan A. Rizvi" X-Sender: rizvi@ns1-isb.sdnpk.org To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: [asialink-policy 1174] Intellectual property and piracy issues in East and Southeast Asia (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 00:18:11 +0700 From: Norbert Klein To: ML Asialink-policy Subject: [asialink-policy 1174] Intellectual property and piracy issues in East and Southeast Asia FYI, "We are particularly interested in sociologists, anthropologists, or other scholars who can provide some insight as to cultural issues related to these issues." Norbert -- Norbert Klein www.forum.org.kh == From: Randy Kluver [mailto: icmrk@nus.edu.sg] We are putting together a panel on Intellectual property and piracy issues in East and Southeast Asia for the Internet and Development in Asia conference in September, to be held in Singapore. We are particularly interested in sociologists, anthropologists, or other scholars who can provide some insight as to cultural issues related to these issues. Any self-nominations or suggestions would be welcome! IPEF 2001 Internet and Development in Asia September 14-15, 2001 http://www.ipef.org/events/ipef2001/default.asp hosted by the Information & Communications Management Programme at the National University of Singapore www.fas.nus.edu.sg/icm ; Fri, 2 Feb 2001 15:30:12 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.95]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA23854 for ; Fri, 2 Feb 2001 10:42:33 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 10:34:49 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Farmers blossom under IT revolution Message-ID: <3A7A8D49.9636.6470D2@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk January 27, 2001 Farmers blossom under IT revolution By Ranjit Devraj BANGALORE - Roses are doing more for Basavanna than "ragi", the coarse grain that his peasant family grew for generations in the small hamlet of Devenhalli near this bustling capital city of India's southern Karnataka state. "I earned four times more, growing roses last year, than what I would normally have earned from my small plot of land. I have finally been able to pay off my debts and keep my children in school," he says. A new optimism is spreading in village households across the lush rural landscape outside Bangalore, a city that now figures prominently on the global information technology (IT) map. Globalization is also touching the doors of hamlets like Devenhalli. Its effects can be seen in the neat rows of air- conditioned "polyhouses" (large metal frames covered with translucent polythene) full of carnations grown for local and international markets. Gladioli, gerbera, roses and other flowers with a growing demand in European and East Asian flower markets, are bringing prosperity to once poor peasants like Basavanna. He has a contract to supply the flowers to a large Bangalore firm, which does business with buyers in Israel, the Netherlands, the United States and Japan. "It is much more than what I can ever get growing ragi - I hope t he business continues," he says. There are risks too. Exporting firms can often reject an entire flower crop, which fails to meet stringent international quality standards, without paying compensation. The flower growers are also bound by contract not to find other exporters, though they can sell the rejected flowers locally, before the blooms wilt. An alternative for growers is to take their flowers to the daily morning auctions conducted by the Karnataka Agro Industrie s Corporation (KAIC), where exporters bid and the competition is keen enough to ensure sales. It is at the Bangalore auctions that IT has finally begun to touch the lives of the peasants-turned-flower farmers, specially since the year 1999 when the old "open-cry" system at the KAIC center turned digital. The digit al sales" have pushed the flower business up from a mere US$50,000 annually two years ago to well over half a million dollars now. Nothing shows the sea change that is sweeping farming in Karnataka, more than KAIC's plans to switch from the traditional areas of fertilizers and farm tools to horticulture. ''We plan to be facilitators in horticulture, food processing, and other sunrise agri-projects,'' says KAIC's managing director T D Raghunandan. Among the innovative projects being promoted by KAIC is ostrich farming. This is new to India, but has enriched farmers in South Africa who sell ostrich skin for making high-quality, leather cowboy boots. According to leading Indian economist M N Panini, who has studied extensively, the impact of globalization on Karnataka's agriculture, this has brought tremendous gains to the peasants. "Farmers are now confident that agr iculture can actually yield high returns and that they do not have to depend on unreliable government support to protect their interests," says Panini. The Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) too says that the forces of globalization can be harnessed to tackle rural poverty in developing nations. "Globally, larger and freer flows of trade an d investment have created new opportunities," notes IFAD's "Rural Poverty Report 2000-2001" due to be released at the UN headquarters in New York in February. According to IFAD, set up two decades ago by the United Nations to combat global hunger and poverty, three fourths of the world's poor live in rural areas of developing nations. Improving rural incomes is the key to raisi ng their living standards, it says. More interestingly, the new globalization-linked farm practices in Karnataka, have helped landless, low-caste farm workers, who are beginning to dictate wages and terms of work. These are among the poorest Indians, who, in other parts of the country, have to work in harsh conditions for a pittance for feudal landlords. Now they work on the floriculture farms of big landowners, who in turn work fo r modern companies observing modern day labor practices. "No laborer comes to work before eight in the morning or stays on the fields beyond two in the afternoon, unless paid overtime," says Panini. "Working in a floriculture farm is actually prestigious for an ordinary laborer because it provides steady, round-the-year employment in a modern factory-like atmosphere with relations strictly impersonal and matters like caste-equations becoming irrelevant," he adds. According to Panini, the new developments are doing what decades of official policies, which were meant to help the poorest Indians, failed to do. Floriculture, as practised by the big exporting firms, is labor-intensive. According to official estimates, this employs more than 100 people per hectare. Floriculture workers, specially women, carry out a variety of task s like watering, spraying fertilizers and insecticides, weeding, temperature and humidity maintenance, besides harvesting the flowers. As big city floriculture experts pour in to advise the flower farmers, hotels have sprung up in the villages around Bangalore, generating new jobs for the villagers. Roadside stalls on the highway leading to the flower farms, stock seeds, fertilizers and even earthworms imported from the Philippines. However, there is need for caution, says Panini. While the forces of globalization have helped the peasants, these have also exposed them to the risk from failures in global markets, he says. The flower farmers will have to understand that they have much more to lose now than before in the event of market failures or adverse global business factors, he explains. Panini refers to a spate of suicides in recent years by farmers who had substituted cotton for traditional crops and found themselves deep in debt, when the crops failed. "The lesson to be learned is that globalization can bring prosperity, but carries risks against which the government must ... support farmers at critical junctures rather than oppose globalization altogether," he says. "There is [also] a need to ensure that floriculture, with all its fertilizers and insecticides, does not permanently damage the soil," he adds. (Inter Press Service) http://atimes.com/ind-pak/CA27Df01.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Feb 2 15:30:24 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA106386; Fri, 2 Feb 2001 15:30:23 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA106358 for ; Fri, 2 Feb 2001 15:30:13 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.95]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA23845 for ; Fri, 2 Feb 2001 10:42:27 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 10:34:50 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Internet Access Via Community Radios: UNESCO Kothmale Seminar Closed Message-ID: <3A7A8D4A.12872.6474E4@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Internet Access Via Community Radios: UNESCO Kothmale Seminar Closed January 29, 2001 - A strong new commitment to provide access to the Internet via community radio networks for the rural poor in developing countries was made in Kothmale Sri Lanka. The UNESCO seminar "Integrating Modern and Traditional Information and Communication Technologies for Community Development" ended last Saturday in this village in a valley in Sri Lanka. The participants from community projects in developing countries also sent a video message on the digital divide to world leaders gathered for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, calling for new efforts to bridge the growing information gap. Several international development bodies pledged to launch fresh projects or boost existing ones to ensure that poor communities are able to use the full potential of information and communication technologies for their development needs. Participants from community radio and telecentre projects in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean made a series of recommendations to international partners for the successful integration of these technologies at community level. The American NGO, Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) announced that it will allocate ground stations on a priority basis to UNESCO- supported networks of community radios and telecentres for sending and receiving email via low-orbiting satellites. This will enable remote villages with no telephone lines to access and exchange up to 50 pages a day of information. The UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) committed itself to providing policy and technical assistance to community projects in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, East Timor, Bhutan and Pacific Islands region. UNDP APDIP, ITU and UNESCO will further their partnership in the Asia-Pacific region for policy and technical assistance. Further pledges of reinforced co-operation with UNESCO to expand projects for community multimedia centres came from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada. UNESCO's new partnership programme to combine community broadcasting with Internet and related technologies was launched at the seminar, organized jointly with the Sri Lanka government, the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and the Kothmale Internet Project of Kothmale Community Radio. The Kothmale project has pioneered the use of radio to introduce rural communities to the new technologies. - View a message from Kothmale to Davos (three-minute video in Real Media format) http://webworld.unesco.org/real_media/davos.ram - Recommendation (RTF) http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/kothmale_recommendations.rtf source: http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010129_kothmale.shtml From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Feb 2 15:30:25 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA106413; Fri, 2 Feb 2001 15:30:25 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA106359 for ; Fri, 2 Feb 2001 15:30:16 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.95]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA23848 for ; Fri, 2 Feb 2001 10:42:28 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 10:34:51 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Internet helps global indians rally for quake aid Message-ID: <3A7A8D4B.30470.647725@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Jan. 31, 2001 Internet helps global indians rally for quake aid BY NARAYANAN MADHAVAN NEW DELHI (Reuters) - There is now a virtual control room to aid India's earthquake relief. Far-flung Gujaratis originating from the quake-ravaged Kutch region in western India are harnessing the Internet to organize supplies, logistics and search for relatives following last Friday's massive earthquake. Until last week, Panjokutch (Our Kutch) (www.panjokutch.com) was just a community Web site that helped arranged marriages, carried travel ads and posted job information. Now it serves as an information hub for quake relief. Its tasks range from online registration of aid donors to locating lost relatives. A message on Panjokutch.com from Shree Swaminarayan Temple in Willesden in north London conveys the desperate quest for information from relatives far from the disaster scene. ``All the followers of the temple have relatives in Kutch and it has been devastating to have no news of their wellbeing.'' OTHER SITES HELPING And Panjokutch.com is not the only Web site helping victims of the quake that killed at least 20,000 people. There are a host of other sites such as www.kutchinfo.com which details specific needs for quake-hit villages. Gujarati magazines like Chitralekha (www.chitralekha.com) are also part of the effort. And Bombay's Grain, Rice and Oilseed Merchants Association (www.groma.org) has a victim relief site. AlertNet (www.alertnet.org), run by the Reuters Foundation of global news and information group Reuters Group Plc (RTR.L), is another site helping disaster relief communication. The loose-knit sites which have sprung up over the last few years have transformed disaster response, coordinating individuals, communities and aid agencies. Emails are flying across the web, bulletin boards give fast updates and search boxes supply specific information. It is all being used to seek and direct volunteers and truckloads of medicines, food and other supplies. Pankaj K. Shah, managing trustee of the non-profit S.K. Shah Charitable Trust, which runs Panjokutch.com, said the site's main aim now was to inform anxious relatives of victims. ``We're getting responses from all over the world,'' he told Reuters on Wednesday. ``For every appeal on the site, we get four or five truckloads of food,'' he added, saying it had also written to 22,000 organizations worldwide seeking aid. Details of relief needs sought over the web are meticulous, with goods needed ranging from biscuits and milk powder to cotton rolls and analgesics. Panjokutch.com has search boxes for village-wise information, organized alphabetically with date and time. People across the globe can seek or give details on victims and buildings. http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/internet/docs/80146 8l.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 3 14:47:32 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id OAA92795; Sat, 3 Feb 2001 14:47:32 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA92774 for ; Sat, 3 Feb 2001 14:47:21 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.12]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA16206 for ; Sat, 3 Feb 2001 09:59:53 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 10:41:08 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Tackling the digital divide Message-ID: <3A7A8EC4.12143.6A39E1@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk February 1, 2001 Tackling the digital divide By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN - While continuing to focus on poverty alleviation programs, international cooperation should assist developing countries in harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT), according to officials and experts. Some 100 of them participated in an "international policy dialogue" at an event entitled "Digital Inclusion - impact and challenges of the networked economy for developing countries". The German Foundation for International Development (DSE) arranged the meeting in conjunction with the German federal ministries of Economic Cooperation and Development and Economic Affairs (BMZ). Participants in the conference included representatives of non- governmental organizations (NGOs), private corporations, multilateral institutions and of the 15-nation European Union. Government officials from industrialized and developing countries also joined the event held January 23 and 24 in Berlin. Setting the tone, DSE director-general Heinz Buehler stressed that discussions about ICT should not overlook the fact that the majority of people worldwide were struggling to survive and lead a life in dignity. State secretary Erich Stather in BMZ backed him: "Despite the undisputed potential offered by ICT, we must not forget what life really is like for the majority of the people on this planet ... The discussion on modern information and communication technologies is of no concrete relevance for many people [living in poverty]." He welcomed international initiatives to build bridges across the digital divide between the prosperous and the poor. He pleaded for digital inclusion of all those whose access to ICT was obstructed by lack of a basic infrastructure. In a statement read out at the conference, president of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Makarim Wibisono pointed out that only 5 percent of the world's population are connected to the Internet. "As a result, the gap between the developed and developing countries is being further aggravated and it holds ominous consequences for the developing countries including increases in poverty, unemployment and under-development levels," warned Wibisono. This adverse scenario could also lead to increased national and international tensions and instabilities, he added. Tadao Takahashi, who chairs the federal task force for a national information society in Brazil, agreed. "Digital exclusion of the developing world is a direct consequence of other types of exclusion, because ultimate causes are the same. In the future, however, digital exclusion can become a major aggravating factor to all other types of exclusion," Takashahi pointed out. An ICT task force is being designed to facilitate and promote collaborative initiatives involving the public and private sectors, multilateral development institutions, foundations and trusts. The task force is to be created under the leadership of the UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan, outside the UN organizational structure. However, the United Nations is not alone in undertaking efforts to bridge the digital divide. Other initiatives, outside the United Nations, have also been launched with similar objectives. Chief among them is that of Dot Force initiated by the Group of 8 major industrial nations - Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, the United States, Japan and Russia - at their Okinawa summit in July 2000. Steps have been taken to ensure synergies between the two initiatives. The ECOSOC president is a member of the G8 Dot Force. Likewise, at the UN secretariat level, the UN Development Program (UNDP) provides secretarial support for the Dot Force. At the regional level, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has been working with African countries on ICT issues for more than 20 years now. Also the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) serves as another tool to bridging the digital divide, the chief of ECA's development information services division (DISD), Krima Bounemra Ben-Soltane, told the Berlin conference. She expects the transition of Africa to an information society as a result of the so- called Scan-ICT project, backed by Canada, the EU and Norway. Ben-Soltane reported that thanks due to the project, secondary school students in Namibia have computerized 20,897 insect inventory records. In doing so, they have helped preserve information about the fifth largest insect collection in Africa. Most of them had no previous computer experience. Guarding against succumbing to the digital divide, Mohammed Masud Isa, managing director of Grameen Telecom in Bangladesh, explained that Professor Muhammad Yunus had realized the potential of ICT in eliminating global poverty. Yunus founded the world-renowned Grameen Bank. By providing a small amount of loans ranging from US$100 to $500, the bank has empowered about 5 million poor villagers, most of them women, to battle against poverty. Tim Kelly, coordinator of the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union, reported "success stories" in two least developed countries - Nepal and Uganda. Nepal has succeeded in achieving lowest IP - Internet provider - access prices in South Asia. Uganda is the first country in Africa where mobile phones outnumber fixed-line telephones. The Berlin conference was held less that one week after the consultation organized by the donor nations' Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with the support of the government of Dubai. The gathering, joined by 20 emerging-market, transition and developing countries as well OECD member states, came to the conclusion that efforts to tackle the digital divide will succeed only if they are closely tied to the pressing needs of developing countries in such areas as health, education and transport. (Inter Press Service) http://atimes.com/media/CB01Ce01.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 3 15:55:15 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id PAA101333; Sat, 3 Feb 2001 15:55:15 +1000 (EST) Received: from web11402.mail.yahoo.com (web11402.mail.yahoo.com [216.136.131.232]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id PAA101314 for ; Sat, 3 Feb 2001 15:55:12 +1000 (EST) Message-ID: <20010203055511.70155.qmail@web11402.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [193.251.158.187] by web11402.mail.yahoo.com; Fri, 02 Feb 2001 21:55:11 PST Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 21:55:11 -0800 (PST) From: Azad RMS Subject: Indian Software Companies Looking for Chinese Programmers To: s-asia-it@apnic.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Dear All, According to this newsitem some of the major Indian software companies like Tata, Infosys and Wipro are looking for Chinese programmers. Read "India’s software MNCs look to China for cheap talent": http://www.economictimes.com/today/03tech07.htm Azad __________________________________________________ Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 4 01:18:47 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id BAA104111; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 01:18:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id BAA104086 for ; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 01:18:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.107]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f13FHvU14565 for ; Sat, 3 Feb 2001 20:17:58 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2001 20:23:25 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Web helps find quake survivors Message-ID: <3A7C68BD.12017.4ABF0@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk 2 February, 2001 Web helps find quake survivors By BBC News Online's Kate Goldberg The internet is offering a glimmer of hope for people trying to get in touch with friends and relatives after the devastating earthquake in Gujarat. A Gujarati man living in Canada heard from his sister, Zarin, after posting a message on BBC News Online's Talking Point page. For complete story go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1150000/1150 084.stm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 4 01:18:48 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id BAA104126; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 01:18:47 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id BAA104089 for ; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 01:18:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.107]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f13FHxU14568 for ; Sat, 3 Feb 2001 20:17:59 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2001 20:23:26 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] Lahore: "Telecom & IT Asia 2001" on 6 Feb 2001 Message-ID: <3A7C68BE.741.4AE07@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk "Telecom & IT Asia 2001", a three-day conference and exhibition is starting from 6 Feb 2001. The event is being organised by "Development Times", a periodical from Lahore, in collaboration with the Institute of Telecommunication Engineers Pakistan, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Pakistan, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL). Details will be posted to s-asia-it when available. ik. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 4 01:18:49 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id BAA104133; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 01:18:48 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id BAA104087 for ; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 01:18:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.107]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f13FHrU14561 for ; Sat, 3 Feb 2001 20:17:55 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2001 20:23:25 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Creating IT opportunities for the have-nots Message-ID: <3A7C68BD.25736.4A9AF@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Creating IT opportunities for the have-nots By THOMAS HOFFMAN (January 31, 2001) NEW YORK -- While business and government leaders hunker down over global issues in the tiny resort village of Davos, Switzerland, this week, a group of United Nations delegates and IT industry officials gathered here to discuss possible approaches to leveraging IT to improve social and economic conditions in developing nations. The upshot is that government, academia and business need to partner more often to create business and educational opportunities for citizens in emerging countries. But to help make that happen, governments will have to open their markets to investment capital. The problem for many underdeveloped nations is that "there is a severe lack of capital," which is needed to improve primary and secondary education as well as to support the growth of industry and to improve the existing communications infrastructures, said Percy Mangoaela, the UN ambassador from Lesotho. Mangoaela was one of 17 representatives who attended the roundtable discussion cosponsored by the UN Working Group on Informatics and AIT Global Inc. [http://www.aitglobal.com/ ], a worldwide association of IT professionals based in Kings Park, N.Y. The event was held at the Residence of the Danish Mission to the UN. One organization that's taking a step to help is New York University. The school is working with the government of Albania and with businesses to set up a computer sciences degree program for several hundred students there. The program is scheduled to open in about 18 months, said David Finney, dean of NYU's School of Continuing and Distance Education. Still, Finney acknowledges that one of the biggest challenges that countries like Albania face is a fear among government officials that students will receive long-distance, computer-based learning from information systems professors in New York and then be courted to work for U.S. companies. That's certainly true in India, where 60% to 70% of computer science students who are attending elite universities there "are being recruited by foreign companies," said Nitin Desai, the undersecretary general for the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs. "A lot more work needs to be done" in partnerships between government, industry and academia in India to prevent the brain drain that has been occurring there, Desai added. Perhaps the most somber message came from Martin Belinga-Eboutou, the UN ambassador from Cameroon who is also the president of UN Economic and Social Council. "Eight-eight percent of the world's Internet users [live] in industrialized nations. In Africa, we have less than one telephone per 100 inhabitants," said Belinga-Eboutou. "So talking about the use of information technology for social and economic development is a huge problem" for us. http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/story/0,1199,NAV47_STO57155,00.html?O penDocument&~f From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 4 01:18:51 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id BAA104159; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 01:18:50 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id BAA104088 for ; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 01:18:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.107]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f13FI0U14575 for ; Sat, 3 Feb 2001 20:18:01 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2001 20:23:24 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: India's great portal crash Message-ID: <3A7C68BC.8777.4A76E@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk India's great portal crash By Raju Bist MUMBAI - Within a single month, October 2000, Yahoo, Alta Vista and Lycos launched their Indian Internet portals. The official reasons they gave for their entry: India's increasing net presence and a growing demand for Indian content. The unofficial reason: fear of being left behind in the race as new portals kept popping up every other day. About two years back, there were only about 100 Indian portals. Now, there must be 500 times that number - the correct figure is anybody's guess. According to one estimate, Mumbai ranks 10th in the world among cities with the largest number of websites. Feeding the Indian surfer's seemingly insatiable appetite for new sites are a host of established business houses as well as brand new entrepreneurs. Recognized media operations like The Times of India, The Indian Express and Hindustan Times have jumped on the bandwagon. Australian media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has taken a stake in indya.com, promoted by local networking giant Microland. But the largest number of portals - and some of the most interesting ones - have been developed by young Internet entrepreneurs. Unlike the biggies, these wannabes are handicapped by limited budgets and hence are concentrating on smaller, niche, vertical portals, or "vortals". A vertical portal is a better bet because it is easier to distinguish oneself by targeting a niche segment. Manu Agarwal, director of Design Expo Network Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based Web-based integrated solutions provider, explains the mad rush for setting up portals: "It is an easy business to implement. You need in- depth knowledge to start any other business like steel or cement. Here, at least conceptually, things look easy. The net also theoretically allows you to sell to millions." Most of the entrepreneurs were attracted by the crazy valuations that were being attached to dotcom companies. Rajesh Jain started indiaworld.com with a small office and a staff of three. Four years later, he sold it to Satyam Infoway for Rs5 billion (US$110 million). Alok Kejriwal, CEO of Contests2win, started off with Rs2,000 and built a site is worth Rs900 million. The honeymoon, though, is finally over. In the past three months, the rug has been swept from under the feet of many Indian dotcoms. Some of them have slashed their staff numbers. Others have suspended operations for want of funds. Among the high-profile ones that have met an early, unexpected demise: totalcricket.com, promoted by Mark Masceranhas of WorldTel fame; Agriculture vortal mahamandi.com, launched by Mumbai-based PR firm Adfactors; musicurry.com was acquired by indiainfo; Indian operations of the US-based chaitime.com; Pacific Internt shut down its Indian operations, and; Madhu Trehan-promoted wahindia.com. Initially, most of the portals were funded by venture capitalists. But once the initial round of funding dried up, it was time to take a closer look at the bottom line. And in most cases, the balance sheets seem to have been splashed with red all over. In a way, the venture capitalists (VCs) themselves were to blame. Most of them were funded by overseas VCs flush with profits from the booming Nasdaq. The Indian VCs - as well as the clients they were funding - did not have a clue about dotcoms. Money soon started flowing like the Ganges. But it was only a matter of time before it dried up. While setting up their portals and splurging on fancy advertising campaigns, the net-entrepreneurs had preferred to turn a blind eye to the special drawbacks of the Indian market: inadequate bandwidth; low Internet user base; poor PC penetration; high access cost; and Indian inhibitions over using credit cards. Another big problem was that most of the Indian portals were saddled with a "me too" image. The general portals, adopting one of the easiest formats, displayed the usual content: a little bit of breaking news with add-ons like chat, mail, horoscope and weather. When Indian portal developers made their initial forays, they had not looked beyond banner advertising as a revenue stream. But they soon realized their short-sightedness. "In 1995, 2.5 percent of net surfers clicked on banners. Today that figure has fallen down drastically to 0.36 percent," says Agarwal. The future, he says, will belong to companies which can successfully exploit the "click and mortar" model. "The Net will simply end up as a front-end marketing tool," he adds. According to analysts, the number of Indian websites and portals was growing at a faster pace than the market. There was a lot more activity out there than was justified. The portals needed to generate astronomical revenues to justify their existence. Amar Sinha, another director at Design Expo, feels that those without fat purses, who do not have the staying power for at least another three years, are the main sufferers in the shake-out that has begun. "The non-serious are being weaned away. Now, the professional dotcoms will consolidate their positions by acquiring brick and mortar companies." According to Macrina Benjamin, operation manager (India) of Web solutions company NRI Network Corporation, service-oriented sites like those catering for travel, health and fitness, and Indian antiques have a very good chance of survival. "These sites can earn revenues if they can think up an appropriate marketing strategy module. What they should keep in mind, however, is that there has to be a lot of interactivity with visitors to their sites. Only such sites will be able to survive and sustain." Speaking in a similar vein is adman turned Net-entrepreneur Sanjay Bapat, whose vortal on non-governmental organizations has attracted funding from automobile giant Mahindra & Mahindra. "Only commercial sites will survive - those that will be able to attach physical things to the Net." Another category of survivors, he continues, will be found among those portals that offer clearly demarcated services. "People will not pay for surfing or for hosting a couple of pages," says Bapat. "Only portals that offer transactions will have long life." Agarwal feels that in the long run, Internet service providers (ISPs) are best suited to emerge as winners, for the simple reason that there are more surfers in India than there are on-line customers for any product or service. In 1999, the country's 340,000 customers of ISPs spent a whopping Rs2.4 billion simply to stay connected to the Net. Also, even though the number of PC-owners in India is minuscule when compared to Western countries, technological developments now allow people to surf the Net by using their TVs. So, the ISPs straight away have another 55 million potential clients to cater to. But the real fun lies in extending the reach beyond the confines of being merely a connectivity provider - which is exactly what some of the wiser ISPs are doing. From connectivity providers they are metamorphosing into service providers - just as their name suggests. Thus, Satyamonline is offering additional user features like greeting- card services and free classifieds. Another ISP, Mantraonline, has added corporate services like setting up intranets, extranets, and virtual private networks. The bloodbath has begun but amid all the drama, a few wise ones will definitely survive. (Special to Asia Times Online) http://atimes.com/ind-pak/CA31Df02.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 4 23:11:46 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id XAA126897; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 23:11:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from spdmraaa.compuserve.com (ds-img-rel-1.compuserve.com [149.174.206.140]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA126893 for ; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 23:11:43 +1000 (EST) Received: (from mailgate@localhost) by spdmraaa.compuserve.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/SUN-REL-1.3) id IAA04561 for s-asia-it@apnic.net; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 08:11:30 -0500 (EST) Received: from oemcomputer (chi-qbu-nva-vty1.as.wcom.net [216.192.161.1]) by spdmraaa.compuserve.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/SUN-REL-1.3) with SMTP id IAA04300 for ; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 08:11:23 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <004701c08eac$7c3a79a0$01a1c0d8@oemcomputer> From: "Walther Warnaar" To: References: <3A73FF6D.12203.6BAB0B@localhost> Subject: Re: [Pakistan] IT is not a magic wand Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2001 19:11:33 +0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk > IT is not a magic wand > By Pervez Hoodbhoy Thank you for your very interesting article. I'm living in Bangladesh, and many things apply equally here. I cannot say anything about Pakistan, but may I make a few comments with the Bangladeshi situation in mind? You discuss the role of government. What I think government here should do is not so much take action, but mainly keep out. State involvement will probably create more problems than it will solve. The only roles I see for the government is ensuring and enforcing good legislature e.g. regarding property rights, and improvement of Internet infrastructure. Certainly education is important. But I disagree that non-academic IT courses are useless. You state that Fortran programmers are seen as "quaint relics, belonging to the age of dinosaurs". That might be true, but somebody who really understood Fortran programming in the 70's, will certainly have moved on to C++ or Java, and still be able to use his understanding gained when using Fortran. Here in Bangladesh, many people working in IT have a degree in other subjects, such as statistics or applied physics. That will not hamper development; the analytical skills needed for software development are the same as the skills needed for these other subjects. The real problem in education might be that, traditionally, education here is more aimed at knowledge than at skills and real understanding. And, indeed, knowledge becomes outdated very fast. If Bangladesh succeeds in setting up an export-oriented software industry, it will be due to the many young entrepreneurs who are now starting IT companies. The competition between them will automatically lead to improved quality. Especially when they'll work for foreign customers who will demand higher quality and business standards. By the same token, I'm much more optimistic that out of the large number of IT training institutes we have in Dhaka, some real good ones will evolve, than about the possibility that the government can set up many new universities. Of course, these things take time, because, indeed, IT is not a magic wand. So let's hope that the investors who now invest in IT do have the patience needed before they get real returns. Best regards, Walther Warnaar From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 5 00:00:51 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id AAA67897; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 00:00:51 +1000 (EST) Received: from eximc-2.lse.ac.uk (eximc-2.lse.ac.uk [158.143.100.32]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA67893 for ; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 00:00:48 +1000 (EST) Received: by eximc-2.lse.ac.uk with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) id <12JX8A4N>; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 13:58:47 -0000 Message-ID: <43CE1CB09DEDD11196DF000629054FBB059C060F@exchs2.lse.ac.uk> From: "Nath,V (pgt)" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: Jobs as Regional Information Managers Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2001 13:58:45 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Dear Colleagues, Greetings from London ! I take this opportunity to some international jobs relating to Infomation Management and Communications posted on the DevNetJobs website at http://www.devnetjobs.org DevNetJobs is one of the most popular Website catering to Job opportunities arising in the International Environment and Development Sector . The site DevNet Jobs at http://www.devnetjobs.org is run on a voluntary basis by development professionals to maintain the quality and somewhat validity of the jobs advertised. A free e-mail updates list is also run by this service which you may subscribe for by sending a blank email to developmentjobs-subscribe@egroups.com The website records over 800 hits a day and we have over 3000 people on our mailing list as of December 31, 2000. The site is linked up from those of World Bank, UNDP, One World and many other International NGOs. You could post job opportunities arising in your organisation through this website and email list by sending in your job adverts at jobs@devnetjobs.org Warm Regards, Vikas Nath ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Inlaks Fellow (2000-1), London School of Economics, UK Global Knowledge Leader, Entovation International, USA Innovator, KnowNet Initiative, http://www.knownet.org Conceiver, DevNet Jobs, http://www.devnetjobs.org HomePage: http://www.vikasnath.org Email: V.nath@lse.ac.uk or jobs@devnetjobs.org Phone: +44 (0) 7887 92 0080 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 5 07:25:55 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id HAA126449; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 07:25:55 +1000 (EST) Received: from probity.mcc.ac.uk (probity.mcc.ac.uk [130.88.200.94]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA126427 for ; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 07:25:51 +1000 (EST) Received: from fs1.ec.man.ac.uk ([130.88.27.100]) by probity.mcc.ac.uk with esmtp (Exim 2.05 #4) id 14PWfK-0007cz-00; Sun, 4 Feb 2001 21:25:46 +0000 Received: from UK-AC-MAN-EC-FS1/SpoolDir by fs1.ec.man.ac.uk (Mercury 1.47); 4 Feb 01 21:25:51 BST Received: from SpoolDir by UK-AC-MAN-EC-FS1 (Mercury 1.47); 4 Feb 01 21:25:38 BST From: "Dr Richard Heeks" Organization: Manchester University To: afrik-it@listserv.hea.ie, s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2001 21:25:34 GMT Subject: Overestimating the Digital Divide X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v3.12a) Message-ID: <19AD184794A@fs1.ec.man.ac.uk> Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk OVERESTIMATING THE GLOBAL DIGITAL DIVIDE The global digital divide between North and South - the industrialised and the developing nations - is undoubtedly great. But it is also overestimated. Why? Because we tend to use invalid models of connectivity in the South: models that rely on Northern notions of one email account serving one individual; and pre-global notions of Internet hosts and accounts merely serving their host country. In practice, many individuals in developing countries are using hosts and - especially - accounts based in the North. They are also sharing access, with one account serving many people. Hidden from the view of formal statistics, individuals are connected - via their organisations, via family members, or via friends, acquaintances and neighbours. Recent research from Trinidad & Tobago puts some figures on this (i). Formal statistics showed only one in twenty households to be connected to the net. On-the-ground surveys, however, showed one in three households had access to an email account. The global digital divide is very much a reality, and very much an issue to be addressed. However, these figures suggest the divide may be misunderstood and up to seven times overestimated. Richard Heeks (i) Miller, D. & Slater, D. (2000) The Internet: An Ethnographic Account, Berg, Oxford, UK. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr Richard Heeks Senior Lecturer, Information Systems & Development Institute for Development Policy & Management University of Manchester Precinct Centre Manchester M13 9GH U.K. Phone: +44-161-275-2870 Fax: +44-161-273-8829 Email: richard.heeks@man.ac.uk IDPM Web: http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm --------------------------------------------------------------------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 5 14:54:10 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id OAA122866; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 14:54:09 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA122840 for ; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 14:53:58 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.101]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f154r3U30606 for ; Mon, 5 Feb 2001 09:53:05 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 09:58:18 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Of Rice and Men Message-ID: <3A7E793A.4112.6DEDA@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk January 15, 2001 The Internet could help impoverished rice farmers fetch a better price. If only they had computers. Read complete story at http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,21402,00.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Feb 6 02:12:33 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id CAA90471; Tue, 6 Feb 2001 02:12:33 +1000 (EST) Received: from akunet.org (zahravi.akunet.org [208.244.71.8]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id CAA90447 for ; Tue, 6 Feb 2001 02:12:26 +1000 (EST) Received: from akunet.org [208.244.71.54] by akunet.org with ESMTP (SMTPD32-6.05) id A0E5A6AA00C2; Mon, 05 Feb 2001 21:12:21 +0500 Message-ID: <3A7ED38B.1BE73B4E@akunet.org> Date: Mon, 05 Feb 2001 21:23:39 +0500 From: Ahmed Omair X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (Win95; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: S-Asia-IT Subject: India builds tech township Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk India builds tech township By Avina Lobo, February 05, 2001 URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/dailynews/story/0,2000010021,20177862,00.htm If Silicon Valley were to be built in India, would it stop software professionals from wanting to migrate to the US? The co-founders of Catalytic Software, Eric Engstrom, Christopher Phillips, and Swain Porter, seem to have a strong reason to believe so. INDIA (ZDNet India) - And why not? Wouldn't you, after a long day at work, love to unwind at an ice-rink, stroll along the meandering sidewalks, shop for groceries leisurely, and then walk over to your plush hi-tech home, built under giant futuristic domes. No, this is not an excerpt from one of Isaac Asimov's works. This is a preview of what Catalytic's co-founders (also ex-Microsoft techies) call an "information technology township," built in a bid to recruit legions of software developers, just in time before they disappear to the US. And sure enough, it is right here, in Cyberabad. Er. Hyderabad. Spread over 500 acres, the dream town is called New Oroville, and is a self-sustaining domed residential and office community that is expected to house around 4,000 software developers and their families, as well as 300 support personnel for sanitation, police, and fire in India. The New Oroville dome-icilies include swimming pools, tennis courts, and even an ice rink, apart from shops, parks and, for those who worship more than just the computer, a temple, a mosque and a church. Arranged along meandering sidewalks, each house or dome-icile will be a concrete shell 26 feet in diameter and 32 feet tall, providing 804 square feet on the ground floor. Each house will have a living area, master bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, outfitted with washer, dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator and modern plumbing. Not to mention cable TV, telephones and a fiber-optic data pipeline connecting to the Internet. The domes are designed such that they can be easily expanded to three floors, allowing more than 2,200 square feet of floor space! Residents of this company town will be able to telecommute or to walk along well-planned streets to offices just down the block. New Oroville will provide its own power with a state-of-the-art coal plant, said Engstrom, adding that 80 percent of its water will be recycled. Extra power will be sold back to the national power grid at cost. Estimated to take around two to three years for completion of the entire township, the project costs are expected to run up to about $200 million, and the company expects to foot the bill through revenue and outside investment. Phase one of New Oroville is expected to commence in three months. This will involve the construction of one large office dome and approximately 30 residential units. The company decided to erect domes instead of structures normally used in India as domes are stronger and sturdier than almost any other structure. Also, as domes enclose the most amount of space with the least surface area, it has a slower rate of heat transfer, which can help keep it cool in summer and warm in winter. India offers the technology industry a highly talented, English-speaking work force as well as the added advantage of being over 12 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time, allowing round-the-clock work cycles for multinational corporations. In addition, the annual salary of a software developer is a fraction of what salaries would be in the US. Catalytic, which has offices both in Redmond and Hyderabad, is looking at tapping India's large supply of engineers as contract software developers for high-level technical projects. However, instead of just outsourcing certain projects to local Indian software development companies as is the common practice followed by companies in the US, Catalytic took the whole company to Hyderabad with Porter, serving as the company's CEO here. Work for Catalytic's employees will start as soon as the first developers are hired, and trained in the US, who in turn will train later groups of developers in India. While recruiting workers is not a problem, retaining them is a trickier proposition, even in India with most software companies losing talented developers to other local firms or abroad to the United States. Catalytic's plan is to offer a benefits' package that's almost equivalent to what they would earn in the US - stock options, salaries of roughly $8,000 per year and - best of all - a home. Building a techno-city in India will save Catalytic from having to import workers to the United States, and the quality of life in New Oroville may help the company retain would-be job hoppers. According to the founders, the decision to build the 'corporate campus' arose after seeing the ill-equipped infrastructure, such as the roads. Building a company-town solves the problem of transportation of a 4,000-strong staff between Hyderabad, 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) from Catalytic's proposed site for New Oroville. Because of the terrible roads, such a commute would take roughly an hour. Besides, the location of New Oroville in the countryside allows for cleaner surroundings too. Employees of Catalytic will vest in their homes over a five-year period, receiving 20 percent ownership in the home per year. While employees would have to give up the houses if they quit the company, Catalytic would pay former employees the value of the percentage of the home they own as part of a severance package. Icon of progress in India? The New Oroville project has the enthusiastic support of the Indian government, including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who gave Catalytic the green signal. On a local level, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu Naidu too is actively helping the New Oroville project cut through the red-tape. The openness of the Andhra Pradesh government to technology investments in the area was part of what convinced Catalytic to set up shop in the state, and the company has gone out of its way to cooperate with all levels of the Indian government in order to provide the kind of stability investors would need. Naidu is reported to have called New Oroville 'icon of progress' for Andhra Pradesh. And it could well be just that. If it succeeds, this project is expected to create almost 4,000 IT jobs and employment for people in supporting services as well as the possibility of a standard of living equivalent to that of the US right here in India. "I guess I would consider staying back in India if an option like this were available" said an software consultant working for a leading investment banking company in the US, who did not want to be named. "But only if I'm convinced that it matches the lifestyle and opportunities that are available out here. Besides there's the additional pull of being able the maintain an additional standard of living as that in the US without having to leave your family here." Puneet Bharghava, another software engineer working in the US agrees. "We are in the phase where the exodus from India to US is much more than immigration back to the country, but this is not going to last long. We may reach an equilibrium which might happen if we give software engineers the same working conditions available in US in India." Will Indian programmers hold back their visas and turn down 'dream jobs' in the US? Only New Oroville has the answer. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Feb 6 06:03:52 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id GAA122598; Tue, 6 Feb 2001 06:03:51 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id GAA122589 for ; Tue, 6 Feb 2001 06:03:47 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.68]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Tue, 6 Feb 2001 01:28:53 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id BAA00619; Tue, 6 Feb 2001 01:42:55 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: NEWS: India has opportunity to implement network platform: Netravali Date: Mon, 5 Feb 2001 15:51:12 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.29] Content-Type: text/plain Cc: gii MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01020515514000.00613@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk India has opportunity to implement network platform: Netravali from India Abroad News Service New Delhi, Feb 5 - India has the unique opportunity to implement a stable and yet evolving network platform which will attract investments from Indian and foreign telecom companies, according to Arun Netravali, president of the U.S.-based premier hi-tech research and development lab Bell Laboratories. "This is the opportune time as the giant strides in communication technologies, especially opto-electronic, wireless and packet networking technologies, that can provide tremendous cost savings and operating benefits have taken place," Netravali is quoted as saying by the Times of India in an interview published Monday. According to Netravali, who has come to India to submit a white paper on telecom to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayaee, India can become a superpower in software by using the world-class telecommunication infrastructure. Netravali, an alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, who is regarded as a pioneer in the field of digital technology, will give a presentation on "Enabling India's Bold Telecommunications Initiatives: A Technologist's Perspective" on Monday in the capital. He will also address an international information technology conference organized by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) in Mumbai later this week. "India has a powerful opportunity to leapfrog other nations by swiftly creating a world-class telecommunications infrastructure leveraging existing assets and new technology," Netravali, who is also chief technology officer and chief network architect of Lucent Technologies, the R&D arm of Bell Lab, told the daily. The backwardness in implementing technology could be used as an opportunity as India does not have much investment in old networks so far which otherwise work as a constraint in creating a high-class future network, he added. "If a future proof technology blueprint is adopted by a country, it would become easy for an investor to decide on its investment plan. Otherwise, because of the fear of a technology becoming obsolete, investments are not taking place in developing a network that is key for telecommunication development," he told the daily. Netravali, who holds more than 70 patents in the areas of computer network, human interfaces to machines, picture processing and digital television, was invited by the Indian government to prepare a blueprint to help India take bold telecommunication initiatives. In his paper, he has suggested the federal government to utilize existing infrastructure like re-use of existing fiber network for metro and core networks. He also prescribed for high-speed access via "Communication Cafes" or other shared facilities to serve large numbers of users cost-effectively, particularly in rural areas. On the one hand, he suggested to adopt low-cost, high-speed, optical, metro access networks for multimedia communications in high-tech metropolitan industrial clusters, on the other, he is also for a low-cost high- speed Internet access, telephony and digital video by exploiting the existing entertainment infrastructure and upgrading to two-way cable technology with no frills, low cost wireless access for basic telephony services in rural villages. Lucent Technologies has development centers in Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad in India. The facilities focuses on developing third generation mobile network platform and cutting edge technologies in the field of telecom. -- India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 7 17:15:55 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA110163; Wed, 7 Feb 2001 17:15:54 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (post.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA110154 for ; Wed, 7 Feb 2001 17:15:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.55]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA01516 for ; Wed, 7 Feb 2001 12:28:26 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 12:20:38 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: International Competition: "Technology for People" Message-ID: <3A813D96.9749.6EBC48@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by ns.apnic.net id RAA110160 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [India is in the list of 29-country international competition. The following is from sonofon's website. Thanks to http://www.sdnp.undp.org/observatory/ for the lead.] Why "Technology for People"? New products are often developed solely on the basis of technological feasibility. Far too often, the user is ignored and it is not until the technology has been fully developed that we begin to consider the user's situation and needs. How can we encourage greater attention to human interests during the development process? How do we encourage developments within information technology, which are more in tune with human interests and needs? The Danish telecommunications company SONOFON has thrown down the gauntlet to students, researchers, engineers, etc. - inviting them to enter an international competition that tries to answer some of these questions. The "Technology for People" competition is part of SONOFON's efforts to promote technological developments which are more in tune with the interests and needs of the users. Information technology must be developed for people. It must be easy to use and access has to be for all. SONOFON hopes that this competition will generate public debate about how users' interests can be transformed into a significant driving force for the technological process. Press Release, January 8, 2001 Technology for People - An international competition SONOFON sponsors international competition. "SONOFON wants to see a larger number of technological winners," according to the telecomms company's managing director, Ulrik Bülow, who would like to see new information technologies developed by people, for people. As part of this policy, SONOFON is organising an international competition called: "Technology for People". New information technologies should be based on the needs of ordinary people. Developing technologies for their own sake is no longer good enough, which is one of the reasons why SONOFON has launched a project entitled "Technology for People". One important campaign element will be a 29-country international competition on this theme. "Information technologies should be based on peoples' needs and be so easy to use that they offer everybody greater freedom and flexibility. We want to see a far greater number of technological winners," says Ulrik Bülow, managing director of SONOFON. "The billions of dollars invested in IT over the next few years will lead to significant changes for millions of people. Encouraging technological development to revolve around people will provide a historic opportunity to avoid technological losers - with all the human and social costs they would entail," says Ulrik Bülow. The competition encourages engineers, designers, sociologists and philosophers all over the world to delve into potential new interrelationships between technology, design, user interfaces and human nature. The winners will be those best able to show how new technologies can be based on human needs. The winners will be selected by an international panel of judges. First, second and third prizes of $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000 will be awarded. The competition is not the only part of the "Technology for People" platform outlined by SONOFON. The company's own technology is also based on users' needs. The company is currently working on a report describing the position of mankind in a technology-driven period of history. for details see http://www.sonofonkampagne.dk/technology_for_people/ From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 7 20:20:54 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA71942; Wed, 7 Feb 2001 20:20:53 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA71922 for ; Wed, 7 Feb 2001 20:20:49 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.106]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Wed, 7 Feb 2001 15:05:27 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id MAA01229; Wed, 7 Feb 2001 12:02:59 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist To: Cybercom Subject: LINK: Some Indian web sites... Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 12:00:52 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.29] Content-Type: text/plain Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <0102071202450E.00958@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk These web-sites might be of interest.... http://www.corruptindia.com Anti-corruption website http://www.tenderpower.com Site about tenders http://www.textile4all.com Textile portal http://www.cupofteaonline.com Information about tea http://www.kidsmahal.com Kids portal http://www.totalteamwork.com IT education online From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Feb 8 21:50:08 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id VAA93500; Thu, 8 Feb 2001 21:50:07 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA93479 for ; Thu, 8 Feb 2001 21:50:03 +1000 (EST) Received: from com06 ([61.11.0.43]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Thu, 8 Feb 2001 17:15:04 +0530 Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20010208171605.007c07b0@mail.im.eth.net> X-Sender: goaphotos@mail.im.eth.net X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.5 (32) Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 17:16:05 +0900 To: s-asia-it@apnic.net From: Frederick Noronha Subject: NEWS: Germany still needs IT experts from India Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Germany-IT-Indians Germany still needs IT experts from India By Manik Mehta, India Abroad News Service Berlin, Feb 8 - Although Indians constitute the largest contingent of foreign information technology experts recruited for employment in Germany under its so-called "green card" program, German labor experts say that more foreign experts, including Indians, will be needed as Germany's IT industry expands and the shortage of qualified manpower becomes acute. Bernhard Jagoda, the president of the Federal Labor Agency, stated that some 50,000 persons were additionally employed last year in the IT sector. Every tenth of these jobs was filled under the green-card program started by the German government in August 2000. Since the first contingent of the 10,000 green cards would be exhausted probably by summer this year, Jagoda urged German politicians to consider "whether the next 10,000 (labor permits) should be issued." The German green card is, unlike the permanent resident alien card in the U.S., an annually renewable labor permit with a maximum life of five years. Indian IT experts, who German employers had hoped would come in large numbers, have remained rather cool to the German green card program. Aside from the five-year time limitation on the green card, other deterrents for Indian IT experts have been factors such as limited growth opportunities in Germany where these experts are not allowed to start their own business, education in an alien language for their children who stand to benefit from education in the United States, and also fears of racism and violence from neo-Nazis and other right-wing elements. Dismissing criticism that the green card program had been a failure, Jagoda said that Germany was rightly following the path taken by the U.S.A. Around 5,000 green cards have already been issued since August last year. The Federation of German Employers' Associations publicized this figure in Berlin recently. Federation president Dieter Hundt echoed Jagoda's views and said that only those who had exaggerated expectations could speak of a "flop." Hundt tried to put "into perspective" the green card regulation, saying that nobody could seriously assume that tens of thousands of experts recruited internationally would come to Germany in a short span of time. According to the Federation, the majority of the 5,000 green cards issued went to applicants from India and the former East Bloc states. Calling the green card program an "important beginning for the immigration of qualified foreign workers," Hundt urged the German government to devise a general concept for a "modern immigration policy" which would give foreign IT experts a permanent residence in Germany. The five-year maximum limitation was a "major shortcoming." Dirk Niebel, a liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) member of Parliament, also criticized the five-year limited green card which was the main reason why the best talents did not find Germany attractive enough as an employment venue. On the other hand, the minimum prescribed annual salary of 100,000 German marks for the foreign experts was too high for many companies in Germany. - India Abroad News Service *********************************************************** frederick noronha, freelance journalist, fred@bytesforall.org near convent, saligao 403511 goa india 0091.832.409490/ 409783 *********************************************************** Bytes For All http://www.bytesforall.org News from Goa http://www.goacom.com/news/ Photos from Goa http://www.goa-world.net/fotofolio/ FotoFolio@Yahoo http://in.photos.yahoo.com/fredericknoronha GoaResearchNet http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503 *********************************************************** From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Feb 8 21:57:20 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id VAA94326; Thu, 8 Feb 2001 21:57:20 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA94306 for ; Thu, 8 Feb 2001 21:57:13 +1000 (EST) Received: from com06 ([61.11.0.43]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Thu, 8 Feb 2001 17:22:10 +0530 Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.20010208173315.007bc250@mail.im.eth.net> X-Sender: goaphotos@mail.im.eth.net X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.5 (32) Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 17:33:15 +0900 To: CYBERCOM@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU From: Frederick Noronha Subject: LINK: Agribusiness portal http://www.agriwatch.com Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk SUNIL KHAIRNAR writes: I worked for Godrej Agrovet Ltd. , the largest feed miller in India for 5 years , and was in Agri commodities trading in Cargill Inc. for 2 years before starting an agribusiness Internet technology and consulting firm with 9 others traders with similar backgrounds. We run the largest Indian centric agribusiness portal http://www.agriwatch.com We publish the only daily agricultural newspaper in India in both Hindi and English from Delhi and Bhopal. These cater to the the information requirements of the agribusiness sector partcularly the processors and the trading community. Through all these products we reach out to almost 50,000 key participants in the Indian Agribusiness Trade on a daily basis. We have put almost 60 market centres for collection of information and also dissemination. We have 17 economic research analysts working on Rice, Wheat, Maize, Oil complex , Pulses, Spices, Coffee, Sugar, Livestock, Herbs, Aromatic Plants, Biotechnology, Agrochemicals, Seeds and Fertilisers with focus on India. Clients include Cargill, Andre, HLL, Godrej, Novartis, Ruchi, BASF, UPL, Mahindra, Monsanto, RPG Life Sciences, Dupont etc in the private sector and Andhra Pradesh Dept of Agriculture, Karnataka Dept of Agriculture, Ministry of Food Processing Delhi, Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium, Chairman of the Prime Ministers task force on Agriculture etc in the Goverment sector. We would greatly appreciate any referrals contacts etc. This was and is a Pariah sector right through even the boom period in the dotcoms and even we were clear since March 99 (when we started) that we would have to make it on our own steam. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Feb 9 04:42:25 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA85340; Fri, 9 Feb 2001 04:42:24 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA85336 for ; Fri, 9 Feb 2001 04:42:19 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.70]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Fri, 9 Feb 2001 00:07:23 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id AAA00819; Fri, 9 Feb 2001 00:21:21 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist To: Cybercom Subject: NEWS-INDIA: Web site for aqua farmers launched Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 00:09:02 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.29] Content-Type: text/plain Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01020900092704.00612@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Web site for aqua farmers launched by Mohammed Shafeeq, India Abroad News Service Hyderabad, Feb 7 - In what is probably the first ever attempt to integrate shrimp farmers in remote coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh with the national and international markets, a Telugu Web site -- aquachoupal.com -- was launched on Wednesday by Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu. Naidu launched the Web site, developed by leading cigarette manufacturer ITC, through videoconference. A large number of aqua farmers sitting in Bhimavaram town of West Godavari district watched the launch. The Web site will provide aqua farmers of Andhra with the latest technological and scientific knowhow and tell them the prices prevailing in major shrimp markets all over the world. ITC chairman Yogi Deveshwar expressed hope that the effort would improve the productivity of aquaculture and make Indian farmers internationally competitive. He urged the aqua farmers to be in constant touch with the managers of ITC's International Business Division (IBD) so that they can gain maximum benefit. Earlier, the ITC had launched a similar initiative for the soyabean farmers in Madhya Pradesh and coffee planters in Karnataka. Deveshwar said that the ITC was looking forward to a number of other initiatives including afforestation projects, which will give employment to thousand of farmers in rural India. Under this technological initiative ITC will set up aqua kiosks or "aquachoupals" in villages around Bhimavaram and later in all parts of the state and other states where aquaculture is popular. Apart from providing information, aquachoupals will also facilitate the supply of high-quality inputs for aqua farms and enable farmers to sell shrimps from their homes. The IBD is currently exporting shrimps worth Rs. 1.25 billion every year. While lauding ITC's initiative, Naidu said that with latest information about all the aspects of aqua farming becoming directly accessible to the farmers in remote villages, they would be able to take timely and correct decisions to increase productivity and face international competition. "So far you were sitting in the village squares and chatting. Now you can chat on aquachoupal.com and get latest information about diseases affecting prawn culture and treatment," he told the farmers. He asked ITC to adopt some of the coastal villages and train the farmers in aqua farming for improving the productivity. --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Feb 9 19:14:49 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA75443; Fri, 9 Feb 2001 19:14:49 +1000 (EST) Received: from guardian.apnic.net (guardian.apnic.net [203.37.255.100]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA75439 for ; Fri, 9 Feb 2001 19:14:47 +1000 (EST) Received: (from mail@localhost) by guardian.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA08303 for ; Fri, 9 Feb 2001 19:14:44 +1000 (EST) Received: from mail.uthplanet.com(202.9.136.18) by int-gw.staff.apnic.net via smap (V2.1) id xma008290; Fri, 9 Feb 01 19:14:12 +1000 Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.74]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Fri, 9 Feb 2001 14:37:58 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id NAA01360; Fri, 9 Feb 2001 13:12:28 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist To: bytes-admin@goacom.com Subject: Free Internet connectivity for quake victims, families Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 12:55:00 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.29] Content-Type: text/plain Cc: Cybercom , s-asia-it@apnic.net, gii MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01020912553306.00945@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Free Internet connectivity for quake victims, families by Ela Dutt, India Abroad News Service New York, Feb 9 - To help connect survivors of the Gujarat earthquake to family and friends the world over, Startec Global Communications Corporation is offering their Indian virtual community Web site's service free of charge. Startec, based in Bethesda, Maryland, announced that the quake survivors could communicate with their families and friends at no charge by using estart.com. The victims can post voice and text messages on www.estart.com where family and friends the world over can retrieve them. The messages will be converted to voice messages on the web site. The system is accessible free of charge from anywhere in India, Startec said. "While traditionally used to bring communities together for news, entertainment, sports, discussion forums and chat rooms, it is clear that it (eStart) can also play an important role when disaster strikes emerging countries and regular communications systems are paralyzed for extended lengths of time," Startec CEO Ram Mukunda said. Established in partnership with Dialnet, a Startec affiliate, eStart will enable victims to leave text and voice mail messages for their families and friends who live abroad, at a time when telephone services are facing an overload. "I am happy to learn of this unique and timely initiative by Startec, which has harnessed technology to better serve the community. This will indeed help friends and family members of the people affected by this earthquake contact their loved ones at this difficult moment," said Naresh Chandra, the Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Individuals in Gujarat can leave their messages by logging onto the site or can call Startec's Earthquake Helpline at 079-9372666 to both record and hear messages from family members. Additional helplines have been set up in four other locations in India. These include Delhi (011-9372666), Mumbai (022-9372999), Kolkata (033-9372666) and Bangalore (080-9372666). In the U.S. and abroad, individuals need only log on to the site and connect to the Indian web site to retrieve or leave messages. Startec is a leading provider of advanced communications and Internet services to ethnic residential customers and enterprises transacting business in the world's emerging economies. -- India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 10 17:43:42 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA126139; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 17:43:42 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA126120 for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 17:43:35 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.113]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1A7gCU21338 for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 12:42:15 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 12:48:21 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Pakistan extends IT tax holiday Message-ID: <3A853895.29741.3369DF@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by ns.apnic.net id RAA126136 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Pakistan extends IT tax holiday By Alvan Yap 05 February 2001 The Pakistani government is considering doubling the current 5-year tax holiday for IT investments. ISLAMABAD – To attract more investments in the IT sector, Pakistan may move to double the current 5-year tax holiday for software companies to 10 years. This is according to Minister for Science and Technology Dr Atta-urRehman, who was speaking at the launch of the IT Commerce and Network [TCN] Exhibition and Conference. Acknowledging the importance of a comprehensive infrastructure, the minister also revealed the government’s intention to make Pakistan the Export Processing Zone for the IT industry and has offered a number of incentives to attract foreign investors in this sector. Measures taken included reducing duty on computers and spare parts as well as rates on Internet bandwidth rate to $3,000 rupees per megabyte per month from $15,000 rupees. In addition, several teams from China, France and other countries are also carrying out studies with regard to high-speed Internet access in Pakistan. In a related development, it was announced that ITCH Asia 2001, jointly organised by Ministry of Science (Pakistan), Commerce Net Singapore, E-commerce Gateway and US Publishers, will be held in Karachi from 24 to 26 Marc h. http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/dailynews/story/0,2000010021,20178407,00 .htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 10 18:32:46 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA67463; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 18:32:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA67438 for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 18:32:34 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.113]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1A8VKU23833; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 13:31:21 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 13:37:19 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [India] Digital image e-mails in aid of quake victims CC: pphf-digest@maillists.com Message-ID: <3A85440F.15701.6041C5@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Digital image e-mails in aid of quake victims SUKHPUR (India), Feb 8: Japanese Red Cross doctors helping victims of the Indian earthquake are using satellite phones and digital photos e- mailed to Japan to seek second opinions before beginning surgery on patients. The doctors work out of a field hospital in Sukhpur, one of the villages flattened by the devastating earthquake of Jan 26 which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale and claimed an estimated 30,000 lives. A few metres from the operating table, the picture of an entire leg cut open filled a PC screen while a digital camcorder kept records of the three operations performed on the day. Outside the tent mounted on inflatable material amid the rubble of houses in a semi-desert countryside, an antenna is locked into a satellite, the whole system powered by a series of generators. "The doctors are more and more specialized," said Dr Nobuyuki Sagehashi, a plastic surgeon clad in the standard operating theatre- issue blue overalls. "And we must select several options." Advice from an expert conversant with a given clinical case is considered valuable. The doctors in Sukhpur therefore e-mail a picture of a wound or fracture to Japan, seeking pointers on how to proceed. And thousands of kilometres (miles) away, in Kumamoto on Kyushu island of Japan, other doctors pore over the picture on their screens before getting on the satellite telephone to their colleagues in the Sukhpur field operating theatre. The experts in Japan come up with supplementary input on how the wound has spread or how deep it is. "Then we decide what to do," said Mihoko Goto, spokesman for the 18- strong Japanese team that includes three surgeons and four nurses. "The advice helps when we conduct the operation," she said. "For example, we have a neurosurgeon, a cardiovascular specialist, but we don't have an orthopaedist," Gato said, adding an orthopaedic surgeon based in Japan could give advice on how to deal with a fracture. The same procedure holds for other delicate operations such as those on the eyes or organ transplants. "Even though it is internal, sometimes the symptoms appear on the skin," Goto said. "We can also send a picture. "Some patients have their X-Ray. We film that and we send it." Villages around Sukhpur were destroyed in the quake and buildings caved in on the residents who were at home on India's Republic Day, a national holiday. The survivors turn up at hospitals with large open wounds, mostly infected. A large number of cases are of fractures to the skull or of broken limbs. The Japanese in their spotless operating theatre have got used to being filmed and photographed. Their impressive-looking Emergency Response Unit (ERU) was shipped out of Norway by the Red Cross. The ERU is a veritable autonomous hospital, designed to handle disasters of the kind that hit the western Indian state of Gujarat. Medical relief teams such as those from Japan find in the ERU fully working combinations of beds, operating tables, generation sets, medicines, food packs or water-treatment units.-AFP http://www.dawn.com/2001/02/09/int6.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 10 18:32:52 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA67494; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 18:32:51 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA67439 for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 18:32:34 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.113]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1A8VEU23827 for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 13:31:14 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 13:37:18 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] E-government task force established Message-ID: <3A85440F.8860.603EC4@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk E-government task force established By Our Correspondent ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: Ministry of Science and Technology has formed an E- government Task Force to prepare a master plan of E- government and to identify some projects that should be implemented on priority basis. According to a press release issued here on Thursday an amount of Rs35,607 million has been allocated for preparation of E- government architecture and identification of projects. The E-government model for Pakistan is a gigantic task. It may take 5 to 7 years to implement the complete programme. Therefore a modular implementation strategy will be adopted after preparing a master plan. The E-government Task Force has been formed under Mr Alvi Abdul Rahim, Secretary, IT Commission. AVM Azhar Maud, Chairman, NTC, Dr Ijaz H. Khawaja, Director General, PCB, Dr Sardar Ahmad Ansari, Director General, Cabinet Division, Col Arshad, Cabinet Division, Mr Qaiser Sohail, Chief Computer Centre, Planning Division and Dr Imran A. Zulkernain, Askari Information System Ltd, will serve as members. The Task Force will provide necessary input and guidelines to the consultants for preparing plans and projects. Every Division has been requested to appoint a four-member team of resource persons who are familiar with the working of the concerned Division. These resource officers will help in re-engineering of existing office procedure and will be responsible for implementation of proposed changes in their respective Division. The project also aims at building an E-government project directorate in IT & Telecom Division. The Directorate will implement the future E-government projects, undertake government employees awareness campaign, have continuous liaison with consultants and E-government Task Force and help IT and Telecom Division in outsourcing various e-government projects. Under the project a comprehensive E-government awareness campaign will be undertaken at different levels to familiarize the government functionaries with the E-government master plan. After preparation of master plan for E-government and identification of different projects to be launched in 2000-2002, a series of awareness seminars will be held for members of federal cabinet, governors, secretaries and additional secretaries of federal government, all resource persons nominated to provide input towards IT efforts, provincial ministers, secretaries and chief of provincial IT Boards. Under the project it will be fully automated to reduce paper work to the minimum possible level. The project would be handled by a project manager, who will be a government employee of the rank of joint secretary. He will be assisted by one or two Assistant Project Managers (Software and Hardware Sector) who will be IT experts. If government employee possesses such qualifications he will be given preference. Otherwise IT experts from private sector will be engaged, on contract basis. http://www.dawn.com/2001/02/09/nat1.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 10 18:33:00 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id SAA67525; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 18:33:00 +1000 (EST) Received: from pop-khi3.super.net.pk (pop-khi3.super.net.pk [203.130.2.13]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA67459 for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 18:32:44 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.113]) by pop-khi3.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1A8VUU23848 for ; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 13:31:32 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 13:37:18 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: UNCTAD chooses Lakbay.Net as a model of e-services in developing countries Message-ID: <3A85440E.12514.603C5A@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk UNCTAD chooses Lakbay.Net as a model of e-services in developing countries by Melba-Jean M. Valdez, Chief of Reporters Computerworld Philippines February 6, 2001 MANILA, February 7, 2001 -- Lakbay.Net [http://www.lakbay.net.ph/ ] has been chosen as a model of e-services or e-tourism for developing countries by the UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) Expert Group on E-Commerce and Tourism. At a press conference to announce their partnership with Asia Online for a content management system and travel planner, Eddie Nuque, managing director for Kalakbayan Travel Systems, Inc., also said that Lakbay.Net was chosen for three primary reasons. First, Lakbay.Net takes a community-based approach in building up content. Secondly, it is a private sector initiative with close partnership with NGOs and government. Lastly, it uses appropriate technology. http://www.itnetcentral.com/news/article.asp?id=1903&leveli=0&info=New s#1 From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 11 04:17:48 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA77574; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 04:17:47 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA77555 for ; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 04:17:43 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.212]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Sat, 10 Feb 2001 23:42:34 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id XAA01058; Sat, 10 Feb 2001 23:58:01 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist To: Cybercom Subject: NEWS: Now advertisers need pay only when banners are clicked Date: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 23:49:32 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.29] Content-Type: text/plain Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01021023495501.00612@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Now advertisers need pay only when banners are clicked by Papri Sri Raman, India Abroad News Service Chennai, Feb 9 - Intercept Consulting, an end-to-end provider of online marketing solutions in India, has announced the introduction of its latest innovation OptiClik, which it says is the country's first performance-based advertising solution. OptiClik will help advertisers pay only for the number of times their banner ads have been "clicked through". At present all online companies charge their clients for the number of impressions their Web sites record. OptiClik is being touted as a cost-effective and performance-based approach toward meeting advertisers' marketing objectives. OptiClik has been devised "through a combination of understanding client needs, keeping pace with ever-emerging technologies and with a view to adapting global trends in online marketing to the Indian context in the shortest possible lead time," says V. Krishnaraj, chief technology officer and one of the founders of Intercept Consulting. OptiClik consists of two critical components. OptiClik Zone is a network of Web sites "wired" by OptiClik. OptiClik Server is the core "intelligent" server that serves advertisements across the OptiClik Zone from a centralized location. The OptiClik Zone is a collection of small to medium-sized sites that receive between 50,000 to a few million page impressions per month. OptiClik will help these sites "sell" their ad inventory, which they would otherwise find difficult to sell because of lack of market reach. Intercept proposes to create specific affinity groups or content zones like auto, sports, youth or matrimonial so that advertisers using OptiClik stand to benefit with their ads being delivered in a focused manner on specific content-driven sites. "We are hoping to build about 30 affinity groups in the next 12 months. By then we will emerge as the largest affinity group network in the country," says Arunabh Das Sharma, president, Intercept Consulting. Intercept's clients include ICICI Bank, indya.com, Satyam, LG Electronics, NIIT, Ford, Citibank, Bacardi, Maruti, ICICI Direct and McDowell India. --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 11 20:16:30 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA129689; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 20:16:30 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (post.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA129660 for ; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 20:16:19 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.56]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA21840 for ; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 15:29:01 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 15:21:20 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: "IT in the future of South Asia" By Dr Arun Mehta Message-ID: <3A86ADF0.17696.2522FA@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from Dawn's "IT: The Future of Pakistan" (23-24 Jan 2001)] IT in the future of South Asia By Dr Arun Mehta Lasting peace in South Asia cannot be achieved by politicians alone. It needs far more, initiatives on the ground that will cement it by contributing to the long-term prosperity of the constituent nations. AS POLITICIANS finally start to address the Kashmir issue with some seriousness, it is perhaps time to look beyond to a more congenial atmosphere between Pakistan and India, and examine how we might work together more closely to mutual benefit. Arguably, no area is as promising in its potential for cooperation, as is Information Technology. While the rest of Indian industry is in the doldrums, its IT sector has been booming. This vibrant sector has made a significant impact not only on India's balance of payments position, but also on her international image. Countries that even we find hard to locate on a global map, are queuing up to attract Indian IT professionals. In a major foreign-policy speech at the University of Nebraska on December 8, 2000, President Clinton pointed out that there are 700 high-tech companies in Silicon Valley headed by Indians, and called for an end to the "c old war estrangement" between the US and India, and the start of a systematic, committed relationship. Indian IT, in other words, is even making a positive impact on US foreign policy, at least as perceived through Indian eyes! There are, of course, many IT companies in the US headed by Pakistanis as well, and the IT sector in Pakistan too is flourishing. However, Pakistan seems to have lagged behind in its marketing of these skills. This is sur ely an area that we could cooperate in, particularly since the Indian IT industry is starved of qualified people. I was particularly impressed to note, during my visit to Karachi last year, that quite a few IT companies are headed by women. Once there is more traffic of people between the countries, the example of women such as Jehan Ara, Anita Weldon and Sabeen Mahmud will surely have a positive impact on women in the minority communities of India as well. One area in both countries that does need special attention is IT education. The IT sector is highly labour-intensive, and the lack of trained professionals could easily squander the positive international image that we h ave painstakingly built up. The biggest problem is the lack of quality IT teachers. Far better emoluments and facilities in industry have attracted away most of the good young teachers from educational institutions. Since the faculty members remaining behind are largely out of date, so are the curricula, which do not seem to be designed with the needs of industry in mind, and rather emphasize areas that the faculty does know how to teach. To counteract this, some of us plan to start in New Delhi next summer a convergence institute, which will take creative young people who have just finished school, and train them using a highly hands-on approach. Recognising that Information Technology isn't just computers, the basic training will include the electronic and print media as well. Students will be encouraged to start their own radio and TV stations, producing program mes that could be aired through terrestrial and satellite broadcasting channels, as well as through the Internet. They will of course get a strong grounding in computer programming, web designing, animation and other comp uter skills that are highly in demand. Students will be encouraged to offer their services in the marketplace. Not only will this help defray the high cost of quality education, it will also build confidence, and teach them the basics of commerce. Adding an e- subsequently to the practical skills acquired in commerce will then not be hard. Strong emphasis will be placed on communication skills, particularly in English. With frequent upgrades to the software IT professionals use , people in this industry must be fluent in reading. Content producers in any case need to be able to write well, as do programmers when they document their software and write user manuals. With an increasing need to mark et internationally and the trend towards multi-national teams, and the ability to verbally convey one's point of view is crucial too. As faculty members, the convergence institute will employ industry professionals who will meet with the students one-half-day-a-week, and for the rest of the time be available to them via e-mail and chat. This will allow the institute to teach the students skills that are currently demanded in the marketplace. It is hoped that with improving bandwidth availability, it should be possible to allow faculty members from distant locations to teach our students. This will allow us to obtain international expertise at reasonable cost. After a year during which we hope to iron out this system of education, we hope to embark on distance education, so that students in other institutes can benefit from our modern approach. Our students will also be taught teaching skills, so that some can run such institutes of their own, and even if they choose to work in the IT industry, they can still teach using distance education techniques. Given the paucity of qualified teachers, we are clearly hoping that we can collaborate with experts in Pakistan in this venture, so that we can pool our expertise. A limiting factor is the slow speed of electronic communi cations between the two countries: typically, Internet connectivity between our countries is via the US, which adds delay and cost. At a time when both countries, are heavily investing in optic fibre cables, it would not cost much to take such a connection to the border as well. We share many languages across our border. The vernacular media industries on both sides of the border would benefit from the increased market size for their prod uce that such connectivity would generate. Lasting peace in South Asia cannot be achieved by politicians alone. It needs far more, initiatives on the ground that will cement it by contributing to the long-term prosperity of the constituent nations. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arun Mehta is Managing Director, Indata, India. http://www.dawn.com/events/infotech/it10.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 11 20:16:38 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA129720; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 20:16:37 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (post.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA129682 for ; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 20:16:23 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.56]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA21845 for ; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 15:29:08 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 15:21:19 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: ITLeads - South Indian Edition Message-ID: <3A86ADEF.24339.2520D6@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [the following is from the ITLeads website at http://www.itleadsonline.com . With thanks to Frederick Noronha for the lead. ik] ITLeads is an IT Information Service that brings together various IT Establishments. It is the most composite manifest of accurate information encompassing all the dimensions of Information Technology. The first of its kind, this IT Information Service is available in Print, CD-ROM and the Internet. The black book of Information Technology - ITLeads - 2000 - South Indian Edition is one of the most comprehensive IT database available today. It includes more than 7,000 listings of companies. These comprise of 11 categories and 63 sub-categories from the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. And now, ITLeads - 2000 - South Indian Edition is available on CD too. Attractive and versatile features have been included to make it very user friendly. Like Quick Search, Notes, Mass-mail, Website and many more. Give your e-business the competitive edge it needs. Advertise with ITLeads - 2000 - Indian Edition. An exhaustive database covering various IT establishments in India. Monthly updates of the ITLeads - 2000 - South Indian Edition will be available too. ITLeads is supported by the Government of Karnataka and various IT Organisations like AITES, AIT, ESC, Computer Society of India, IWIN, MAIT, HYSEA and STPI. URL: http://www.itleadsonline.com From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 11 21:32:41 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id VAA73861; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 21:32:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (post.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA73840 for ; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 21:32:35 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.56]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA22854 for ; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 16:45:22 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 16:37:37 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Information, Technology and Small Enterprise: A Handbook for Enterprise Support Agencies in Developing Countries Message-ID: <3A86BFD1.25927.6AFE75@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from SDNP's NIT Observatory] Information, Technology and Small Enterprise: A Handbook for Enterprise Support Agencies in Developing Countries by Richard Heeks & Richard Duncombe IDPM, University of Manchester, UK This handbook is for staff in agencies that support the development of small, medium and micro-enterprises in developing countries (DCs). It aims to provide those staff with a better understanding of the role of information and of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in enterprise development. The handbook will also be of value to staff in donor agencies, government departments and professional business associations, and to researchers and students dealing with ICTs, with enterprise, and with development. View/Download this handbook from: http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/ictsme.htm For details, refer http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/esahndbk.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 11 22:05:38 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id WAA77390; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 22:05:37 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA77370 for ; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 22:05:33 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.75]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Sun, 11 Feb 2001 17:30:32 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id BAA01210; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 01:27:24 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: NEWS: At 22, Indian American runs innovative software firm Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 00:21:17 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.29] Content-Type: text/plain Cc: Cybercom MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <0102110021460E.00612@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk At 22, Indian American runs innovative software firm by Sukhjit Purewal, India Abroad News Service San Diego (California), Feb 10 - While his classmates at the University of California were figuring out what to do after college, Sameer Samat was already running the company he co-founded, Mohomine. Mohomine develops content aggregation tools across vertical markets and was launched in January 2000. Initially, the company's focus was Internet, which continues its exponential information growth. But now Mohomine is looking to Fortune 500 companies that need help bringing structure to their technology. "We automate the process -- we apply our technology inside their enterprise," Samat explained. San Diego-based Mohomine -- a knowledge-mining platform that automates the process of finding, extracting and classifying information -- has raised $5.1 million in capital and has 50 employees. Neil Senturia, founder and former CEO of ATCOM/INFO, which sold for $100 million to CAIS Internet, is Mohomine's CEO. Samat, 22, and his partners raised $1.1 million during their midterm in November 1999 for his company, six months before he graduated with his computer science degree. "There is no way to describe it except it was intense and crazy," Samat, also Mohomine's chief technology officer (CTO), told IANS. "I was running from a midterm exam to someone's office to make a presentation and then back for the next exam." Samat, confident the company is in the right place at the right time, credits young trailblazers in the technology sector, who paved the way before he and his friends and co-founders started out on their journey. "Everyone gave us a chance because they wanted to hear what we had to say," Samat said, "We never faced a lot of resistance. It was very refreshing." In San Jose, Samat met Sean Brady and later Josh Dammeier. They met the fourth founder, Chris Harris, on the first day of college. All four had parents who worked in the computer industry and were addicted to computers. Working on the Internet in the summer of 1999, they realized they there were no adequate tools with which to track down source codes. So Samat and friends decided to build a custom directory with subcategories that would automatically be linked to categories in appropriate places. The site they came up with was -- Source bank. The press note Samat wrote read, "We really didn't know if it was going to be interesting to anyone else -- but we built something for our needs." "The very next day the phone started ringing and didn't stop with offers to purchase the site," Samat said and that is when the four decided to raise money and start their company. Samat said he would eventually like to return to school to do graduate work in computer science as he still has learning to do, but sees himself remaining with Mohomine. "I really believe in this company. The vision is solid," Samat said. "I'm having so much fun being around smart people I really feel that this company is going to be around for a long time." --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 12 06:30:06 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id GAA75802; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 06:30:06 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id GAA75758 for ; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 06:30:00 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.188]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Mon, 12 Feb 2001 01:55:00 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id BAA00693; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 01:19:40 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist To: Cybercom Subject: NEWS: International fair to promote integration of old and new economy Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 00:49:37 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.29] Content-Type: text/plain Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01021200495909.00624@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk International fair to promote integration of old and new economy from India Abroad News Service New Delhi, Feb 11 - An international engineering fair in the capital next week will focus on ways to better integrate the old brick and mortar industry with the world of Internet commerce, the fair organizers have said. The fair called the International Engineering, Manufacturing and Technology Fair (IETF) 2001, being organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), would begin February 15. "With a view to integrate the new as well as the old economy sectors, IETF 2001 will be clearly segmented into specialized and focused groups brought together under one roof and provide a comprehensive collection of engineering and manufacturing capabilities," a CII statement said. Over 50 countries are expected to participate in the fair and Spain will be the partner country, the statement said. Nine specialized fairs would be held consecutively with IETF 2001. Besides these, several seminars, workshops and conferences would also be organized. "The focused fairs will concurrently address the new as well as old economy sectors and would facilitate the specific industry sectors to achieve their potential," the statement said. Among the specialized fairs being organized concurrently with IETF 2001 'The strategic IT-Engineering Connect Fair' will serve as a platform for information technology (IT) companies to profitably engage in offering users exposure to IT enabled business techniques, the statement said. The event will highlight the importance of IT in the manufacturing sector, and present successful case studies, it added. "It will also address the concerns of entrepreneurs intending to integrate IT in manufacturing processes, and showcase inter-enterprise software solutions." As part of IETF, an international conference 'Refricon 2001: Vision for the New Millennium' is being organized Friday. This will focus on new technologies in both equipment and components of air-conditioning and refrigeration sector. "The conference would not only provide a unique opportunity for the air-conditioning and refrigeration industry to deliberate on the latest trends in the industry, but would also provide an excellent forum for the Indian domestic and commercial appliance manufacturers to cooperate with the research partners," it said. There will also be a separate fair especially for the automobile sector that will showcase automotive parts and accessories, car care products, software services for automotive trade and auto portals. Other specialized fairs include Enterprise 2001, Foundry and Metallurgy India 2001 and Weld India International 2001, the statement said. The event will cater to the business needs of the small businessmen, facilitate joint ventures, collaborations and assist them in identifying potential vendors for sub-contracting, it added. "It will provide a perfect platform for small entrepreneurs to interact on a one-to-one basis with their counterparts." EmPower India 2001, a focused business fair during IETF 2001, will showcase the capabilities and potentialities of the power industry. In order to facilitate better networking, an international conference 'Powertech 2001 - A Conclave on Power Sector' would also be organized as part of the show. "The deliberations would explore avenues to make power accessible, available and affordable. The conference would also present an overview and opportunities existing in the Power Sector in India," the statement said. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 12 16:32:01 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id QAA93593; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 16:32:00 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (post.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA93549 for ; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 16:31:39 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.89]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA07630 for ; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 11:44:21 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 11:31:12 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: "This is IT" - A report on IT enabled services in Nepal Message-ID: <3A87C980.17438.31EF0C@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by ns.apnic.net id QAA93590 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk This is IT As research-oriented, software development jobs are difficult to get, Nepali companies are gunning for labour-intensive IT-enabled services. by Gaurab Raj Upadhaya Step into the first floor of Sigma House in Balaju any morning and you will see 40 youngsters tapping away at their keyboards, listening intently to the headphones connected to a special communications set. Fast forward to 2 pm, and you see all of them, the MD included, taking time out in the company cafeteria. Come evening and they’re on the company grounds, playing volleyball or badminton. Welcome to the world of IT-enabled services and a new breed of white-collar workers. After failing for years to get foreign software development jobs in Nepal, IT entrepreneurs are now gunning for IT-enabled services, which are usually labour intensive jobs like medical transcription, call-centre services and data entry. There are already seven such companies in Nepal, two of them full-fledged operations and the others start-ups. The first movers in IT-enabled services were Geographical Information System (GIS) and data creation companies, Geo Spatial Systems and Digital Meikein. The Japanese-funded Geo Spatial Systems were the first in, venturing into converting old hand-drawn cartographic maps into digital format. Then came in the medical transcribers—Himalayan Info Tech and Unlimited Numedia. Both companies have completed their first phase of recruitment, and are now training their workers. The medical transcribers listen to recorded accounts of diagnoses and surgery and then transcribe them to be stored in computer databases. Countries have specific rules about how medical records should be transcribed, so quality is a matter of highest concern here. The third business catching on in Nepal is the call-centre service. There are three firms trying their hand at this. Himalayan Telecommerce is already in beta, and has started test calling, and the other two, Serving Minds and Solutions.com, are in the early stages. The call-centres are the top-of-the-line IT-enabled service providers. To understand how it works, say, for examples, you live in the USA and want to know the balance on your credit card, promise a payment, or just apply for one, chances are you’ll ring the toll-free number and hear what sounds like an American accent, but is actually a Nepali voice giving you all the information you need. Anand is now Andy. Or you could be making airline reservations, complaining about a faulty product, or asking for help in putting together your child’s new toy. The same goes for telemarketing —people all over South Asia work all hours, offering strangers in the USA or Canada, information like the latest in blanket vacuum-sealing technology. It’s much cheaper for firms overseas to outsource such work to countries like Nepal. What make these companies important is that they currently provide around 1,000 Nepalis with hi-tech jobs. Employees don’t necessarily need to have hi-tech backgrounds—the companies have trained even high school graduates for the jobs. “We want people who understand English, and can maintain a certain quality of work. Their level of education is not very important,” says Juddha Gurung of Himalayan Info Tech. His company received more than 5000 applicants, but only 480 were selected. The workers, most of them urban youth, start at around Rs 6000 on completing the the training programme. Once the companies start full-fledged production services, the salary and benefits are sure to go up. Initial investment in IT-enabled services has already crossed Rs 500 million, and as the companies grow and more come in, the investment amount will also rise. The projected annual revenue from the operation of a single call- centre with 40 people is around $1 million. Medical transcription is potentially an equally lucrative business, with an average rate of 5 cents per line of transcription. Most companies work only single shifts now, but are aiming at round- the-clock services. If properly planned, revenue from such services can easily touch Rs1 billion annually, and provide jobs to at least 5,000 people. The obvious question then is why Nepal should be an attractive destination for firms overseas to outsource such work when IT giant India is right next door. Entrepreneurs have different answers, but the general consensus is that Indian companies are moving towards global e-commerce-oriented services. Nepal is just entering the info- tech arena and lacks skilled manpower for advanced services, but has a workforce that can be trained in ancillary services and so has a slight price edge over India. Raghu Shah of Himalayan Tele Commerce, a call-centre operator, also cites business ethics and customer service as reasons Nepali companies will get business. “Some companies like smaller outfits like ours, because we will give priority to even the smallest of clients,” he adds. Entrepreneurs are doing their best, but it isn’t all smooth sailing. The biggest problem seems to be, as always, government indifference. The IT- enabled services sector is not regarded as an industry and doesn’t receive any export concessions. “We pay 20 percent tax compared to 0 percent in India. It’s difficult to remain competitive,” says Shah. Entrepreneurs don’t want just tax-breaks though; they want to be recognised as a valid, viable export industry. Without that they cannot bring in their export earnings in the form of foreign currency, points out Umesh Bajghai of Geo Spatial Systems. “We’ve not yet paid any tax, because we applied for our export income to be tax- exempt. But even after a year and a half, the problem hasn’t been solved.” The various ministries concerned just pass the buck. According to export regulations, companies need to submit, among other documents, a “yellow paper”—a document issued by the customs when goods are shipped. But what of wireless exports? IT entrepreneurs have long demanded that this rule be amended. There’s finally an IT policy, but still no legal provision for knowledge and service exports. Tax reduction at source is another bone of contention. The tax office wants companies to deduct tax at source even when paying for satellite bandwidth. “This is ridiculous,” says Shah. For IT-enabled service businesses the 1999 Communications Policy, was a shining star. The liberalisation of telecom services allowed private parties to have their own V-SAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) terminals, which means they do not have to rely on service providers for bandwidth. But the Policy also dictates that users must have devices installed by local companies, and also buy the equipment locally. Yet, for all that businesses are still excited and remain open to new ideas. As the Internet has grown, new avenues have opened up. Entrepreneurs here hope—and are certainly acting on the premise—that there will be a trickle-down effect. In such a large and diverse global market, they feel, Nepal can definitely corner a niche somewhere. And developing the requisite expertise in IT-enabled services, will perhaps help the country move into other IT arenas. With a little help from friends in high places and a sustained emphasis on quality, Nepal’s IT boom could be just around the corner. http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ntimes/jan19-2001/multimedia-IT.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Feb 13 09:38:08 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id JAA107968; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 09:38:07 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA107949 for ; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 09:38:03 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.197]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Tue, 13 Feb 2001 05:02:40 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id FAA01500; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 05:02:54 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist To: Cybercom Subject: NEWS-INDIA: Nasdaq's Indian office to boost domestic companies Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 03:44:19 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.29] Content-Type: text/plain Cc: gii MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <0102130344540E.00632@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Nasdaq's Indian office to boost domestic companies by Imran Qureshi, India Abroad News Service Bangalore, Feb 12 - The opening of an office of the global technology stock market, Nasdaq, here Monday would not only provide Indian companies access to low cost loans but also give them access to consultancy on the global capital market. The liaison office in India's IT capital is only the fourth in the world outside the U.S. after the U.K., Japan and Brazil. The office is expected to provide exposure to something like 250,000 money managers who subscribe to Nasdaq's magazine. "Nasdaq is committed to India and in return for this honour of opening office in India, we are making our contribution for 30 families, victims of the Gujarat earthquake, to the Nasscom fund," Alfred R. Berkeley, vice chairman, Nasdaq, told reporters. Officials declined to specify the amount. The opening of the office of "mutual benefit" got a head start when Wipro chairman Azim Premji took a swipe at consultants at a seminar on the global tech stock market. "The advise they give is quite shallow particularly on when the issue should be listed," he said. Wipro was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) last year - against the advise of a consultant who felt the company should delay the move - and the move has paid rich dividends as the market has been climbing. He compared consultants to swimming coaches who initially tell prospective trainees that everything is fine. But, once the trainee gets into the pool, he is told that he should know swimming. Premji did not mention the name of the consultant who had advised Wipro not to list until January 2001. "We are going to start small and then add resources because we have a 10 year view for India," said Berkeley, who believes that had Nasdaq not opened an office in India at this point of time, it would have been a highly regrettable decision a decade later. The Nasdaq system, aided by technology, handles 3,000 transactions per second, trading 2.25 billion shares per day. It touched three billion shares in one day on January 3. The dollar volume of its trade is greater than the combined volume of the next three largest exchanges in the world. It reached a high of $20 trillion last year. Nasdaq lists 4,700 companies, including Indian companies Infosys technologies, Rediff.com and Satyam. To get the desired results on Nasdaq, Indian companies would have to get into the transparent disclosure mode because a high degree of trust is involved. "We don't have to necessarily change the mindset of Indian companies. For instance, Infosys is the best example of transparency on Nasdaq. It puts out its accounts in eight languages and eight accounting systems. A very simple and pragmatic way of attracting funds," added Berkeley. He was not unduly perturbed by the slowdown in the U.S. economy. "Economic cycles come and go. We just have to take them as they come." From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Feb 13 14:03:01 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id OAA83060; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 14:03:00 +1000 (EST) Received: from server.super.net.pk (server.super.net.pk [203.130.2.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA83035 for ; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 14:02:53 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.20]) by server.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1D431d19685 for ; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 09:03:04 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 09:07:48 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: "Internet in Pakistan: trends and barriers" By Gulzar Ahmed Khan Message-ID: <3A88F964.11610.307F20@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from Dawn's "IT: The Future of Pakistan" (23-24 Jan 2001)] Internet in Pakistan: trends and barriers By Gulzar Ahmed Khan The Internet market in Pakistan is moving in positive direction but there is need for certain steps, such as allowing more competition in the Internet market, making Internet tariff rates affordable for the common man, protecting the service providers' interest as also of the users and positive use of the Internet technology by the individuals The idea that we are living in a global or borderless world is relatively new. The meaning we now attach so easily to the word "global" was unknown 100 years ago when the world was still in the process of being divided up into independent sovereign nation states. However, the dramatic events which have taken place in the 20th century - including global welfare, the development of global transportation and telecommunication systems, and the rise of global products, markets and corporations - have convinced many people that we are, indeed, living in a new era in which the economic, social, culture and political structures that shaped relations between people over the past two centuries will be transformed. There are accounts of why this is the case, but most emphasized is the central role played by developments in telecom, computer and Information Technology. This historical change is often described as the passage from an industrial to an information age. Electronic information system is facilitating the information communication around the globe within seconds. No more information barriers exist in the world now. Internet has made the world markets more competitive; transaction cost has been reduced; information is easily available to the economic agents. IT mania: According to the ITU estimates, Internet subscribers are more than 300 million on the globe and Internet growth rate is 100 per cent per year. Internet took only five years to reach 50 million users. After a revolutionary change in the world telecommunications, government of Pakistan has defined broad objectives in the telecom sector as follows: - The expansion and improvement of the telecom infrastructure in Pakistan to better support economic, social and cultural developments in Pakistan. - The facilitation of new investment and competition in the telecom sector by developing the legal and regulatory framework. - The encouragement of increased private sector participation in the development of telecom, in particular by the participation of PTCL through the recruitment of strategic investors. - Encouraging the development of local telecom expertise to promote local research and manufacturing so as to create a telecom industrial base in Pakistan. - The protection of consumer interest. Government initiative: Recently, the Pakistan government has taken initiatives to spread the Internet in the country. For this purpose, Internet accessibility has been made available at local charges just by dialling 031. Within few years almost 95 per cent of the population will be on line and 450 cities will be connected to the Internet. PTCL is decreasing the higher charges of leased lines for the ISPs. International leased line charges have been decreased five times in the last three years. Currently, 53 per cent reduction has also been made. PTCL is also decreasing the domestic leased lines charges. PTCL has recently decreased the bandwidth charges by 25 per cent. On the other hand to enhance the data processing rate, the government has taken steps to ensure using of 128 kilobyte per second (Kbps) loop line by the ISPs. For the time being, ISPs are using the 64Kbps loop line for the data communication. More advance technologies are available now and advance countries and most of the regional countries are using them. Telecom investment has increased in the last few years. Many of the new investors have found attraction in this sector. Now software export is worth $30 million. The government has targeted to increase the software exports equal to $100 million in the coming three years. The government of Pakistan has launched an integrated programme to promote Information Technology. Under this programme, new IT Universities, including virtual University and Institutes, will be established under the public and private supervision and a heavy amount has been allocated in the current budget for the promotion of IT in the country. In Pakistan, ISPs started to provide services in 1996. Today, the ISP market in Pakistan is booming, and new ISPs are being set up at a regular interval. Currently, the ISP market in Pakistan has a large number, 122 licensees. This shows there is an increasing trend in the Internet market business and numbers of ISPs are increasing over the years. According to the PTCL, Pakistan has 250,000 Internet subscribers by the year 2000 but still these are lower compared to other regional countries. Countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, India and China have 1.74, 1.85, 4.5 and 12.3 million population online, respectively. It shows that Pakistan still has to travel a long distance even to compete with regional countries. Until now Internet facility is available to large cities only and small cities are too far to have this. Internet market in Pakistan is still facing certain barriers and Internet growth rate is not matching up to the regional countries' growth rates. Historically, Internet subscription is related with the numbers of PCs. Internet users are increasing with the increase in the number of computers. Another important variable effecting the spread of Internet is teledensity. Teledensity is a tool for gauging penetration rate of basic telephony. Teledensity: Pakistan has just 2.34 per cent teledensity, which, compared to other regional countries, is low but still greater than India. Sri Lanka is having teledensity equal to 2.84, China has 8.62 per cent and Malaysia has 20 per cent penetration rate, in the region. PTCL is targeting to have it 5.6 per cent by 2003. Cost of the computers is a factor defying spread of the Internet. In the last few years, although there was sharp decrease in the prices of computers, still these are not in the income horizon of the common people. An important thing for the sharp decrease in the computer prices is the free competition in the world markets. Developing countries, such as Pakistan, are really benefiting from the unbranded computers and violation of copyright laws. Unbranded computers have lower prices compared to the branded ones. China, Taiwan, Singapore and some other regional countries are producing inexpensive computer products. Copyright violation: On the other hand, due to the copyright violations, computer softwares are available at very nominal rates. It is discouraging the software development market in the country and people find less attraction in the software development due to the less reward for their efforts. It is the need of the time that the government take steps to encourage the software developers to work in this field just by making possible the competitive rewards to them. This is only possible through the proper implementation of the copyrights law but, unfortunately, trade off lies between the spread of computers and copyrights implementation for the computer softwares for the low-income countries like Pakistan. As the per capita income of Pakistan is just $442 per year and computer softwares are very expensive, it seems that implementation of copyrights will shrink the Internet subscription growth in Pakistan. Insufficient phones: Another snag in the expansion of Internet services is inadequate basic telecom infrastructure to meet the demand for telephone. According to PTCL, 3.12 million people have telephones. On the other hand, telephone exchanges are also not digitized completely, till June 2000, most of the telephone exchanges have been digitized, and digital telephone exchange is a necessary condition for the Internet connection. Computer illiteracy is another constraint to the spread of Internet. People are not familiar with the use of computers. Now there is increasing trend to be equipped with the computer knowledge. Unfamiliarity with the English language is also causing less Internet subscription. Only a few percent Pakistanis are familiar with the English language. Recently, the government has decided to develop the Urdu softwares, which will lead to increase in the computer usage and ultimately Internet subscription will increase. PTCL monopoly: ISPs have their reservations about the non- professional behaviour of the PTCL representatives. They are not finding appropriate response from the concerned persons. Among the 122 licence-holders, only 43 ISPs are operational. Others have not started their operations yet. They have complaints against the higher cost of leased lines, bandwidth charges, licence fee, renewal charges and royalty. Most of them are waiting the PTCL monopoly coming to an end in December 2002 to be operational, when market will be competitive and ISPs will not be needed any assistance from the PTCL. At present, PTCL is fully exploiting its monopoly, not allowing the ISPs to use their own networks for the provision of Internet connection. This policy is forcing the ISPs to restrain the Internet subscription. If PTCL liberalize the Internet market more, it will help the ISPs to expand their operations and invest more in the telecom sector. This will also as sist the service providers to use high-speed networks for Internet subscription. It is suitable for the Internet market that PTCL allow more freedom to the service providers. Bad consequences: Most important consequence of the Internet is the easy availability of pornography that can lead our youngsters to moral disaster. There is dire need that the government, as well as the guardians, contro l and check the usage of Internet by the young people. Emerging problem in Pakistan is the migration or brain drain to foreign countries. More and more software experts are leaving the country. Advanced countries are attracting the young Pakistani IT experts. This situation will hinder the government to achieve the proposed IT goals and until now no serious efforts have been made to stop the brain drain. In sum, Internet market in Pakistan is moving in positive direction but there is need for certain steps, such as allowing more competition in the Internet market, making Internet tariff rates affordable for the common man , protecting the service providers' interest as also of the users and positive use of the Internet technology by the individuals. PTA should take bold steps by reducing renewal fee and royalty for the ISPs. PTCL should al so reduce the leased line and bandwidth charges more to equate them to international charges. A market survey shows that most of the people are using Internet for the entertainment and fewer use it for productive purposes. It is the need of the time to use the modern Information Technology to acquire modern knowle dge and produce skilled labour. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gulzar Ahmed Khan is a researcher working as Consultant at Applied Excellence (Pvt) Limited, Islamabad. http://www.dawn.com/events/infotech/it15.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Feb 13 17:55:38 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA120814; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 17:55:37 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA120788 for ; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 17:55:25 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.98]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA06661 for ; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 13:08:08 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 13:00:04 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Free subscriptions to CAIS and JAIS for selected libraries (FWD) Message-ID: <3A892FD4.1768.E647C@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 11:19:21 -0500 From: Rick Watson To: ISWORLD@LISTSERV.HEANET.IE Hello At its December meeting, the Association of Information Systems (AIS) Executive Committee agreed that all university libraries in countries not listed in the World Bank's list of high income economies (see http://www.worldbank.org/data/databytopic/class.htm#High_income) should be granted free subscriptions to the Communications of AIS (http://cais.aisnet.org/) and the Journal of AIS (http://jais.aisnet.org/). Please forward this to any libraries that you know of which satisfy the criterion. These libraries should contact Jennifer Davis of the AIS Office. Questions related to this policy should be directed to Rick Watson , Interim Vice-President for Communications. Mike Vitale President of AIS ===== Start of ISWorld List Footer ===== Moving? Want to subscribe/unsubscribe? Find an old posting? See: http://isds.bus.lsu.edu/cvoc/isworld/ If you do not find the answer contact isworld_manager@cornell.edu ===== End of ISWorld List Footer ===== ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 14 04:11:55 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA79150; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 04:11:55 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA79127 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 04:11:42 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.96]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA21821 for ; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 23:24:22 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 23:16:37 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: [Pakistan] Exhibition & Conference: IT Commerce Network, 24-26 March 2001 Message-ID: <3A89C055.20774.EBA053@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk IT Commerce Network Exhibition and Conference Saturday, 24th March - Monday, 26th March 2001 Karachi Expo Centre Pakistan Featuring: Networking, Telecom, Internet Services IT and Hardware Products e-Commerce, e-Business, e-Government Solutions Conference: "Opportunities in the Global Village" This two-day conference will prepare the delegates for better understanding of their requirements in the light of available technologies and solutions. It will enable them to determine the criteria and evaluate alternative solutions for business and government. Day-1: e-Government Day-2: The technology track will focus on emerging technologies, tools and methodologies. The business track will focus on sharing of experiences, evaluation methodologies and implementation options. The program will cover the following: Emerging Technologies and Trends Future of access, faster net, wireless devices IT products e-Commerce Technology options & trends Security e-Government Country models and scope Solutions, customization Implementation Management Outsourcing, ASP Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Developer Tools Enterprise component architecture Development environments For details, check http://www.itcnasia.com/ From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 14 04:12:04 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA79181; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 04:12:04 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA79129 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 04:11:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.96]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA21826 for ; Tue, 13 Feb 2001 23:24:30 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 23:16:36 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: "Why leap the digital divide?" by Kunda Dixit Message-ID: <3A89C054.3937.EB99E1@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by ns.apnic.net id EAA79178 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [With thanks to Gaurab Raj Upadhaya ] Why leap the digital divide? At Davos this week, everyone spoke of the digital divide. What about the school divide, the hospital divide, the housing divide, the wealth divide? by KUNDA DIXIT It is a bit of an irony isn’t it that those of us who are most sceptical about the potential for new information technologies to somehow leapfrog development are the ones who use this technology most intensively. Here we are writing about why a computer attached to a phone line is not the panacea it is made out to be to solve problems of poverty, and these very words are inputted into a computer and transmitted along a phone line to the newsroom. Not all cybersceptics are Luddites. The questions we have about information technology also apply to previous technological breakthroughs which we were told would save the earth. We are so desperate to find a clean, quick solution to the problems of poverty, the ecological crisis, the growing gap between rich and poor between and within countries, war and social injustice that we will jump at anything that offers a glimmer of hope. We are conditioned to look for technological fixes. Technology is easy, it is something you can lay your hands on, you buy it and the problem is fixed. But many of Nepal’s problems are political, economic, socio-cultural. They demand complicated and sequenced interventions, the outcome is often unforeseen and messy, and the process of change will be slow. After a decade of bonanza, the massive power of dot com startups to generate cash, and the hype, we now seem to be settling down to a more sober assessment of the limitations of information technology. Even The Economist carried a cover earlier this year with the strapline: “What the Internet Cannot Do”—and they were not even talking about the Third World. Bill Gates is the latest unlikely cybersceptic: at an IT conference in November in Redmond, Washington, he spoke passionately about how the Internet was not any use to the world’s poor. Said Gates: “The world’s poorest two billion people desperately need health care, not laptops, or wireless Internet connections or a bridge across the digital divide.” Many people couldn’t believe that the guru of the cyberage was having doubts. Potato chips to microchips We haven’t escaped the hype in our own region. India’s Minister of Information Technology, Pramod Mahajan, has given up his homespun cotton shirt for a smart suit and a slick tie. He says India missed the bus on the industrial revolution, it can no longer afford to do the same with the information revolution. He wants to take his country from the potato chip to microchip, and the country has seen investments in the software industry double in the past year. But how is a country in which only 0.5 percent of the population has a PC, and less than three percent have phones, and where six-hour power cuts are commonplace, leapfrog? The joke is that 95 percent of Indians are waiting for phones, the other five percent are waiting for dial tones. All of South Asia is struggling to solve infrastructure bottlenecks, but it is a question of priorities. What is more important at the present time: a high-speed data trunk line or a network bringing safe drinking water to villages? The 700 million South Asians who live below the poverty line, the 53 percent of children who are malnourished, do not make the headlines. And yet the question we must ask is: how are the few thousand well-educated cyber-savvy South Asians going to make a difference to the billion compatriots who are not so fortunate? South Asia is a land of contrasts. Despite infrastructure problems, most of the software engineers and programmers in Silicon Valley are from South Asia, and India’s low-cost English-speaking young people with good education have firmly hitched their wagons to the information revolution. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and even Nepal are leaping on to the business of data inputting across continents. The Internet is supposed to level the playing field and make information freely available to everyone. There is a basic fallacy here: the Internet cannot do that simply because it is priced way beyond the reach of even the middle class. Only five percent of the world’s 6.2 billion people have ever logged on, and nine out of ten in industrialised countries. A computer costs one fourth of the monthly household income of an average Finn, whereas it represents ten years’ earnings for an average Nepali. It is not surprising therefore that one in every three Americans uses the Internet, but only one in every 10,000 people in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh do. No doubt, there is a need to level the playing field. But with a digital divide like that, information technology is not going to do it for us. There is now a whole industry that is growing around the self-perpetuating world of development aid, which puts information technology forward as the panacea where all else has failed. The argument goes: the global gap between those with access to information technology and those without is growing, therefore the only way to catch up is to buy people computers and hook them up to the Internet. Internet ==/ Freedom The other problem with presenting the Internet as the answer to all our ills is the belief that information will set us free. All the gigabytes of information whizzing around the world in nano-seconds is not necessarily spreading knowledge. Even if the Internet were distributing information widely and cheaply, what results is not necessarily greater wisdom. For information to be useful, it has to get to where it is needed as cheaply as possible, it needs to be relevant to the daily needs of the people it is meant for, and the information must be packaged so that it is easily understood. Information must help people communicate and participate, and allow them and their rulers to make informed choices. It must be affordable, it must make sense, and it must be user-friendly. Otherwise it is just junk mail. It is background radiation of inane digital trivia whizzing about at the speed of light. The other question to ask about information is whether there are any filters: who produces it, who controls it, who benefits? Technology is never value-free. We tend to get all worked up about information technology, we are dazzled by the latest gadgets, gizmos and its glamorous manifestation. It’s a bit like the automibile industry: whose car looks sleekest, whose is fastest, who’s got the biggest hard-drives? What all the talk of convergence eclipses is that a good, old- fashioned short-wave radio is also information technology. Developing countries that have completely wasted the power of radio to spread information and to communicate have no right to go on about “leapfrogging” into the Internet age. Our born-again digirati may snobbishly wave away AM radio, but no other medium in Nepal today comes close to matching the reach, the accessibility and affordability of shortwave radio. If there is one medium that will do all the things we want the Internet to do in Nepal (spread knowledge to the disadvantaged, make useful everyday information available to them) then radio is it. And yet, what have we done with radio? We have used it shamelessly as a public address system for government propaganda, we have insulted the nine million or so radio listeners in Nepal by making shortwave and medium wave broadcasts so boring that people listen to it only because there is little else on the airwaves in Nepali. Radio, in fact, has become a symbol of official neglect and proof of an unspoken strategy to deny the weak a voice. If the information superhighway is full of potholes, an ox cart may be more suitable than a Sports Utility Vehicle. Then, take education. How is the Internet going to help us leapfrog in education if we have made such a mess of our existing school system? Before sticking a computer into a school, how about building a roof over it? Why not first ensure children are properly fed? Provide textbooks? These things need to be fixed first, but the mechanism by which important political and economic decisions are made have not changed, decision-making is in the same hands, value- systems are the same. It is doubtful that the Internet can do it for us. http://www.nepalnews.com.np/ntimes/feb2-2001/viewpoint.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 14 04:38:42 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA83634; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 04:38:42 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA83630 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 04:38:36 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.90]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Wed, 14 Feb 2001 00:03:32 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id AAA00667; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 00:16:35 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist To: s-asia-it@apnic.net, Cybercom Subject: NEWS: Submarine IT cable lands at Kochi Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 23:36:23 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.0.29] Content-Type: text/plain Cc: gii MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01021323365409.00611@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Submarine IT cable lands at Kochi by Sanu George, India Abroad News Service Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 13 - Kerala's commercial capital Kochi, which has so far been lagging behind the state capital in the information technology (IT) field, got a major boost with the transnational South Africa-Far East (SAFE) optic fiber submarine cable landing there. Kochi is the SAFE project's only landing point in the subcontinent. The project is a joint venture operation of 42 telecom companies of 35 countries, including India's Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL). SAFE, which has 12 landing points on its 28,800-km route from Cape Town in South Africa to Penang in Malaysia, is expected to give South India access to the most modern digital cable technology for providing infrastructure for IT and telecom services. The "landing" of the cable in Kochi got underway with the arrival at Cherai beach of Jan Steen, a flat-bottom submarine cable-laying vessel. A team of engineers and a few divers brought the two pair fiber cable to the beach manhole on the Cherai. Now that the beach end of the cable is in place, the ship would lay the cable nine kilometers deep in the sea. The other end of the cable, which is now anchored at the sea floor, would be connected to the main cable coming from Mauritius in the western sector and heading for Penang in the eastern sector. According to A.S. Menon, senior general manager of VSNL, the link up of the Kochi cable to the main cable is expected to finish by May and the SAFE project is likely to be commissioned by the end of the year. Kerala in particular and South India as a whole would be major beneficiaries when SAFE is commissioned as the Internet sector would get a boost with a huge increase in bandwidth and speeding up of connectivity. V.K. Mathews, the CEO of IBS, a leading software exporter from Kerala based in Thiruvananthapuram's Technopark, said SAFE would definitely help every software exporter. "Since we are going to open a hundred thousand square feet building at Kochi as part of our expansion, this is going to cut our cost to almost 50 percent as far as bandwidth and connectivity is concerned," he told IANS. "Today we are hosting our site outside India, which is a major expense for us," said Mathews. "We would commence our Kochi operations in another six months from a rented building before moving out to our own building which would be ready in 18 months' time." --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 14 09:14:48 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id JAA119882; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 09:14:48 +1000 (EST) Received: from server.super.net.pk (server.super.net.pk [203.130.2.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA119875 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 09:14:43 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.77]) by server.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1DNF0d26806 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 04:15:02 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 04:19:43 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Call for Proposals: infoDev ICT Infrastructure and E-Readiness Assessments Initiative Message-ID: <3A8A075F.29588.4B01F@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- To: "infoDev Forum" From: Pstreet@worldbank.org Date sent: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 14:38:32 -0500 We are pleased to announce the following two Calls for Proposals for the infoDev ICT Infrastructure and E-Readiness Assessments Initiative. The first is a Call for Proposals for countries or regions to carry out their ICT Infrastructure and E-Readiness Assessments. infoDev is planning to offer 20-30 grants averaging about $50,000 per grant to government organizations or their designees. These grants would fund a participatory analysis of a country's information infrastructure and the policy, legal and regulatory environment for e-commerce and e-government. The second is to establish and maintain a Facilitation Center to provide coordination, organizational, and technical support to developing and transition countries that receive infoDev grants for assessment of ICT infrastructure and E-readiness. The Facilitation Center is expected to begin initial operation in March 2001 and work under infoDev's overall guidance in providing such support for a period of one year to the estimated 20-30 grant recipients for country level assessments. More information about the Initiative and how to submit a proposal can be found on the infoDev website at http://www.infodev.org/ereadiness/ ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 14 10:46:47 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id KAA67952; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:46:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA67947 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:46:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.77]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA26025 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 05:59:23 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 05:51:38 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: India Has 5.5 Million Net Users: Nasscom Message-ID: <3A8A1CEA.24010.58DCEA@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk India Has 5.5 Million Net Users: Nasscom By Uday Lal Pai India Correspondent, asia.internet.com [February 8] The number of Internet subscribers in India as of January, 2001, was 1.8 million, and Internet users at 5.5 million, said an Internet survey conducted by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM). Projections for December, 2003, show 15 million subscribers and 50 million users. Capital cities accounted for 77 percent of Internet connections. There were 38 million cable television subscribers in India, 28 million fixed telephones and 75 million television sets in the country as on December 31, 2000. An interesting point was that 48 percent of Internet users in the country accessed the Net daily. This was higher than the international average of 43 percent, said NASSCOM. The survey shows the number of PCs or "information devices" in the country, as of December 31, 2000, at five million. More than 81 percent of stand-alone PCs sold during the 1999-2000 financial year were driven by the need to access the Net, said Nasscom. http://asia.internet.com/cyberatlas/2001/0208-india.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 14 10:46:55 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id KAA67995; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:46:55 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA67987 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:46:50 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.77]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA26032 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 05:59:33 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 05:51:39 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Pakistan Telecom Authority releases annual report on telecom sector Message-ID: <3A8A1CEB.25821.58DF98@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk February 12, 2001 Telecommunication Authority releases annual report on telecom sector ISLAMABAD : The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has released its annual report 1999-2000 on the development of telecom sector in the country. According to its 5th Annual Report, the authority took many consumer- friendly steps. It instructed PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited) not to charge the telephone shifting charges equal to new connection fee. As a result of PTA's intervention PTCL reduced Caller Line Identification (CLI) charges by 30 percent. The domestic leased circuit tariffs were decreased by 15 percent and international lease line charges by 53 percent to help software exporters. The Central Excise Duty (CED) on telecom services was reduced to 15 percent from 25 percent. To promote the expansion of the cellular mobile users, recommendations were made to the CBR to rationalise taxes and duties on the cellular mobile services. As part of its Universal Service Obligation, PTCL was advised to make arrangements of telecom services for disabled people. The two-volume report says that during the year PTA took several important decisions for overall development of telecom sector. It adopted interconnection guidelines and took decisions regarding the import of cellular handsets, Global Mobile Personal Communication System licences and Fibre Optics Cable Landing stations. Liberalisation of basic telephony service, after the PTCL's monopoly ends in December 2002, was on top of the mind of the authority during the year. The opening of the basic telecom services to competitions is a legislative requirement as the government is also committed to World Trade Organisation. The report says that PTA had been studying this issue internally through the employment of a team of consultants. It examined the examples of sector liberalisation in the Middle East, Europe, Central and South America, particularly the countries with socio-economic profile close to that of Pakistan were studied. PTA felt that the best scenario for Pakistan may be issuing of a second nation- wide licence and attracting a major player for a countrywide operation to compete with the PTCL. Once the competition is built, additional operators were forwarded to the Government for a decision to initiate the licensing process. The report says that PTA is also strengthening its regulatory capabilities through participation in the in-house, national and international training programmes, seminars and conferences. Getting all modern telecom services to the citizens of Pakistan irrespective of their location, geographic locale, and social and demographic profile, is one of the priorities of the PTA. The PTA has decided to create a Universal Obligation Fund to be spent on the development and provision of telecom services to remote, unserved or under-served areas of Pakistan. According to report, PTA has made necessary recommendations to the government and has prepared regulations for implementing this scheme. During the year PTA also finalised the regulation for Cable TV and till June 2000 it has issued 241 licences. It also organised several public hearings as part of its string emphasis on the role of public consultation in the regulatory activities. PTA held public hearings on CLI, Mobile Phone tariff and Calling Party Pays (CPP) regime. Another milestone event of involving public leadership in the regulatory decision-making was the institution of Advisory Committees at federal and provincial levels. The advisory committees are represented by eminent citizens and academicians to provide guidance to the Authority on the issue of public interest.-APP http://www.brecorder.com/story/000007/200102/20010212/200102120186.sht ml?Telecommunications From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 14 10:47:24 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id KAA68090; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:47:24 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (smtp-khi1.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA68085 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 10:47:18 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.77]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA26042 for ; Wed, 14 Feb 2001 05:59:51 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 05:51:38 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: [Nepal] Internet fever reaches top of the world Message-ID: <3A8A1CEA.17500.58DA07@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by ns.apnic.net id KAA68087 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Feb 08 2001 Internet fever reaches top of the world Madanmohan Rao KATHMANDU SANDWICHED between the software powerhouse of India and the hardware dynamo of China, the mountain kingdom of Nepal also seems to be catching internet fever. The seventh annual InfoTech Summit at Kathmandu bore testimony to it. "Though Nepal has missed the industrial revolution, it can catch the IT bus and transform its knowledge into wealth and social good," said science and technology minister Surendra Prasad Chaudhary; the country has recently passed an IT policy in this regard. Within just five-years of the introduction of the Net to this Himalayan country, Nepalis have turned "Web crazy," writes Binaj Gurubacharya in the Kathmandu Post, the leading English daily. Today, thousands of sites on Nepal offer news, travel and special interest information, ranging from NepalNews.com and AahaNepal.com to NepalOnline.net and Travel-Nepal.com and the Marco Polo Hotel in Kathmandu even calls its Net-connected business centre the Software Library. The IT Summit was hosted by the Computer Association of Nepal ( www.can.org.np), whose ambitious goal is to put Nepal on the global IT map within five-years. Formed seven years ago, CAN today has over 100 institutional members. By the end of the year, Nepal is estimated to have 100,000 internet users spread over 10 cities and towns. Right now there are about a dozen ISPs. While it may be unrealistic to expect new technologies like the internet to solve deeper problems of poverty and injustice in a society like Nepal, there is a lot of potential emerging in this area in neighbouring countries like India, said Professor Kenneth Keniston, who recently spent six-months researching and teaching in India and now directs MIT's India Project. He pointed to the low-cost Simputer device project in Bangalore, the CorDECT wireless-local-loop solution of IIT Madras, and the IndLinux project in India as notable examples of increasing Internet diffusion in developing countries. Such technologies can even be extended to areas of a country where there is low literacy by using a literate Net operator to interface with the local populace, he said. Still, the penetration of the internet is less than 1 per cent of the population in each South Asian country, said Bhes Raj Kamel of Nepal Telecom Corporation. The digital divide is perhaps the most acute in a landlocked country like Nepal, where 90 per cent of the population base of 25 million live in rugged mountainous regions which account for over 77 per cent of the surface area. The 58 municipalities of Nepal have an aggregate teledensity of eight phone lines per thousand people, according to Suresh Negmi, president of the IT Professional Forum. E-government in Nepal is still at the basic office computerisation stage, and many of the government’s past ambitious national plans have yet to be implemented in full, Negmi said. Email was first introduced to Nepal in 1993, with full Web access launched in 1994. International Internet bandwidth is about 10 Mbps, but domestic peering between ISPs has yet to happen. There are also about 50 cybercafes in Kathmandu and 20 in Pokhara, offering internet access at about a dollar an hour. Nepal has five service providers for radio paging, 80 for cable TV, and one for cellphones. 42 per cent of the population has TV access, and 90 per cent has radio access. IT education is being offered by four universities, 25 colleges and 1,000 training institutes, according to CAN figures. Activities popular among IT companies here include GIS mapping, medical transcription, Web design, and back-end software. Figures touted optimistically in the business press in Nepal include World Bank predictions of exports of IT products from the country worth $50 billion in the coming 20-years. GeoSpatial Systems, a joint venture between Japanese and Nepali companies, is active in the GIS area and offers services in map digitisation, addition of spatial attributes, and Web-enabling of maps for geographic applications like yellow pages services. GIS tools play an important role in government activities like urban and rural planning, mining, logistics, and health services. Useful online resources about Nepal include NepalNet ( www.panasia.org.sg/nepalnet), NepalSearch.com, eNepal.com, HimalMag,com, and NepalYellowPage.net. Free Web-based email services are offered by companies like ITnepal.com and ITNTI.com . The Nepal Industrial Development Corporation has launched an online directory and resource called SMEcenter.com to promote smaller Nepalis companies on the Net. On December 13, 2000, the government of Nepal released a national IT policy supporting electronic commerce, IT education, and e- government, and setting a target of NRs 10 billion in IT exports in five years (one Indian rupee =1.6 Nepali rupees). The policy is being regarded as a step in the right direction, but still falls short on critical areas like e-commerce legislation. However, CAN seems to have generated sufficient enthusiasm for the Net in Nepal. Though putting the country on the global IT map in five years will be an uphill task, it is a fittingly Himalayan vision. The policy is being regarded as a step in the right direction, but still falls short on critical areas like e-commerce legislation. The policy reduces import duties on hardware and software to a mere 1 per cent - but this applies only for companies in the IT sector, and not for residential users. And e-commerce sites in Nepal still cannot accept payment from abroad in dollars. "We are still a cash-based society, and don't even accept cheques, let alone credit cards," joked Manohar Bhattarai, an advisor in rural- urban partnerships. Indian IT and internet companies active in Nepal include NIIT, Aptech, Jingle Infotech, SSI, TCS, Pentasoft, SPG Infotech, Nucleus Software, Satyam Infoway, and Contests2Win. Leaving aside sporadic unfortunate outbursts of anti-Indian sentiment, Indian IT companies will find a welcome reception in Nepal, according to CAN secretary general Rajib Subba, who himself studied engineering in Karnataka. Despite much "e-optimism" voiced at the conference, key challenges for creating a knowledge industry base in Nepal will be in tapping the Nepali diaspora, creating better conditions for Netpreneurs, nurturing a cadre of professional technology managers, improving IT education at consumer and corporate levels, and attracting venture capital. "Today the biggest challenge is not how to stop Nepali IT professionals from going abroad but how to bring back those who have been working abroad," writes Unlimited Numedia CEO Allen Tuladhar, who himself returned from the US in 1992. Some Nepali expats are already involved in Web ventures like Yomari.net and ITNTI.com , but many more need to join the fray here. CAN is jointly lobbying for a higher profile for the IT sector, and has launched an IT program, Suchana Prabidhi dotcom, on community FM station Radio Sagarmatha. Rameshananda Vaidya, member of Nepal's National Planning Commission, said that harsh economic necessity will drive the country to IT, but technologies like the internet must be developed in parallel with other older media forms like wall newspapers and should be contextualised within the key economic and social spheres of Nepal. Basic literacy in Nepal is around 55 per cent, and English literacy hovers at about 2 per cent. Factors constraining lack of online content in Nepalese and other local languages like Newari include a lack of standardisation of fonts. "Despite such challenges, the Internet can help sectors like tourism, agriculture and handicrafts. It can help poverty alleviation by creating jobs via IT-enabled services, and help the workforce in other sectors become more competitive and globally connected," according to Basant Shreshta, information resource head at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ( www.icimod.org.np ). Established in 1983 to focus on sustainable development, ICIMOD’s members in the Hindukush-Himalayan region - the world's highest and most populous mountain region — include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan. ICIMOD has held workshops on Web publishing in Himachal Pradesh, Shillong, and Tibet. Headquartered in Kathmandu, ICIMOD also hosted the first South Asian Internet Summit in Dhaka in 1999, helped train Bhutan’s first ISP DrukNet, and held Internet workshops in five central Asian republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, Tadjikistan, Turmenistan and Uzbekistan. Internetworking giant Cisco is increasing the profile of its networking academies in the region, according to Singapore-based training program manager Eli Tagakaki; Cisco has teamed up with UNDP for local capacity building in Asia and also for the NetAid.org site to raise funds aimed at reducing the digital divide. In sum, CAN seems to have generated sufficient enthusiasm for the Net in Nepal, and though putting the country on the global IT map in five years will be an uphill task, it is a fittingly Himalayan vision. "We have over 200 people working in three shifts; we are now adding almost 30 new people a month," says CEO Binod Pal. "Much of the IT action in Nepal is centred in Kathmandu; more promotion and development needs to happen in other cities as well," says, Juddha Gurong, CEO of Himalayan Infotech Services The writer can be reached at madan@inomy.com. http://www.economictimes.com/today/08netw06.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Feb 15 07:46:19 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id HAA115133; Thu, 15 Feb 2001 07:46:19 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA115112 for ; Thu, 15 Feb 2001 07:46:13 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.117]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Thu, 15 Feb 2001 03:11:06 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id DAA07973; Thu, 15 Feb 2001 03:19:42 +0530 From: Frederick Noronha Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 02:14:54 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.1.99] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Cc: Cybercom Subject: NEWS: Indian gets patent for virtual smell technology MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01021502145402.00707@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Indian gets patent for virtual smell technology by Deepshikha Ghosh, India Abroad News Service New Delhi, Feb 14 - Wake up and smell the coffee. Stop to smell the roses. Take in a whiff of fresh air, walk on damp grass. You don't have to move a muscle for all this - just tune in to a television or a computer. India might have run into problems with its attempt to patent Basmati rice, but it is an Indian who will enable us to inhale the aroma of rice while it is cooking on television. Sandeep Jaidka, obtained the world's first patent on the creation of smell and sensation through multimedia from the United States Patent Office last month. His invention relies on digitally encoded signals to produce a variety of sensations not specific to an enclosed or open space. "You can smell through your hi-fi system, computer, telephone and television - any mode of two-way interaction", Jaidka told Indiaabroad.com, calling his invention the "Rudraksha R3." The device has a tape or a disc with coded signals for producing a variety of natural effects and an electronic decoder connected to an actuating device to release the desired aroma. The coded signals can be either in the analog or digital form. Jaidka said, "the viewer can be transported into a virtual world complete with the sensations of smell and feeling. You can now not only see the advertisement for a cup of coffee, but also smell it." Too much reality can, of course, cause problems for the couch potato, but the inventor confines himself to the pleasurable aromas. Co-inventor Kewal Kohli believes the R3 can revolutionize medicine and aromatherapy. "A doctor can cure his patients through remote therapy through this technology. Also, coded signals that release minute quantities of chemicals can work as medicine patches, and inhalable drugs to treat asthma". The possibilities are endless. Imagine the devout Hindu unable to make time to visit the temple. He can just switch on the CD player and smell the aroma without lighting incense sticks. The patent obtained, the inventors are now worried about the application. In order to put their product into practice, they need more than $10 million. "We need a channel for transmitting a coded signal. Now, micro containers are embedded in silicon chips - to get a silicon lab we need $ 100 million." The quest for a financier has begun. Meanwhile, several multinational firms are testing waters with their versions of virtual smell solutions. A chip containing reservoirs of smell built into its silicon structure has been developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). France Telecom is exploring the market for e-scents. Our inventors smell a rat. "Our patent is dated 1998, which gives us rights to the technology before anyone else. We will write to the patent office against violations," Jaidka said. He is also looking to sell his technology to foreign companies and ensure his share in this splendid leap towards the fourth dimension of human technology. As for taste and touch through the screen, there is time for that yet, although companies are working on it. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 17 13:24:04 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id NAA127204; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 13:24:03 +1000 (EST) Received: from akunet.org (zahravi.akunet.org [208.244.71.8]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA127185 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 13:23:57 +1000 (EST) Received: from akunet.org [208.244.71.65] by akunet.org with ESMTP (SMTPD32-6.05) id AECC64F30048; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 08:23:56 +0500 Message-ID: <3A8DF521.DC1221DB@akunet.org> Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 08:50:57 +0500 From: Ahmed Omair X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (Win95; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: S-Asia-IT Subject: INDIA: Economic Panel Recommends Allowing VoIP Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk URL : http://asia.internet.com/isp/2001/02/0209-vsnl.html Economic Panel Recommends Allowing VOIP By Uday Lal Pai India Correspondent, asia.internet.com [February 9] The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council has recommended that the government allow Voice Over Internet Protocol to reduce the cost of telephone calls. The Indian government has banned IP telephony in the country because the Department of Telecom felt that if allowed, VoIP could seriously threaten revenues of Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), India's monopoly national telecommunications provider. VSNL is believed to have taken a stand against Internet telephony in response to the potential threat of its customers using the Internet to make cheaper domestic and international phone calls. Over 90 percent of VSNL's revenues currently come from international voice traffic. However, when contacted, VSNL sources said that VSNL believes that Internet telephony can be introduced after a recommendation by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is implemented, which provides for cost-sharing of Internet circuits to the U.S. "VSNL has always been insisting on the reduction of tariff, which will give a boost to the international traffic from India. The last quarter traffic of VSNL has grown by over 30 percent solely because of the reduction of tariff and settlement rates," said VSNL sources. Government sources said the DOT has set up a special internal group headed by the deputy director general (regulation) for recommending a strategy to achieve this objective. "The recommendations will be placed before the Telecom Commission soon," an official told this correspondent. However, Bell Labs' president Dr. Arun Netravali had some words of caution too for those who are eagerly waiting for legalization of Internet telephony in India. He pointed out that VOIP has not really taken off in the last decade and its large-scale adoption was faced with numerous hurdles. "The bigger story about the advantage of VOIP is becoming smaller and smaller. It is not the just voice quality that is the issue. At this point there are significant hurdles like the lack of software for standard routers and the cost differential between VOIP and circuit switched telephony," Netravali said. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 17 13:48:28 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id NAA129991; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 13:48:27 +1000 (EST) Received: from akunet.org (zahravi.akunet.org [208.244.71.8]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA129970 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 13:48:22 +1000 (EST) Received: from akunet.org [208.244.71.65] by akunet.org with ESMTP (SMTPD32-6.05) id A494177600D4; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 08:48:36 +0500 Message-ID: <3A8DFAE8.E91F7CDA@akunet.org> Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 09:15:36 +0500 From: Ahmed Omair X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (Win95; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: S-Asia-IT Subject: INDIA: VSNL Begins SAFE Undersea Cable Project Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk VSNL Begins SAFE Undersea Cable Project By Uday Lal Pai India Correspondent, asia.internet.com [February 15] India's largest ISP, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), has begun its South Africa Far East (SAFE) undersea fiber optic cable landing operation at the Kochi (Cochin) landing point in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Kochi is the SAFE project's only landing point on the Indian subcontinent. VSNL, a landing party in the SAFE project, is investing $50 million in the project, after joining the consortium in June, 1997. The $600 million SAFE project is a joint venture operation of 42 telecom companies from 35 countries. The 80-gigabit, 28,800-kilometer undersea cable of will have landing points at Cape Town in South Africa, Mauritius, St. Paul (Reunion) and Penang, Malaysia. The land cable from the beachhead to VSNL's international gateway at Kakkanad in Kochi has already been deployed. The beachhead of the submarine cable has already been placed and the cable ship will lay the cable as deep as nine kilometers underwater. The other end of the cable will be anchored to the sea bottom and shall be connected to the main cable coming from Mauritius on the western side and going towards Penang on the eastern side. A.S. Menon, senior general manager of VSNL, told india.internet.com that the link up of the Kochi cable to the main cable is expected to be completed by May and the SAFE project is likely to be commissioned by the end of the year. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 17 17:15:18 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA93076; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 17:15:17 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (post.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA92069 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 17:15:00 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.36]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA26178 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 12:27:36 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 12:20:00 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Is IT the Panacea? A contrarian view by Isa Daudpota Message-ID: <3A8E6C70.8567.747E72@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [This article appeared in the special supplement of The News International on 11 Feb, 2001.] Is IT the Panacea? By Q. Isa Daudpota BLURB: Information Technology is being touted as the end-all and be- all solution to all of Pakistan's problems. It may offer a ray of hope, but for it to have any effect on the real issues of the country, a radical rethinking of our priorities is in order. EXTRACT: "If there is one important lesson to be learnt from the previous human resource development plan, it is that most high-end technologists in areas such as computer science will leave for better opportunities in the West. Of the 200-plus Ph.D. trainees that were supported for computer science training over the last decade, less than 10 remain here." PHOTO: Room full of Pakistanis working on computers The country is currently abuzz with news about information technology 'happenings' and programs. This has generated considerable excitement among people who now imagine the country finally on its way to catch up with the world. For them, the IT revolution - as it has come to be called - represents a way to develop the knowledge and human resource base and a quick route to generating foreign exchange. In fact, that is the very philosophy of the IT game: to generate jobs and revenue and to propel us into the new global economy. Undoubtedly, in general IT does offer a wonderful opportunity, since capital costs for getting the ball rolling are very small compared to other areas of technology. And it is also true that there is a large global demand for its products. But does development in the IT sector directly tackle the pressing problems that our country faces? I believe it could but, for that to happen, there would have to be a radical rethink of national priorities. And this would require our education, science and technology and IT policies to directly address the acute problems that the majority of people face. Technology is fascinating in its own right, but where large amounts of public money are involved for its introduction, a serious assessment of our real needs is essential. In addition, a candid analysis of the advantages and downsides to its introduction, coupled with knowledge of the society's absorptive and management capacity, is required. Only then can IT - or for that matter any new technology - be introduced successfully. Inherent in the complex nature of this enterprise is the fact that such an analysis may miss out some important elements. But it is in the process of mulling over the issues that a clearer picture will emerge which would help in the process of introduction and assimilation of this technology. In our country, we seem to be forever rushing forward without carefully thinking through many of the critical issues, or fully recognizing the global game plan which may not necessarily work to our advantage. It is superficially agreed by all, if not deeply appreciated by those in power, that the foremost problem facing Pakistan today is the general level of education. Without widespread access to the basic right of education at the primary and secondary levels, particularly for girls, we cannot make significant and lasting progress. Coupled with this is the need for teachers ' training, adult education and the use of the ever-pervasive electronic media for transforming minds. The second thing to understand is that educational facilities need to reach villages and small towns - where more than 80 percent of our population lives - and particularly the poor. Thirdly, we need to realize that our resources are limited. Their use should be strictly and continually monitored to assess tangible and intangible outputs. Lastly, since one is dealing with a very large system with several unknown factors, it is best to tread carefully, doing small scale experiments to test our theories, learning lessons, and then scaling up. Unfortunately, the IT policy - like much of our developmental thinking - relies on attacking problems at the 'top end', hoping that benefits that accrue will trickle-down to the lower levels, such as villages and small towns. For example, the IT Action Projects Portfolio allocates only Rs. 70 million for 2000-2003 for community internet centers in the rural areas, out of a total outlay of Rs. 10.9 billion to all IT projects. There are Rs. 150 million allocated for low cost PCs for schools, and some of them may find their way into rural and small town schools but this seems unlikely. Almost all the other expense items will benefit urbanites, white-collar IT workers and high-end technologists. The current IT plan focuses on the training of people. If there is one important lesson to be learnt from the previous human resource development plan, it is that most high-end technologists in areas such as computer science will leave for better opportunities in the West. Of the 200-plus Ph.D. trainees that were supported for computer science training over the last decade, less than 10 remain here. Even when adequate compensation is provided to new trainees to stay put, they demand extremely high salaries which are not sustainable. This is because other workers, who are capable of doing equally valuable work in other areas of science and technology, get much less. The lesson is clear: one needs to define training areas where there are Pakistan-specific needs and to put money into training people primarily in these subject areas. This would automatically reduce the brain-drain that results from a training program that is geared to the needs of other countries. The current euphoria of our IT workers finding places in Germany is laughable. This may show that some of our training may be good enough for external markets. But if the minds produced are of no value to us, what good is it? Expatriates can help the home country indirectly, but we should aim to design policies which primarily encourage creative individuals to stay here and solve our problems first. In the same vein, the IT university project has Rs. 1.5 billion allocated to it. There are no projections that I am aware of about how the graduates that come out of there will find a place in Pakistan's economy. Are we again using our funds to prepare our youth mainly for the outside world? There is also great interest in electronic commerce, which is promised to increase internal and external trade, something we are told is a good thing. If one is to go by how 'e-commerce' has developed in the West, the main thing that has resulted from it is consumerism, with increasing emphasis on global greed. It is unclear how our experience will be any different. It seems likely to lead to our elite spending even more money on luxury items from here, there and everywhere. With government departments in a chaotic state, is there any hope of 'e-governance' helping out? Information technology may be wonderful but it cannot perform miracles. Surely a rectification of the "manual mess" is called for before (or at least concurrently with) introducing IT into government departments. But the previous government was and the present government is unwilling to do so, as can be witnessed by their reluctance to improve efficiency, recognize and reward talent, and downsize themselves. Reducing the public sector workforce should be regarded as an excellent opportunity for creating training facilities in the public and private sectors for those being laid off. This would allow them to retrain for jobs in IT and other areas. Yet no thought has been given to any of this. Much of the current IT policy overlooks the critical issues of inequity in our society. With so much money and hopes invested in it, there is a need to direct it so that it serves the needs of people unlike myself - those who presently cannot type an article on a word processor and email it to the newspaper for publication. It would be great if both my needs and that of the majority could be met but, as the policy stands at present, this will not happen. ----------------------------------------------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 17 17:53:14 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA97790; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 17:53:13 +1000 (EST) Received: from server.super.net.pk (server.super.net.pk [203.130.2.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA97786 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 17:53:07 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.36]) by server.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1H7r9d07079 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 12:53:10 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 12:58:15 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: "Controlling the runaway horse " By Uday Mohan Message-ID: <3A8E7567.18356.9781F0@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from Dawn's "IT: The Future of Pakistan" (23-24 Jan 2001)] Controlling the runaway horse By Uday Mohan How will poor people gain access to crucial information and communication technologies (ICTs)? Before the internet came to Veerampattinam, a coastal village in southern India, the local fisher folk went to get their daily catch without knowing sea conditions or the location of fish shoals. Lives were sometimes lost because of particularly high waves and rough seas. But in late 1998, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), an Indian research centre, installed a computer in a "village information shop" with financial assistance from the international Development Research Centre, Canada. Through a wireless local-area network based on radio frequencies, the computer makes available daily data on wave height and wind forecasts from a US navy website. This information is broadcast to the villagers in the early morning via loudspeakers on the roof of the information shop. Armed with this knowledge as well as with details about fish location, the fishermen now ply the seas in greater safety and with more efficiency. Not only has the internet-enabled computer made the main work of the villag e easier, but it has also made information about prices, health and transportation facilities, and entitlement schemes accessible. Before the computer arrived, villagers were unaware of housing loans that they were entitl ed to. Most fishermen in the village have now benefited from these low cost loans. The digital divide: Veerampattinam is one of many recent examples of the way the Internet has reached and benefited the poor in developing countries. But most of the world's poorer people have not been touched by this tec hnology. Nua internet surveys estimates that as of June 2000, 333 million people worldwide were online: 76 million in Asia/Pacific; 13 million in South America; three million in Africa; two million in the Middle East. However, 72 percent of all Internet subscribers reside in North America and Europe. The "digital divide" the gap in information and communication technologies that exists between technologically advanced and developing countries - is not only enormous, but it is also increasing, according to a recent Wor ld Bank study. The study estimates that even East Asia, which is adopting ICTs at a rapid pace, will take another 40 years to catch up with the developed world. Access varies widely among and within developing countries as well. Gender, income, age, and other disparities also abound. In Ethiopia, for example, 98 percent of Internet users in 1998 were university graduates and 86 p ercent were male. As ICTs begin to play a greater role in development, concerns are growing that women will be left out of the picture. Available data show that women account for 25 percent of ICT users in Brazil, 17 percent in South Afric a, 7 percent in China, and 4 percent in Arab states. As the Internet becomes the norm for commerce and information exchange in the developed world, the poorer countries will have little choice but to try to bridge the digital divide in all its forms. The stakes involve not only social development and productivity growth, but also the burgeoning e-commerce sector, which is expected to reach between US$2 and 3 trillion in transactions in the next three years. Success stories: "Price information helps connect farmers to markets," says Mike Weber, professor and co-director of a food security programme run by the Department of Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University ( MSU), "and the more up-to-date the price information, the better for the farmer and the market." Weber's own group uses both low-and high-tech means to distribute prices. For the past ten years, the food security project has delivered weekly agricultural prices by newspaper and fax to government offices, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Mozambique. Media Fax, a fax-based newspaper, provides the same information each week to a wider audience. NGOs make copies of the weekly price lists and distribute the information to farmers. Because satellites can bring ICTs to rural areas at a relatively low cost, some NGOs promote them to help fill the information and communication needs in developing countries. Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), a US-based NGO, for example, links its satellite with ground terminals that enable users to send and receive stored e- mails four to six times a day as the satellite passes overhead. Kept in a community centre or some other central location, each terminal is estimated to serve an area of roughly 10,000 people via the e-mail access it gives to schools, clinics, NGOs, business people, and individual users. Even the telephone can be a lifeline for the poor. In three years, GrameenPhone has put mobile phones in the hands of women in more than 1,200 Bangladeshi villages. At the same time, GrameenPhone has secured more than 50 percent of the national, mostly urban, mobile phone market in Bangladesh, helping to assure its financial viability. In the villages, GrameenPhone works on the same principle as the Grameen Bank's microloan programme, giving rural women from landless households access to credit to purchase a mobile phone. The telephones generate substantial income for the "telephone women," whose earnings average $450 a year after expenses. Equally important, the telephones provide villagers with access to information and services that would otherwise remain far outside their reach. Overcoming barriers: "The countries that have been most successful in promoting ICT-based development," says Carlos Primo Braga, programme manager at InfoDev (the World Bank's Information for Development Program), "are those that have created a broad framework for fostering both competition and universal access. They've focused on expansion of the capacity to connect to ICTs, education to use that connectivity, appropriate content in the local language to make that connectivity useful, and competition to lower prices and increase market growth." But the most pressing and universal barrier remains money. Hans d'Orville, former director of the Information Technology for Development Programme at the United Nations Development Programme, estimates that a tele-centre that serves 2,000-6,000 people costs roughly $60,000-80,000. Even so, the picture may not be so daunting because costs are decreasing and new technical devices are emerging. "Medium-developed countries already have high TV penetration, and devices to access the Internet are going to fall below the cost of TVs," says Josh Calder, senior associate at Coates & Jarratt, Inc., a Washington, DC-based consulting firm that analyzes and forecasts ICT applications. Expensive, potentially disruptive, and extraordinarily beneficial, ICTs are here to stay. As Richard Heeks, senior lecturer in information systems and development at the University of Manchester, puts it, "Information and communication technology is a runaway horse, and the choice for the world's poorer nations is stark: stand by and watch it carry the richer nations forward, or jump on and hope to steer it as best they can." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Uday Mohan is Senior Editor at the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC. IFPRI conducts research on policies to alleviate and prevent food insecurity, poverty and environmental degradation. http://www.dawn.com/events/infotech/it27.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sun Feb 18 00:47:53 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id AAA88608; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 00:47:52 +1000 (EST) Received: from server.super.net.pk (server.super.net.pk [203.130.2.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA88589 for ; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 00:47:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.20]) by server.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1HEljd15016 for ; Sat, 17 Feb 2001 19:47:48 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 19:52:59 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: KEYS TO INFORMATION, TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (KITE) Message-ID: <3A8ED69B.5570.21343B2@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from Kabissa-fahamu Newsletter] KEYS TO INFORMATION, TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (KITE) Wiring from the Grassroots http://www.kiteinc.org "Poor people and poor countries risk being pushed to the margin in this proprietary regime controlling the world's knowledge." -- United Nations Development Programme Information is critical to international development, but it is being inequitably distributed. Consider: o Online access, a novelty just five years ago, is now standard in the industrialized world. Many medical journals and research institutes have stopped publishing their findings in print. Those who do not have access to this up-to-date information will be increasingly left behind, even when it comes to the provision of basic services. o This imbalance also leads to a monoculture in World Wide Web content, with the vast majority of information available online originating from First World sources. This is truly unfortunate, since the web has the potential to become a rich source of information from the perspective of many cultural traditions. o Last year, the richest 20% of the world's population comprised over 93% of its internet users. o The average Bangladeshi would have to work for eight years just to afford one computer, not including internet access. The good news is that a small effort on the part of those of us working in the industrialized world can effect pronounced change. KITE, Inc. (Keys to Information, Technology, and Education) is a newly-formed nonprofit organization that seeks to help redress this global imbalance in access to information. We are writing to you to announce the official launch of our web site, available at http://www.kiteinc.org/ , where you can find information about community development, technology transfer, open source software, and the global "digital divide." KITE's mission is twofold: 1) to provide grants to community development organizations in the "developing world" (loosely defined as Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Pacific Islands and indigenous groups within the industrialized world) to aid them in the process of going online; and 2) to provide information about open source software, global technology issues, and development communication to people throughout the world. Other organizations have been working diligently to support the growing technology needs of universities, hospitals, and businesses in the global South. KITE, however, plans to address the needs of smaller organizations -- community groups working at the grassroots level -- by offering computer hardware, technical training, translation services, software support, and cash grants to pay for the costs of electricity and ISP access. We believe that a gift of hardware alone is not enough if the other costs (obtaining phone service, acquiring computer programming skills, paying for software...) render the gift useless. KITE will help our recipients with every step in the networking process. Crucial to this is our use of Linux and open source software. We believe commercial software, such as Macintosh and Microsoft products, trap users in a state of ongoing dependency in the form of licensing fees and ever-increasing hardware support costs. Because open source software and upgrades can be obtained for free, it is a sustainable solution even in countries where the annual per capita income is very low. Articles and information about this and other issues relevant to technology transfer are available on our web site. We also have a mailing list, a newsletter, discussion boards, and one of the most comprehensive lists of links on this topic currently available on the World Wide Web. We hope you will take the time to visit us and to let others know about our organization. We are particularly interested in reaching your colleagues abroad who may be interested in applying for one of our grants. Thanks for your interest. Sincerely, Elizabeth Loveland, Connor Durflinger, and Laura Fokkena Co-Founders, KITE, Inc. * * * KITE was incorporated in July, 2000, by Elizabeth Loveland, Connor Durflinger, and Laura Fokkena, and received tax-exempt status as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in the state of Massachusetts (U.S.) in February, 2001. http://www.kabissa.org/lists/newsletter-submissions-l/0635.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 19 05:49:49 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA128143; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 05:49:49 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA128124 for ; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 05:49:44 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.122]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Mon, 19 Feb 2001 01:14:27 +0530 Received: from localhost (fred@localhost) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA00619 for ; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 23:46:45 +0530 Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 23:46:45 +0530 (IST) From: Frederick Noronha X-Sender: fred@localhost.localdomain To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: M.I.T. MEDIA LAB WILL EXPAND TO INDIA (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk M.I.T. MEDIA LAB WILL EXPAND TO INDIA Issue: International The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, a well-known incubator for futuristic technologies, has announced plans to expand to India. Largely funded by corporate sponsors, the original U.S. Media Lab was founded in 1985 by technology expert Nicholas Negroponte and works in a variety of new media and other technology fields. Current projects include everything from interactive cinema to wearable computers. In India, the lab would concentrate on development and education issues. "It's not how can we bring the latest multimedia workstation to people," said executive director Walter Bender. "(It's) how can we bring technology that's going to empower them, and we think we have some ideas about how to make this happen." [SOURCE: New York Times (Online), AUTHOR: Associated Press] (http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-MIT-Lab-India.html) *** Via / From / Thanks to the following : ---------------------- (c)Benton Foundation 2001. Redistribution of this email publication -- both internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message. -------------------------------------------------------------- M.I.T. Media Lab Will Expand to India By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS February 15, 2001 CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, a well-known incubator for futuristic technologies, plans to expand to India. Executive director Walter Bender said Thursday the lab is in discussions with the Indian government on details of a project to bring lab projects to several yet-to-be-determined locations. Media Lab spokeswoman Alexandra Kahn said that once completed, the project is expected to be larger than the Cambridge Media Lab, which has a budget of about $40 million per year. The original U.S. Media Lab was founded in 1985 by technology expert Nicholas Negroponte and works in a variety of new media and other technology fields. Current projects include everything from interactive cinema to wearable computers, and most of Media Lab's funding comes from corporate sponsors. The lab opened Media Lab Europe in Dublin, Ireland, last year, with the Irish government pledging about $35 million over 10 years. Bender said that in India, the lab would concentrate on development and education issues. ``It's not how can we bring the latest multimedia workstation to people,'' Bender said. ''(It's) how can we bring technology that's going to empower them, and we think we have some ideas about how to make this happen.'' From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 19 05:50:03 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA128178; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 05:50:03 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA128158 for ; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 05:49:54 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.122]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Mon, 19 Feb 2001 01:14:47 +0530 Received: from localhost (fred@localhost) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA00605 for ; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 23:38:57 +0530 Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 23:38:57 +0530 (IST) From: Frederick Noronha X-Sender: fred@localhost.localdomain To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: iNomyNewsletter Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=X-UNKNOWN Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from QUOTED-PRINTABLE to 8bit by ns.apnic.net id FAA128175 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk An interesting newsletter... FN ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 14:14:22 "GMT" From: Osama Manzar To: fred@bytesforall.org Subject: iNomyNewsletter, Vol 66, Sat, Feb 17 I N O M Y The Internet Economy Of India http://www.INOMY.com A Weekly Newsletter of the media coverage of INOMY <<<============================================>>> Saturday, February 17, 2001 | Vol - 66 <<<-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Editor's Note -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=->>> Hi Friend, India's growing stature worldwide is again reconized with MIT Media Lab selecting New Delhi for its prestigious Media Lab Asia project. An agreement to this is to be signed between MIT and the Indian government shortly, with India expected to bear 20 percent of the $1 billion cost. Unconfirmed reports also say the Foreign Investment Promotion Board is about to clear an FDI proposal worth Rs 5000 million for AOL's entry into India. These two developments signify a strong invester confidence in the Internet Economy of India. To find out how the Internet Economy is shaping up in India on a day-to-day basis, read our incisive reports on www.inomy.com - updated daily. We will appreciate your input to make INOMY your own site. Regards, Osama Manzar Editor-in-chief editor@inomy.com <<<=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-ADVERTISEMENT-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-==-=>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Looking to purchase a computer; or in need of a simple upgrade? Having a tough time deciding what to buy? Get professional help. Visit the reviews channel of ZDNet India, the one-stop source for in-depth coverage on a wide range of computer related products--from hardware to software to your local ISP. Be smart. 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Log on to www.zdnetindia.com/myzdnet/zdgroups. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <<<-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=>>> Top Stories <------------> - IBM to pour $ 100 million in Indian software lab Singapore: IBM has opened a software development laboratory in India and plans to invest $ 100 million into it over the next three years. http://www.india.cnet.com/news/2001/02/16/20010216o.html - Hacking under Section 66 creates confusion New Delhi: The recent court order under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 on Friday to reject the bail plea of two persons who were charged with blocking a site which is hosted on the their server, stirred an hornet's nest. http://www.timesofindia.com/today/12info1.htm Other Top Stories This Week: - America Online plans India entry http://www.economictimes.com/today/15tech01.htm - Satyam UK centre launches enterprise integration http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2001/02/14/stories/151439cc.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | To view these and more stories, click at http://www.INOMY.com | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <<<-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ADVERTISEMENT =-=-=-=-=-=-=>>> National Conference on eMarketing, Feb 23-24, 2001, New Delhi Integrating and Leveraging the Power of Web, Brand Building, New Sales Channel, e-retailing, CRM and much more.... Listen to top e-Marketing speakers. Register here: www.conference-india.com <<<-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=->>> Corporate <-------> - DoT suggests 19% effective customs levy on cell handsets New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has met half-way the cellular industry's demand to reduce custom duties on cellular handsets. http://www.financialexpress.com/fe/daily/20010212/fco12001.html - The Indus Entrepreneurs inaugurate UP chapter New Delhi: The Indus Enterpreneurs (TIE) Uttar Pradesh chapter was launched recently in Kanpur by Mr Kanwal Rekhi and Mr Pavan Nigam, the co-founder of Healtheon/Web MD. http://www.financialexpress.com/fe/daily/20010214/fco14016.html More stories in this category: - Wipro Tech plans mega tech campus in Cyberabad http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2001/02/16/stories/151639aa.htm - Kerala has over one lakh Internet subscribers: IT Com India http://www.india.cnet.com/news/2001/02/15/20010215g.html - Caltiger launches first international gateway http://www.timesofindia.com/today/15info20.htm - Empowertel shuts down India operations http://www.economictimes.com/today/15tech11.htm - ValueSource sets aside Rs 4 crore for software development centre in Chennai http://www.financialexpress.com/fe/daily/20010212/fco12003.html --------------------------------------------------- | For more stories, click at http://www.INOMY.com | --------------------------------------------------- E-commerce <--------> - ABN Amro Bank kicks off single window online auto-loan scheme Mumbai /Hyderabad: ABN Amro Bank announced the launch of its online auto-loan product on Saturday. The Web-based auto loan deal automation system (ALDAS), brings all entities involved in loan processing on a single platform and enables online processing and status enquiry of an application. http://www.financialexpress.com/fe/daily/20010212/fec12016.html - Now, pay LIC premiums over the net Mumbai: LIC of India is tying up with HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Timesofmoney.com and Billjunction.com for enabling premium payments over the internet. http://www.economictimes.com/today/13tech23.htm Other story featured this week includes: - Eider to launch e-shopping malls across the nation http://www.financialexpress.com/fe/daily/20010214/fco14008.html ----------------------------------------------------------- | For other E-commerce stories visit http://www.INOMY.com | ----------------------------------------------------------- Tech Bytes <--------> - VIA Tech launches Cyrix III processors New Delhi: The Taiwan-based VIA Technologies has announced the launch of its new generation Cyrix III processors. http://www.india.cnet.com/news/2001/02/16/20010216i.html - Tally launches eis 5.4 Bangalore: Bangalore-based Tally Solutions has announced yet another release, Release 6 (b) for its popular financial accounting software: Tally eis 5.4. http://www.timesofindia.com/today/15info16.htm More Tech Bytes: - Lexicon Infotech launches e-mail product http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2001/02/14/stories/151439hb.htm ----------------------------------------------- | Visit http://www.INOMY.com for more stories | ----------------------------------------------- Policy <----> - IT industry may get key tax incentive In a move that would facilitate mergers and acquisitions in the infotech industry, the government is likely to make changes in Section 10A\10B of the Income Tax Act so that IT companies operating in special zones can avail income tax exemption even after changes in the company’s shareholding pattern. http://www.business-standard.com/today/economy6.asp?Menu=3 - Center to release 7.5 cr phone connections: Paswan Jalandhar: The Union ministry of telecommunications has decided to release 7.5 crore telephone connections throughout the country in the next five years. http://www.india.cnet.com/news/2001/02/09/20010209ad.html A Sample of the other stories in this section: - Hardware exporters may get domestic nod http://news.itspace.com/Corporate/corp010215_01.asp? ---------------------------------------- | Visit http://www.INOMY.com for links | ---------------------------------------- Finance & Acquisitions <--------------------> - ITIL picks up 25% in online entity of UK-based firm New Delhi: The Usha Group company Information Technology India has picked up 25 per cent stake in the online subsidiary of a UK-based jewellery house for over Rs 2.25 crore. http://www.economictimes.com/today/12tech14.htm - Singapore firm to buy 9 pc in Jindal Online Mumbai: The Singapore-based Kay Pee International has offered to acquire nine per cent equity stake in Jindal Online.com Ltd at Rs 290 per share. http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2001/02/13/stories/151339pp.htm Other stories in this section include: - Canbank Factors may invest in IT, FCI tieup http://www.economictimes.com/today/12tech16.htm - Ways India buys McDonell Associates http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2001/02/14/stories/151439uc.htm ----------------------------------------------- | Visit http://www.INOMY.com for more stories | ----------------------------------------------- Venture Capital <-------------> - Wilsys gets $1 m US funding Hyderabad: Wilsys Technologies, a Hyderabad-based software research company focussing on wireless application protocol (WAP) and infra red-related solutions, has secured a $1-million funding from a US-based angel investor, Infostar Inc. http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2001/02/12/stories/1512391d.htm - vSplash.com tying up $5 m in second-round funding Thiruvananthapuram: The Hyderabad-based vSplash.com India, known for its browser-based, multimedia-enriched, zero-programming end-user Web site development tool of the same name, is tying up $5 million in the second edition of venture capital funding. http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2001/02/13/stories/151339dd.htm - GVP plans to back Indian start-ups http://news.itspace.com/vc_startups/vc010214_01.asp? No other stories in this category: ---------------------------------------------------- | To view more stories, go to http://www.INOMY.com | ---------------------------------------------------- People & Viewpoint: <-----------------> - E-security needs change of traffic rules New Delhi: Danger lurks in every nook and corner of the information highway as websites of world fame get breached often keeping the surfers at bay, highlighting the need for urgent measures against hackers. http://www.economictimes.com/today/12tech13.htm - Infosys chief keynote speaker at St Gallen meet Kolkata: The All-India Management Association (AIMA) and the Calcutta Management Association (CMA) have agreed to promote the annual symposium held under the aegis of University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2001/02/15/stories/151539bb.htm Other feature in this section includes: - Become part of global commerce evolution, earn money http://www.timesofindia.com/today/16info17.htm ------------------------------------------- | For details go to http://www.INOMY.com | ------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------ Site Launches <-----------> - KGL-Wonderware launch new portal New Delhi: KGL System and USA's Wonderware Corp have announced the launch of a new portal SuiteVoyager offering complete control for industrial automation via Internet and Intranet. http://www.india.cnet.com/news/2001/02/16/20010216k.html - Sify relaunches walletwatch.com http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2001/02/16/stories/151639le.htm - Times-Citigroup launch timesofmoney.com http://www.india.cnet.com/news/2001/02/15/20010215d.html -------------------------------------------- | View more site launches at http://www.INOMY.com | -------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------- IPO Watch <-----------> - Mid-day Multimedia to tap capital market with Rs 50 crore IPO Mumbai: Mid-day Multimedia Ltd (MML), will tap the capital market with an initial public offering (IPO) of Rs 50 crore, 90 percent through the book-building route, to part-finance its expansion plans. http://www.india.cnet.com/news/2001/02/09/20010209ak.html - D-Link (India) IPO opens on Feb. 20 http://www.indiaserver.com/businessline/2001/02/16/stories/151639dd.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Top Stories <-----------------------> - Napster's Beat Goes On – for the Moment Napster's prospects of becoming the next music empire dim when a U.S. appeals court partly upholds a ruling that the song-swapping service is liable for copyright infringement. http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,22133,00.html - Macromedia is positioned for the 21st century Rob Burgess has come a long way since he sold process-control computers in the 1980s for Digital Equipment Corp. DEC, now part of Compaq up in Canada's northern mines. http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/hardwareSoftware/story?id=3a6f356210 - Can we bank on e-learning? The online education market is still in grade school. One thing for sure: e-learning companies have a lot of homework to do. http://www.redherring.com/industries/2001/0213/ind-mag-92-elearning021301.html Other stories in this section include: - E-commerce to take off in China http://www.insidechina.com/investorinsight/business.php3?id=287002 - LoanGenie.com Banking on Rise in E-Refinancing http://www.latimes.com/business/cutting/20010212/t000012893.html - Macromedia is positioned for the 21st century http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/hardwareSoftware/story?id=3a6f356210 - Riverstone leads IPO week http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/02/10/deals/sat_ipos/ For the rest of the Inomy sections including E-Quotes, Major Campaigns, Online Advertisements, Columns, Press Releases, please visit http://www.INOMY.com <<<-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=ADVERTISEMENT -=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=>>> WWW.ISPCONINDIA.COM DUMP YOUR PASSPORT !!! GET THE FACTS RIGHT HERE IN INDIA. AT THE LARGEST INTERNATIONAL ISP/ASP CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION. LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO CREATED THE INDUSTRY. BE THERE AT NEHRU CENTRE - MUMBAI - APRIL 26-27 <<<-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=->>> Feedback & Problems <-----------------> Send letters/comments/queries/suggestions etc to editor@inomy.com Editors: <------> - Osama Manzar (osama@inomy.com) - Sanjaya Gupta (sanjaya@inomy.com) - Dr Madanmohan Rao (madanr@inomy.com) - Tufail Ahmad (tufail@inomy.com) - Dhiraj Sinha (dhiraj@inomy.com) You can also contact us via phone or mail: Editor Inomy.Com - The Internet Economy of India D-1 Commercial Center Basement Soami Nagar South New Delhi - 110 017 India Telefax: 91-11-6015602/3/4 Subscribe/ Unsubscribe <---------------------> To Subscribe or Unsubscribe please follow this link:http://www.INOMY.com/newsletter/newsletter.asp Alternatively, Send a mail to editor@inomy.com with Subscribe / Unsubscribe in the body of the mail to Subscribe / Unsubscribe the Inomy newsletter. <<<=========================================================>>> Copyright 2000 INOMY MEDIA PVT. LTD. A 4Cplus.Com venture <<<=========================================================>>> From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 19 05:53:28 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA128567; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 05:53:27 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA128546 for ; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 05:53:23 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.122]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Mon, 19 Feb 2001 01:18:18 +0530 Received: from localhost (fred@localhost) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA00587; Sun, 18 Feb 2001 23:26:35 +0530 Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 23:26:35 +0530 (IST) From: Frederick Noronha X-Sender: fred@localhost.localdomain To: s-asia-it@apnic.net cc: bytes-admin@goacom.com Subject: LINK: TiE aims to help India after helping Gujarat Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk * Santa Clara (California) : TiE aims to help India after helping Gujarat TiE aims to help India after helping Gujarat by Sukhjit Purewal, India Abroad News Service Santa Clara (California), Feb 17 - Raising money for victims of the earthquake that hit western India January 26 has become a mission for The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), which has helped launch so much success in Silicon Valley. But simply helping the victims of the calamity that has claimed some 25,000 lives isn't where TiE sees its ultimate goal. TiE's thrust is to give a helping hand to the whole of India by establishing a permanent endowment. TiE, which is spearheading a larger Bay Area Indian American community effort of 25 professional, cultural and public services groups dubbed United Community Appeal (UCA), is committed to raising $25 million. The group has already garnered more than $10 million in cash donations, pledges, contributions and medical supplies. Lata Krishnan and her husband Ajay Shah, cofounders of Smart Modular Technologies Inc. have led the way contributing $1 million. UCA has recruited former president Bill Clinton to help in the cause by inviting him to a fundraiser scheduled March 2. TiE president Kailash Joshi told IANS that Clinton has been invited but it will be up to Clinton to announce whether he would attend the function. Joshi said the organization just wants to collect as much money as possible and hasn't set any deadlines for any certain amount. "Twenty-five million is our goal but we've never done a project like this before," Joshi said, "we'll just keep working at it." The collection just doesn't end with victims of the Gujarat earthquake, Joshi said, adding, that he'd rather spread the UCA concept nationwide to establish a permanent endowment to continue providing assistance to India. The funds would help long-term objectives, he said. "We want to help India have better crisis management," Joshi said. "If it (crisis) occurs -- how to be prepared for it -- rather than have a knee-jerk reaction like it does now." Another possibility is that the endowment could be used for the establishment of a modern day peace corps, with a focus on youth volunteers, Joshi said. Others are also doing their part to raise money in their own creative ways. Northern California's India Earthquake Relief Fund, made up of several organizations, held a telethon on Sunday on a local Sacramento cable channel. So far the group has raised $47,000 according to Inderjit Kallirai of the Cultural Association of India. Meanwhile, a Bikram yoga studio in San Francisco, Eureka Bikram Yoga College of India, is also doing what it can to help the victims. On February 10, the studio held continuous yoga sessions during a 24-hour marathon raising $1,500 and was scheduled to do a second marathon February 17, studio manager Janet Feldon said. Helping is part of the teachings of yoga, she said, adding, "We try to instill in our students that yoga isn't something you do several hours a day but it is something you for the community out of compassion." --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 19 05:53:30 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA128583; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 05:53:29 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA128548 for ; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 05:53:25 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.122]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Mon, 19 Feb 2001 01:18:20 +0530 Received: from localhost (fred@localhost) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA00661; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 00:01:20 +0530 Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 00:01:20 +0530 (IST) From: Frederick Noronha X-Sender: fred@localhost.localdomain To: goanet-education@goacom.com cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: NEWS: Indian educational web-sites Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk India-Education-Internet Not many eyeballs for educational Indian Web sites (Feature) by Sharvani Pandit, India Abroad News Service New Delhi, Feb 18 - Educational sites targeting Indian students may have mushroomed on the Internet in recent years, but they do not fetch the kind of eyeballs that their creators had envisaged. According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), only 11.3 percent of students who access the Internet use it as an educational tool. In fact, of the country's five million personal computers base till August 2000, 70 percent were in urban centers, an indication that millions of students in rural India are deprived of this facility. The student community represented by school and college-goers comprises 38 percent of Net users, but most use it to answer e-mail, look for information and download and upload software, Nasscom data reveals. India's Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has introduced an updated computer course based on Application Software packages, with special focus on the Internet as a tool for senior school students. But, "the Internet as a medium is just accessible to a few and that is why it has limited reach so far," CBSE spokesperson Rama Sharma told IANS. She, however, added, "With the board's increasing emphasis on information technology (IT), its popularity is not far behind." Internet is not popular among students as most either do not have the time for it or access to it. "There is only so much time a board student has and there really isn't enough time to scour through Web sites in search of content while preparing for the examination," Gaurav Behl, a student in the capital, said. Students like Sayan Chakraborty in Kolkata find it simpler to stick to conventional forms of studying like tutorials instead of turning to the Internet. "All the Web sites have solutions to question papers. The idea is to solve them ourselves and understand how to do them, what's the point of readymade solutions?" Behl asks. It is a similar story for students in other parts of the country. In large parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Internet is not even available to students as there are very few Internet service providers (ISPs) in the state. The Kashmir Valley, in fact, doesn't even have a local ISP. Student surfers in Srinagar have to access Internet through Delhi or Jammu at exorbitant long distance call charges. In Andhra Pradesh, some schools do offer the facility making it a bit easier for students to log on and explore "edu-sites" (education-led Web sites). Sharbani Ghosh, a Class 12 student from Hyderabad, said, "I log on to egurucool.com once or twice a week as solved CBSE question papers are available on the site." But Piyush Tirpathi and Santosh Mishra, two other Class 12 students from Hyderabad, said, "We heard about egurucool.com from friends in other schools but have never used Internet." According to U.S.-based Alexa Research, an organization that provides global statistics on Internet use in various countries, the most popular site in India for January this year was yahoo.com, followed by e-mail and search engine sites. There are no education-led Web sites in the top 25 list. Not fazed by the lack of popularity, a host of education-led Web sites have cropped up on the Internet. Some popular sites are egurucool.com, classteacher.com (an ASP), padhaee.com, CoolAcads.com, padAyi.com, edurite.com, planetgyan.com. But Internet as a medium of education has miles to go as even teachers are unsure of how to handle it. While hardware giants like Intel have launched initiatives like Project Vidya to integrate computers with school curriculum and conducts workshops in schools, most teachers resent the work involved. A teacher from a Delhi school said, "With extra emphasis on co-curricular work, there is hardly time to complete the syllabus. Computer and Web-based education is an unnecessary headache." On the other hand, for Harpal Bhalla, another schoolteacher from Delhi, the worry is which Web site he should recommend. "With so much information available at one's fingertips, it is hard to choose. Besides, I don't want to confuse students by overloading them. As it is the course is vast and the pressure to perform enormous," he said. --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 19 11:39:31 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id LAA112599; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 11:39:30 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (post.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA112577 for ; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 11:39:17 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.5.34]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id GAA22489 for ; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 06:51:48 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 06:44:13 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Training on IT Consulting in Germany Message-ID: <3A90C0BD.30937.27E411@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER No 9 (12 Feb 2001)] Training on Information Technology Consulting http://www.kabissa.org/lists/newsletter-submissions-l/0694.html A 12 month ICT-Consulting programme in Germany starting in May 2001 is looking for qualified participants. Applications should be made immediately due to the time restriction and the application procedure via the German Embassy of your country. Contact: Ms Larissa Bender - Project Assistant From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 19 13:21:05 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id NAA128292; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 13:21:04 +1000 (EST) Received: from guardian.apnic.net (guardian.apnic.net [203.37.255.100]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA128288 for ; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 13:21:03 +1000 (EST) Received: (from mail@localhost) by guardian.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id NAA18781 for ; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 13:21:02 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk(203.130.2.9) by int-gw.staff.apnic.net via smap (V2.1) id xma018779; Mon, 19 Feb 01 13:20:48 +1000 Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.75]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id IAA22967 for ; Mon, 19 Feb 2001 08:20:31 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 08:13:01 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Communication for Change in a Globalised World Message-ID: <3A90D58D.8969.79309F@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by ns.apnic.net id NAA128289 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Communication for Change in a Globalised World February 14, 2001 - As coalitions around the world demand that sustainable development take priority over globalization, broadcast media are used to find local solutions to economic, political and social needs. MediaChannel [http://www.mediachannel.org/front.shtml ], a not-for-profit project of OneWorld and The Global Center and one of UNESCO's partners, features a special page on «Communication for Change in a Globalised World» [http://www.mediachannel.org/atissue/development/index.html ]. The features included in the page explore the threats and opportunities of broadcasting in a globalized world and describe projects that serve as models and inspiration. It also points to articles from Orbicom, the International Network of UNESCO Chairs and Associates in Communications, and the UNESCO Courier. http://www.unesco.org/webworld/news/2001/010214_globalised_world.shtml From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Feb 20 17:46:01 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA110882; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 17:46:01 +1000 (EST) Received: from server.super.net.pk (server.super.net.pk [203.130.2.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA110844 for ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 17:45:45 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.100]) by server.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1K7jOd20807 for ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 12:45:31 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 12:50:43 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: Lessons for Development from the 'New Economy' Message-ID: <3A926823.5032.77D1BB@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by ns.apnic.net id RAA110863 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Lessons for Development from the 'New Economy' Richard Heeks IDPM, University of Manchester, UK 2000 What lessons for development can we learn from the 'new economy'? As some of the mists start to clear in industrialised countries, it may seem that lessons learned so far have been focused on the 'icing' and not on the 'cake'. To explain, let's disentangle causes and effects. The new economy is seen principally as an American phenomenon. An effect of sustained growth with low inflation is caused by … what? Until recently, the answer would have been 'Amazon' and the like: new firms making use of new technology to develop new customer markets. That's a lesson that seems to have been taken to heart in 'ICTs and Development' initiatives and debate. The current thrust in ICTs and development has been to help communities and small enterprises utilise the new technology. <...> [originally Published in: Information Technology in Developing Countries Newsletter] Read complete article at http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/dislesson.htm From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Feb 20 20:30:41 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA71793; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 20:30:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from server.super.net.pk (server.super.net.pk [203.130.2.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA71662 for ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 20:30:03 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.67]) by server.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1KATNd16031 for ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 15:29:28 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 15:34:46 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: (Fwd) satellite internet in india Message-ID: <3A928E96.31528.10E0781@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Send reply to: "Moiz/Yusuf" From: "moiz kalyaniwala" Subject: satellite internet in india Date sent: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 12:40:09 +0530 can u tell me more abt this service in india i want this sevice in mumbai for comercial purpose plzz mail me the details my mail add is m_kalyaniwala@yahoo.com ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 21 04:34:46 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA81994; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 04:34:45 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA81980 for ; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 04:34:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.64]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Tue, 20 Feb 2001 23:59:35 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id AAA01242; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 00:09:30 +0530 Received: from localhost (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA00863 for ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 22:34:43 +0530 Received: from mail.im.eth.net by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.3.1) for fred@localhost (single-drop); Tue, 20 Feb 2001 22:34:43 +0530 (IST) Received: from mail5.registeredsite.com ([64.224.9.14]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Tue, 20 Feb 2001 15:24:04 +0530 Received: from mail.bytesforall.org (mail.bytesforall.org [209.35.133.70]) by mail5.registeredsite.com (8.11.1/8.11.1) with ESMTP id f1K9x2822323 for ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 04:59:02 -0500 Received: from SMTP32-FWD by mail.bytesforall.org (SMTP32) id A0000031B; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 04:57:22 -0500 Received: from www2.goacom.com [128.121.217.85] by mail.bytesforall.org with ESMTP (SMTPD32-6.00) id AF8167270072; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 04:57:21 -0500 Received: from gate.mcdermott.com (gate.mcdermott.com [131.184.96.33]) by www2.goacom.com (8.8.8) id CAA89827 for ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 02:58:47 -0700 (MST) X-Envelope-To: Received: from mcorpemrbh1.mcdermott.com (mcorpemrbh1.mcdermott.com [131.184.96.96]) by gate.mcdermott.com (8.11.2/8.11.2) with ESMTP id f1K9woY25690 for ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 03:58:50 -0600 (CST) Message-Id: <200102200958.f1K9woY25690@gate.mcdermott.com> Received: by mcorpemrbh1.mcdermott.com with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) id ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 03:53:25 -0600 From: FREDERICK NORONHA To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: LINK: Mailing lists from Goa... Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 12:39:23 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.1.99] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist Cc: Interact Inn All India Mailing List Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk This information is about Goa-related mailing lists available on the Internet for free. If you'd like to keep in touch with developments happening in Goa, keep in touch with the GoaNet family of mailing lists, which now has 3000+ members globally. GoaNet is a not-for-profit, volunteer-driven service. It was incidentally launched five years back by Herman Carneiro, who was then an undergraduate student in the US. Today, with the support of volunteers in North America, UK, Europe, the Gulf, and of course, Goa, we are trying to build this into a network that links Goans, and people interested in Goa, wherever they may be located. GoaNews http://www.goacom.com/news brings you low-volume news summaries and news from Goa, without charge. If you wish to subscribe, visit the above site. Please note that these are Goa-specific lists, and most of the postings deal with the small state of Goa. Regards and best wishes, Frederick. -- *********************************************************** frederick noronha, freelance journalist, fred@bytesforall.org near convent, saligao 403511 goa india 0091.832.409490/ 409783 *********************************************************** Bytes For All http://www.bytesforall.org News from Goa http://www.goacom.com/news/ Photos from Goa http://www.goa-world.net/fotofolio/ FotoFolio@Yahoo http://in.photos.yahoo.com/fredericknoronha GoaResearchNet http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503 *********************************************************** From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 21 04:34:54 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA82033; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 04:34:54 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA82010 for ; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 04:34:49 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.64]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Tue, 20 Feb 2001 23:59:45 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id XAA01162; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 23:39:10 +0530 From: FREDERICK NORONHA Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 23:23:47 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.1.99] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: Cybercom Cc: gii Subject: NEWS: MTNL set to foray into broadband Internet service MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <0102202323470C.00699@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk MTNL set to foray into broadband Internet service by Shiv Kumar, India Abroad News Service Mumbai, Feb 20 - Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), the state-owned telecommunications service provider in Mumbai and Delhi, is set to move into broadband Internet access service. Using optic fiber lines, it is considering providing Internet access to subscribers using Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) technology, MTNL officials said. MTNL's DSL Internet access plans follow similar plans by Hughes Tele.com in Mumbai. Hughes, a private telecommunications service provider in Mumbai, was given an Internet Service Provider (ISP) license by the Central government's Department of Telecom (DoT). MTNL would not have to undertake huge investments to provide DSL lines to subscribers as it has the infrastructure in place. "We can easily offer high speed DSL Internet connectivity at competitive prices," an MTNL official said, adding, it would be premature to comment on pricing of the service since a decision to provide it is yet to be taken. At present, MTNL offers only dial-up Internet connectivity. Though its net charges average Rs.5 an hour like other private ISPs, subscribers have to shell out Rs.24 per hour as telephone connectivity. Private ISPs in the country that have invested in Internet-related infrastructure are pressing for sharing of revenue with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and MTNL. Shortly after its license came through Monday, Hughes officials told the media, the company, which has been offering dial-up access to its ISP subscribers, is working on tariff structures dependent on Internet capacity purchased by them. High-speed Internet at low prices is already in Mumbai. Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES) Ltd, the power supply company in Mumbai, has already laid down an optic fiber cable network in suburban Mumbai. For just a Rs 5,000 deposit and monthly payments of Rs 999, a subscriber gets broadband Internet connectivity without incurring additional charges like telephone dial up expenses, BSES Ltd managing director R.V. Shahi had told the media while launching the service last month. According to BSES officials, the company had connected its power stations and sub-stations in Mumbai using fiber optics. Its franchisees are putting up nodes in every building from where individual subscribers would be linked up to receive 64 kbps connectivity. The power company's net initiative will be priced at Rs 1.40 per hour all-inclusive. --India Abroad News ServiceMTNL set to foray into broadband Internet service by Shiv Kumar, India Abroad News Service Mumbai, Feb 20 - Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), the state-owned telecommunications service provider in Mumbai and Delhi, is set to move into broadband Internet access service. Using optic fiber lines, it is considering providing Internet access to subscribers using Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) technology, MTNL officials said. MTNL's DSL Internet access plans follow similar plans by Hughes Tele.com in Mumbai. Hughes, a private telecommunications service provider in Mumbai, was given an Internet Service Provider (ISP) license by the Central government's Department of Telecom (DoT). MTNL would not have to undertake huge investments to provide DSL lines to subscribers as it has the infrastructure in place. "We can easily offer high speed DSL Internet connectivity at competitive prices," an MTNL official said, adding, it would be premature to comment on pricing of the service since a decision to provide it is yet to be taken. At present, MTNL offers only dial-up Internet connectivity. Though its net charges average Rs.5 an hour like other private ISPs, subscribers have to shell out Rs.24 per hour as telephone connectivity. Private ISPs in the country that have invested in Internet-related infrastructure are pressing for sharing of revenue with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and MTNL. Shortly after its license came through Monday, Hughes officials told the media, the company, which has been offering dial-up access to its ISP subscribers, is working on tariff structures dependent on Internet capacity purchased by them. High-speed Internet at low prices is already in Mumbai. Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES) Ltd, the power supply company in Mumbai, has already laid down an optic fiber cable network in suburban Mumbai. For just a Rs 5,000 deposit and monthly payments of Rs 999, a subscriber gets broadband Internet connectivity without incurring additional charges like telephone dial up expenses, BSES Ltd managing director R.V. Shahi had told the media while launching the service last month. According to BSES officials, the company had connected its power stations and sub-stations in Mumbai using fiber optics. Its franchisees are putting up nodes in every building from where individual subscribers would be linked up to receive 64 kbps connectivity. The power company's net initiative will be priced at Rs 1.40 per hour all-inclusive. --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 21 06:46:16 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id GAA100022; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 06:46:16 +1000 (EST) Received: from eximc-2.lse.ac.uk (eximc-2.lse.ac.uk [158.143.100.32]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id GAA99998 for ; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 06:46:08 +1000 (EST) Received: by eximc-2.lse.ac.uk with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) id ; Tue, 20 Feb 2001 20:46:51 -0000 Message-ID: <43CE1CB09DEDD11196DF000629054FBB059C0803@exchs2.lse.ac.uk> From: "Nath,V (pgt)" To: "'s-asia-it@apnic.net'" Subject: www.DigitalGovernance.org website launched Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 20:46:50 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Dear Colleagues, A very warm greetings to you from the KnowNet Initiative at http://www.knownet.org As you are aware, KnowNet Initiative aims to catalyse Knowledge Networking for Human Development in developing countries through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The KnowNet website at the moment has a database of over 170 different ICT related projects/initiatives, 60 case studies on the use of ICT in the development sector, over 120 online articles, information on the major upcoming ICT and Knowledge networking events; and new resources are added everyday. Over time, KnowNet Initiative has been able to build up decentralised expertise, learnings and innovations relating to ICT-enabled Knowledge-networking and, is now putting them into use by entering into the domain of Electronic Governance. It has created another website - Digital Governance at http://www.digitalgovernance.org which explores some of the Innovative Models that put electronic-forms of Governance into practice. These generic models have a huge potential to change the political scenes, reshape democracy and transfrom the way citizens interact with the Government. The website provides description of these models and the various programmes based on these models, along with relevant electronic-governance case-studies, articles and publications, and upcoming events. Introduction of Digital Governance is a way to ensure that common citizens have equal right to be a part of decision-making processes which affect them directly or indirectly, and influence them in a manner which best improves their conditions and the quality of lives. The new form of Governance will ensure that citizens are no longer passive consumers of services offered to them and would transform them to play a more decisive role in deciding the kind of services they want and the structure which could best provide the same. KnowNet Initiative and Digital Governance continue to be non-funded Initiatives to propagate a low-cost model for Knowledge Networking in Developing Countries. All future updates about KnowNet Initiative and Digital Governance would be automated. You may subscribe to them by sending a blank email to digitalgovernance-subscribe@yahoogroups.com We welcome your Feedforward, suggestions, intellectual contributions and practical experiences to enrich this initiative. Warm Regards, Vikas Nath ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- Innovator, KnowNet Initiative, http://www.knownet.org Innovator, Digital Governance, http://www.digitalgovernance.org Inlaks Fellow, 2000-1, London School of Economics, UK Conceiver, DevNet Jobs, http://www.devnetjobs.org HomePage: http://www.vikasnath.org Email: knownet@knownetweaver.org or V.Nath@lse.ac.uk Phone: +44 (0) 7887 92 0080 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 21 17:30:46 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA70871; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 17:30:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from server.super.net.pk (server.super.net.pk [203.130.2.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA70861 for ; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 17:30:37 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.78]) by server.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1L7UNd05984 for ; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 12:30:23 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 12:35:47 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: (Fwd) URDU SET TO TAKE OFF ON THE WEB (fwd) Message-ID: <3A93B623.25116.618D4A@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 14:53:44 +0500 (PKT) From: "Hasan A. Rizvi" --------------------------------------------------------------------- For the latest development news and information, visit: www.sdnpk.org --------------------------------------------------------------------- URDU SET TO TAKE OFF ON THE WEB Under the present government's efforts to provide Universal Internet Access, it's now being made available from a large number of small cities and towns all over the country. However, the paucity of local content, especially in Urdu and other Pakistani languages, has made serious minded individuals and organizations wary of the Web's potential as a tool for providing useful information. English is by far the commonest medium of communication on the Internet. Since it is an international language, most people choose to use it unhesitatingly. Now there is a need to promote and develop Urdu websites of Pakistani origin on the Internet. Towards this end, the Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP), a project of UNDP, managed by IUCN - the World Conservation Union, in Pakistan has taken an important step forward. In collaboration with the National College of the Arts (NCA), it is organizing the first workshop on 'Urdu Web Authoring' - learning how to publish in Urdu on the Internet - to be conducted at NCA, Lahore on 21-22 February 2001. About ten organizations, including NCA, Council of Social Sciences (COSS), Social Action Programme (SAP), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Punjabi Addabi Board, and Punjab Lok Sujag will participate in this training workshop. Pakistan Data Management Systems (PDMS) has developed the software to be used in the training and the subsequent development of Urdu websites. In the coming months, SDNP would organize a series of such workshops in other major cities of Pakistan. Only recently has the Government of Pakistan promulgated a standard for the Urdu script. Previously there was no such standard, and software houses created their own. Hopefully, all Urdu software, from now on, will conform to this standard and achieve the same level inter-operability that we are used to in the English language. SDNP has already created a web gateway for all significant development information about Pakistan (www.sdnpk.org). Under this programme, funded by UNDP, more than hundred and seventy development organizations - including a third from the government - have been trained to set up and maintain their websites. This is in addition to thousands of other websites and Internet resources that have been indexed for this Pakistan Development Gateway (PDG). Plans are underway to establish a similar gateway in Urdu as well, so that a larger number of Pakistanis here and abroad will have access to the latest development news and information in a language that they can easily understand. ------- End of forwarded message ------- From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 21 17:30:59 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA70938; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 17:30:58 +1000 (EST) Received: from server.super.net.pk (server.super.net.pk [203.130.2.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA70865 for ; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 17:30:40 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.78]) by server.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1L7UQd06010 for ; Wed, 21 Feb 2001 12:30:27 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 12:35:47 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Subject: The Stockholm Challenge Award Message-ID: <3A93B623.21162.618A84@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from Quoted-printable to 8bit by ns.apnic.net id RAA70934 Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Date sent: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 16:20:53 +0100 From: Alix Porsenna Dear Sir/Madam, I work for the Stockholm Challenge Award which is a non profit initiative whose task is to spread knowledge and encourage the use of information technology. We run an outstanding event yearly by inviting cities and organizations worldwide to participate in a contest that focuses on the benefit that High Tech can generate for their community. The essence of the Challenge is to reduce barriers and make information available. We are looking for IT-projects which engage and inform people and offer them a new way to develop and improve their common life. The contest is free and projects can compete in seven categories: New Economy, Education, Health and Quality of Life, Public Services and Democracy, Culture and Entertainment, Environment, a Global Village. Admittance is still open for running projects and the deadline is April 1, 2001. Bring your projects into focus and get the impact that you deserve by joining The Stockholm Challenge Award. Sign up, by pointing your browser to the following website: www.challenge.stockholm.se and fill in the Entry Form. Sincerely yours, Alix Porsenna mailto: alix.porsenna@challenge.stockholm.se mailto: alix.porsenna@chello.se URL: www.challenge.stockholm.se Phone: +46-73-6576502 NB Please send me an e-mail and I’ll send you right away the Entry Form that you can fill in without beeing bothered, at your own pace or at home with complete peace of mind. ------------------------------------------------------------ From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Thu Feb 22 17:02:56 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id RAA92616; Thu, 22 Feb 2001 17:02:56 +1000 (EST) Received: from akunet.org (zahravi.akunet.org [208.244.71.8]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id RAA92610 for ; Thu, 22 Feb 2001 17:02:50 +1000 (EST) Received: from akunet.org [208.244.71.53] by akunet.org with ESMTP (SMTPD32-6.05) id A9B13DAA0030; Thu, 22 Feb 2001 12:03:13 +0500 Message-ID: <3A94BD00.C0765A2F@akunet.org> Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 12:17:20 +0500 From: Ahmed Omair X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (Win95; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: S-Asia-IT Subject: AOL to Invest $100 Million in India Over 5 Years Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Wednesday February 21 7:46 AM ET AOL to Invest $100 Million in India Over 5 Years By Anshuman Daga BANGALORE, India (Reuters) - America Online, the world's largest Internet access provider, will invest $100 million in India over the next five years to offer Internet-related services, a top company official said on Wednesday. By year-end it plans to employ more than 100 engineers in India to develop software products for web-browsing software maker Netscape Communications Corp and its parent AOL. But the company official said it was premature to comment on whether AOL plans to launch its Internet access service in India. AOL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AOL Time Warner Inc, the world's largest media company. It will provide Internet services in India through Netscape Communications India Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary based in Bangalore, India's high-technology capital. "We are taking our presence in India very seriously...we are looking at a fairly decent investment,'' Maneesh Dhir, managing director of Netscape Communications India, told Reuters by telephone. Netscape India will initially work on projects for iPlanet E-commerce Solutions, a joint venture between Netscape and Sun Microsystems Inc. iPlanet provides electronic commerce services and software. Government Approval ------------------ India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board has cleared AOL's $100 million proposal to set up an Indian subsidiary, a government official told Reuters on Wednesday. But the proposal is yet to receive the final nod from the Industry Minister Murasoli Maran, said the official, who did not want to be named. "It's been cleared but it is with the minister for final approval," he said. All foreign investment proposals cleared by the FIPB require approval by the industry minister. AOL last year announced a pact with Satyam Infoway Ltd, India's largest private Internet access provider, to distribute a co-branded version of AOL's popular instant messaging service. AOL has joined global technology leaders such as networking giant Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, the world's No. 1 fiber-optic network supplier, and chipmaker Intel Corp in setting up centers in Bangalore. From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Feb 23 03:16:00 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id DAA119018; Fri, 23 Feb 2001 03:15:59 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA118997 for ; Fri, 23 Feb 2001 03:15:52 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.60]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Thu, 22 Feb 2001 22:39:50 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id WAA00753; Thu, 22 Feb 2001 22:52:05 +0530 From: FREDERICK NORONHA Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 22:48:19 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.1.99] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: bytes-admin@goacom.com Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: NEWS: Now e-mail in Indian languages from any account MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01022222481902.00699@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Now e-mail in Indian languages from any account by V. Radhika, India Abroad News Service Pune, Feb 21 - A few months after launching the first e-mail service in Indian languages, Mithi Software Technologies has developed software which enables users to send and receive mail in English and 11 Indian languages through any e-mail account, for instance Yahoo or Hotmail. Priced at Rs. 1,500 the software called Mailjol Unplugged can be installed on a personal computer and works both as stand alone e-mail software as well as a companion to existing e-mail software. It also eliminates the need to stay connected to the Web while checking one's mail, similar to the popular desktop e-mail software for English like Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger and Eudora. This reduces telephone charges and also lowers the usage of Internet time, Mithi's chief executive officer Tarun Malviya said. Mailjol Unplugged is also the first commercial product of Mithi and the company has already tied up with Aptech and Chitralekha magazine, which is published in Gujarati and Marathi. Talks are also on with HCL, VSNL and Intel. A free version of Mailjol Unplugged, which is available at mailjol.com and can be used for 30 days, has been offered to dealers and distributors and 30,000 people have downloaded it, said Malviya. According to him, the software aims to cut down the cost of sending mail in Indian languages. Even though there are some free e-mail services in Indian languages (including Mithi's own mailjol.com), frequent users find the cost of accessing even a free site expensive. This software, he said, aims to cut down the cost of sending e-mail in Indian languages for frequent users. Despite the expansion of the Web world, Internet connectivity and bandwidth has not kept pace with the growing demand and users frequently complain of high telephone costs and frequent disruption due to broken links. Mailjol Unplugged will bring down these costs as one types the mail offline and then sends it after going online. This entails spending minimum time on the Internet to send messages. The software is also compatible with LEAP -- a desktop publishing system for Indian languages that was developed by Mithi for the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). C-DAC's former director Vijay Bhatkar, who released Mailjol Unplugged, said Indian language software was all the more important with computers being taught in various vernacular medium schools. "We are talking about Indian language keyboards and also stressing on people learning Indian languages apart from English. Products like these will really shine there," he said. An additional feature offered is the onscreen keyboard and typing assistance for all languages. Beginners can write messages by clicking on the characters displayed in the onscreen keyboard. The English keyboard can also be used to write messages in Indian languages by typing the word (as it is spoken in that language) in English characters and the vernacular script automatically appears on the screen. --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Fri Feb 23 04:54:07 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id EAA67030; Fri, 23 Feb 2001 04:54:07 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA67001 for ; Fri, 23 Feb 2001 04:54:02 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.94]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Fri, 23 Feb 2001 00:18:53 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id AAA01954; Fri, 23 Feb 2001 00:28:57 +0530 From: FREDERICK NORONHA Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 00:18:03 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.1.99] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: bytes-admin@goacom.com Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: NEWS: Now e-mail in Indian languages from any account MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01022222481902.00699@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk Now e-mail in Indian languages from any account by V. Radhika, India Abroad News Service Pune, Feb 21 - A few months after launching the first e-mail service in Indian languages, Mithi Software Technologies has developed software which enables users to send and receive mail in English and 11 Indian languages through any e-mail account, for instance Yahoo or Hotmail. Priced at Rs. 1,500 the software called Mailjol Unplugged can be installed on a personal computer and works both as stand alone e-mail software as well as a companion to existing e-mail software. It also eliminates the need to stay connected to the Web while checking one's mail, similar to the popular desktop e-mail software for English like Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger and Eudora. This reduces telephone charges and also lowers the usage of Internet time, Mithi's chief executive officer Tarun Malviya said. Mailjol Unplugged is also the first commercial product of Mithi and the company has already tied up with Aptech and Chitralekha magazine, which is published in Gujarati and Marathi. Talks are also on with HCL, VSNL and Intel. A free version of Mailjol Unplugged, which is available at mailjol.com and can be used for 30 days, has been offered to dealers and distributors and 30,000 people have downloaded it, said Malviya. According to him, the software aims to cut down the cost of sending mail in Indian languages. Even though there are some free e-mail services in Indian languages (including Mithi's own mailjol.com), frequent users find the cost of accessing even a free site expensive. This software, he said, aims to cut down the cost of sending e-mail in Indian languages for frequent users. Despite the expansion of the Web world, Internet connectivity and bandwidth has not kept pace with the growing demand and users frequently complain of high telephone costs and frequent disruption due to broken links. Mailjol Unplugged will bring down these costs as one types the mail offline and then sends it after going online. This entails spending minimum time on the Internet to send messages. The software is also compatible with LEAP -- a desktop publishing system for Indian languages that was developed by Mithi for the Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). C-DAC's former director Vijay Bhatkar, who released Mailjol Unplugged, said Indian language software was all the more important with computers being taught in various vernacular medium schools. "We are talking about Indian language keyboards and also stressing on people learning Indian languages apart from English. Products like these will really shine there," he said. An additional feature offered is the onscreen keyboard and typing assistance for all languages. Beginners can write messages by clicking on the characters displayed in the onscreen keyboard. The English keyboard can also be used to write messages in Indian languages by typing the word (as it is spoken in that language) in English characters and the vernacular script automatically appears on the screen. --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 24 12:40:42 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA80463; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 12:40:41 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA80452 for ; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 12:40:38 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.129]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Sat, 24 Feb 2001 08:05:29 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id BAA00773; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 01:02:05 +0530 From: FREDERICK NORONHA Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 00:05:26 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.1.99] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: Cybercom Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: NEWS: IT and SMEs, Lexsite in Bangalore (2 REPORTS) MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01022400052605.00716@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk IT-SMEs IT yet to catch up with India's small sector enterprises, says study by Sumeet Chatterjee, India Abroad News service New Delhi, Feb 22 - Despite the information technology (IT) boom and the turbo-charged financial growth maintained by the software service heavyweights in India, the usage of IT by the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has recorded only a modest growth over the past year. According to a survey conducted by industry lobby group the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), covering responses from SMEs members from all over the country, 33 percent of the respondents described the degree of IT usage in the company as marginal, against 28 percent in 1999. "While 28 percent respondents described the degree of IT usage as good, up from 20 percent in 1999, 28 percent respondents termed IT usage as adequate in 2000, against 34 percent," a press statement issued by CII said here Thursday. The percentage of respondents who described IT usage in their firms as excellent has gone up marginally to seven percent in 2000, against five percent in 1999. The respondents cited faster execution, better customer service, cot savings, increased productivity, improved quality and better relationship with partners as the main benefits that accrue to companies from IT usage, the survey said. "The lower than expected usage of IT as a tool to increase productivity and cut production cost clearly highlights the fact that the IT sector in the country hasn't been broad-based and only selected sectors have benefited from this," an IT industry analyst said. The high cost of IT applications and poor infrastructure in small towns creates major roadblock for the greater usage of IT enabled services in India, the analyst added. The number of SMEs who were not using IT at all in their companies has, however, declined considerably from 11 percent to four percent, the survey said. "Seven percent of the respondents cited the usage of Internet as excellent, 22 percent rated it as good, 27 percent rated Internet usage in their organization as adequate, 39 percent as marginal while five percent of the respondents were not using Internet at all," the CII survey said. The surveyed SMEs cited product display and description of product usage as the most frequent use of their Web site. "Selling, advertising, data collection, data transfer and training are some of the other purposes for developing and maintaining the company Web site," it said. A whopping 62 percent of respondents were not satisfied with the return on investment from the Web site, while 31 percent stated they were satisfied with the return on investment and seven percent said they realized more return on investment from the Web site than their expectations. Accounting and inventory management are the two areas where e-commerce is currently being used in the SME sector. "Over the next two years, the sales function, customer support and after sales service will be the focus of e-commerce in SME organization," the survey said. -- India Abroad News Service India-IT-LexSite LexSite sets up office in Bangalore by Deepshikha Ghosh, India Abroad News Service New Delhi, Feb 22 - LexSite.com, a Web site offering legal and taxation information, has opened an office in Bangalore and tied up with a Delhi-based offline sales firm to increase its subscriber base and market penetration. "The use of our on-line information resource on legal and tax issues is on the rise from better connected cities such as Bangalore and Delhi, creating the need for direct customer contact", said LexSite.com CEO Ananth Nayak in a press release Thursday. The Web site has also signed up with Andromeda, an offline direct sales firm in Delhi. Nayak said that apart from assisting business development, LexSite would be able to liaise directly with its customers and provide better offline support more easily. One of the earliest online properties to be launched and to receive funding in India, LexSite specializes in information and analyses on indirect tax, corporate law, direct tax and foreign exchange laws. It has also increased its offerings to legal matters of individual interest like drafting of wills, marriage laws, common draft deeds and agreements. The site, which has received investments from Draper, SIDBI and ICICI, offers online tax calculators and search for lawyers countrywide and recruitment opportunities. -- India Abroad News Servi From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 24 12:40:43 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA80474; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 12:40:42 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA80456 for ; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 12:40:39 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.129]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Sat, 24 Feb 2001 08:05:26 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id BAA00767; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 01:02:05 +0530 From: FREDERICK NORONHA Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 00:00:59 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.1.99] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Cc: Cybercom Subject: NEWS: Hyderabad experts to help build Iran's Internet city MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01022400005903.00716@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk IT-Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad experts to help build Iran's Internet city by Mohammed Shafeeq, India Abroad News Service Hyderabad, Feb 23 - Software exporters from Hyderabad will soon be sent to Iran to help build and develop a proposed Internet city in Tehran and to develop that country's software industry. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) to this effect has been signed between the Hyderabad Software Exporters Association (HYSEA) and the Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO). HYSEA is an association of software exporters based at Hyderabad and IDRO an umbrella organization of 128 companies in Iran. "The cooperation with Iran will throw open the vast market in the Middle East for Indian IT companies," J.N. Chowdary, HYSEA president, told reporters here after signing the pact with IDRO vice president Asghar Ebrahimi. Chowdary said the HYSEA was exploring markets to eliminate any kind of risk in view of the slowdown in U.S economy, adding that the HYSEA had recently opened its office in Japan and would be signing two more MOUs with the Singapore Chinese Industry Association and Malaysian Multimedia Corporation soon. Ebrahimi said the IDRO was mainly involved with automobile and ship manufacturing, design and development of refineries and petrochemicals. He said the IDRO was in the process of reducing its dependency on oil, gas and other natural resources and focusing on using human resources. Under the HYSE-IRDO pact, Hyderabad-based software companies will also be invited to set up their units at the proposed Internet city, which will come on 125 acres of land. Initially the city will have 50 units, both domestic and foreign. The MoU will facilitate joint ventures between software companies of India and Iran. To begin with, HYSEA member Infokall has signed a MoU with Iran's Info-Tech Development Company (IIDCO), owned by IDRO. The two will set up a joint venture to explore software development opportunities in Iran. IIDCO will have 60 percent equity in the joint venture. V. Suresh Kumar, director of Infokall, and S.M. Banihashemi, managing director of IIDCO, signed the MoU in Chowdary and Iranian consul general in Hyderabad Ali Ghomi's presence. Iran has 1,000 software companies and its software industry is estimated to be worth $100 million. IDRO, which has a turnover of $3 billion, is now moving into IT, biotechnology and other high technology areas and contributes 25 percent of Iran's industrial GDP. It employs about 100,000 people. Many Iranian software professionals settled in the United States and other countries have expressed their willingness to come back and set up their companies inside the Internet city. -India Abroad News Servic From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 24 12:40:50 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id MAA80530; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 12:40:49 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id MAA80519 for ; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 12:40:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.129]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Sat, 24 Feb 2001 08:05:38 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id BAA00782; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 01:02:06 +0530 From: FREDERICK NORONHA Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 00:09:47 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.1.99] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net, Cybercom Cc: gii Subject: NEWS: Business interests scuttling Sankhya Vahini: Arunachalam MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <01022400094708.00716@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk IT-Sankhya Vahini Business interests scuttling Sankhya Vahini: Arunachalam By Aziz Haniffa, India Abroad News Service Atlanta (Georgia), Feb 22 - V. S. Arunachalam, former principal scientific advisor to the Indian government, has alleged that continuing attempts to scuttle the $250 million Sankhya Vahini project was a conspiracy by leading vested business interests in India. But Arunachalam vowed to press on with the project -- a collaboration between the Carnegie Mellon University and the Indian government on networking educational institutions -- because he had the complete backing of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and other key government members. Arunachalam and Raj Reddy, also of Carnegie Mellon University, prepared the first draft of their proposal for a national high-speed inter-university data network, to be called Sankhya Vahini (data carriers), for India in 1998. Though the information technology task force of the Indian government approved the proposal in principle and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed, the project has since run into controversy on procedural and national security grounds. Arunachalam alleged at a meet here that some vested interests had asked, "How much would it take for you to just go back. Don't do this project. We will do it our style. The country doesn't need bandwidth. We got a lot of indigenous people, why are you coming?" Arunachalam, who is currently distinguished service professor of engineering and public policy, materials science and engineering at Carnegie Mellon, was speaking at the Indian Professional Network (IPN) of Georgia, comprising mainly high tech entrepreneurs and information technology (IT) specialists. "Essentially, it is two, three companies having all the monopolies and who are wanting to do this," Arunachalam said, adding that one company, which he refused to name, "that has laid a few hundred kilometers of fiber, their main job is to ensure that no other person comes in here, and this is true of communication, this is true of electric power." Arunachalam said there was absolutely no credibility to the fears these vested interests have fueled. Arunachalam said he and Raj Reddy, who heads up the university's robotics institute and has been a pioneer of artificial intelligence, had mooted the project in 1997 solely on the urging of Singh who was on the information technology task force and implored them to help India to set up its communications infrastructure "without sitting in America." He said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu had also been part of the campaign to solicit the expertise and the resources of Carnegie Mellon. After a discussion with Singh, "because I had previous experience of writing Sanskrit names like Agni, Prithvi and so on and so forth, I told him I'll give a nice Sankrit name this time too, Sankhya Vahini," Arunachalam said. He emphasized that Singh had been told "we do not want anything but will use India's fiber and make it fast and put it in," and that the Government of India would have the majority stake with 51 percent and Carnegie Mellon would form a company for 49 percent. Arunachalam, who is president of company IUNet, Inc., a subsidiary of Carnegie Mellon University, said, "I also insisted that Indian universities should be involved -- IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) of Bombay, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT Madras." "We said we will bring not only the technology, we will bring cash, (and) we will raise the equity of $250 million," he added. But he said as soon as the cabinet approved it, "and I must say the prime minister understood it -- all hell broke loose." Arunachalam said he and Reddy were accused of being front-men for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) "and that Carnegie Mellon, because one former CIA worker was an adjunct professor or something--is a den of CIA agents." Arunachalam said these vested interests were not reassured even when he and Reddy had argued that "it is going to be an Indian company and Indian engineers would be designing the network with us." He lamented that today, when India should be having 40 gigabits, "I am still waiting for the public interest litigation to be over." "But I have not given up and we will go ahead and fight to see that the country gets the bandwidth and I still feel confident that we will pull it through. We have invested two full years of our lives on this project," he said. Arunachalam claimed that the fight has already cost Carnegie Mellon $1.5 million and the irony of it was that "we fought against going to another country that wanted this kind of network." He was full of praise for the prime minister, who he acknowledged, "defended me beautifully. It's not ordinary. I mean he came out very strongly in (my) defense." Arunachalam, who has also won a slew of civilian awards in India, including the Padma Vibhushan, the Padma Bhushan and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Engineering Sciences, acknowledged that if something like this could happen to a person like him who worked for the government for over 30 years and has so much clout and influence in New Delhi, be accused of being a CIA agent, "imagine an innocent Indian from the United States wanting to invest." --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 24 13:47:14 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id NAA91011; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 13:47:14 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (post.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA91002 for ; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 13:47:08 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.103]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id IAA27563 for ; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 08:59:45 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 08:48:01 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: BBC Debate: "Can Pakistan rival India as an internet nation?" Message-ID: <3A977542.12184.7D70B0@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [Though the title is a bit catchy, the questions raised are quite pertinent. Give your opinions at: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_point/debates/south_asian /newsid_1185000/1185953.stm please note that the above mentioned URL may have appeared in two lines. to have a working URL join both lines, with no spaces in between. ik] You are in: Talking Point: Debates: South Asian In Pakistan, less than 1% of the population is connected to the internet, despite a concerted government effort. Six months ago, Pakistan connected almost 100 cities to the internet as part of a new information and technology policy. The move was meant to bring the country into the IT age, after lagging behind the software success of neighbouring India. Pakistani officials admit that the country is trying to make up for lost time. But can it ever catch up? Is it an unrealistic dream or an important step towards regenerating the Pakistan economy? A World Today debate on this subject will be broadcast on BBC World Service Radio on Thursday 1st March at 0045 and 0245 GMT. A selection of your emails will be read out during the debate and daily on the programme leading up to the debate at 0040GMT and 0240 GMT. ------------------------------------------------------------ From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Sat Feb 24 14:45:21 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id OAA100099; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 14:45:20 +1000 (EST) Received: from server.super.net.pk (server.super.net.pk [203.130.2.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA100061 for ; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 14:45:09 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.103]) by server.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1NNlIt01123 for ; Sat, 24 Feb 2001 04:47:41 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 09:49:20 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: From Digital Divide to Digital Opportunity Message-ID: <3A9783A0.31614.B59359@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk From Digital Divide to Digital Opportunity February 22, 2001 - Ross Shimmon, Secretary General of the International Association of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) looks in an article entitled "From Digital Divide to Digital Opportunity", which WebWorld publishes in its "Point of View "section, at possibilities to narrow the gap. "Libraries can play an important role in this area" Shimmon says. Read complete artcile at http://www.unesco.org/webworld/points_of_views/shimmon.shtml From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Mon Feb 26 05:02:43 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id FAA76211; Mon, 26 Feb 2001 05:02:43 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id FAA76192 for ; Mon, 26 Feb 2001 05:02:39 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.186]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Mon, 26 Feb 2001 00:27:23 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id AAA00933; Mon, 26 Feb 2001 00:38:12 +0530 From: FREDERICK NORONHA Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 23:26:21 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.1.99] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: Cybercom , gii Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: NEWS: Digital India takes lead in bridging IT industry, academia gap MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <0102252326210A.00694@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk IT-Education Digital India takes lead in bridging IT industry, academia gap by Imran Qureshi, India Abroad News Service Bangalore, Feb 25 - The first step towards bridging the wide gap between the expectations of the information technology (IT) industry and fresh engineering graduates appears to have concluded successfully through a training program for 44 engineering college teachers by software firm Digital India. In one of the few initiatives that the industry has taken to contribute to the growing global demand for India's intellectual capital, observers say teachers trained by Digital India can go forward and act as "ambassadors" to help the industry and academia network with each other. "Change in the IT industry is so rapid that colleges cannot keep pace either with the volume and quality. Rather than just crib about it, we thought of doing something about it. And the need is so large that all that we are doing is drops in the ocean, small dents that we are making. But, the job is much larger," Digital India CEO Som Mittal told IANS. The fortnight-long residential program is the first exercise in a multi-pronged approach to meet the challenge of a talent crunch in India's IT industry head on. The program, conceived by Digital India in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, and the Board for IT Education Standards (Bites), enjoys industry support. "The curriculum looks very good because it has been prepared by experts from the industry," says Bites director K.R.S. Murthy. Karnataka has increased the number of IT-related courses in its 82 engineering colleges, most of which are private institutions, as well as the number of seats by 2,040 in the year 2000. The faculty, however, is said to be out of sync with the needs of the industry. "Typically, a company would require to put students through 16 to 18 weeks of training. We need to bring the fresher on par with the industry requirement. To be honest, we are not even capturing this as an investment. It is actually like a running cost for us because every year. We need to put them through two to three weeks of training to scale up their skills to meet the fast changing developments in technology," Mittal said. "Nearly eight to 10 percent of our compensation of around Rs.5 billion goes into training. Except for the brief spell of training for the students of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), engineering college students need to go through a long haul before being put to productive use," Azim Premji, chairman of Indian software major Wipro, told reporters in an informal chat recently. The biggest impediment in enhancing the 50 plus percent growth of the industry has been trained human resource. "This is the first time we have been able to interact and understand the needs of the industry by directly talking to a CEO of an IT company. The syllabus is updated, but we have had no means of upgrading our knowledge base to teach the students. It is in this context this program should be made a continuous process, perhaps, every year or a semester," said T. Rangaswamy of the Malnad Engineering College. Out of the 44 faculty members attending the course, there were just two doctorate holders and about 20 with a master degree. The remaining held just bachelor's degree in their respective fields ranging from chemical engineering to metallurgy or mechanical engineering or technology. But, their teaching experience of a decade or so helps in such orientation courses. The teacher, as Prasad Hegde of the KLE College, Belgaum, puts it, has to upgrade his knowledge base through the Internet and libraries. "We are hoping to bring in technology and scale up so that teachers can keep pace with the fast developments that are taking place in the industry. The National Center for Software Technology (NCST), which has course material produced by experts, would be giving it to all the colleges. And, BITES will perform as an exchange house between the industry and academia," Murthy said. --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Tue Feb 27 08:55:16 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id IAA124827; Tue, 27 Feb 2001 08:55:16 +1000 (EST) Received: from im.eth.net (mail.uthplanet.com [202.9.136.18]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id IAA124808 for ; Tue, 27 Feb 2001 08:55:12 +1000 (EST) Received: from bytesforall.org ([61.11.9.8]) by im.eth.net with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.5.1877.117.11); Tue, 27 Feb 2001 04:19:56 +0530 Received: from bytesforall (IDENT:fred@bytesforall [127.0.0.1]) by bytesforall.org (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id BAA01346; Tue, 27 Feb 2001 01:06:37 +0530 From: FREDERICK NORONHA Reply-To: fred@bytesforall.org Organization: Freelance Journalist Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 00:32:13 +0530 X-Mailer: KMail [version 1.1.99] Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" To: Cybercom Cc: s-asia-it@apnic.net Subject: NEWS: With Internet, Indian food from hometown available globally MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <0102270032130K.00688@bytesforall> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk With Internet, Indian food from hometown available globally by Shyam Bhatia, India Abroad News Service London, Feb 26 - The magic of Indian cooking transcends political boundaries and is accessible from all parts of the globe a group of young backpacking English tourists have learned. Rachel Kerr was on holiday in Sydney, Australia, when she was hit by a craving for curry from her favorite Indian restaurant, the Rupali, in her hometown of Newcastle-upon Tyne. Taking advantage of the benefits of modern technology, she used the Internet to e-mail an order for takeaway curry and four days later received the meal in Sydney, Australia, more than 10,000 miles away. The e-mail was received by Newcastle-based Madaboutcurry.co.uk website director Rick McCordall who said, "I was gob smacked, absolutely stunned by the order. We get some really unusual requests on the website, but to actually get a curry order to the other side of the world - we just had to do it." He asked Bangladeshi chef to respond to Kerr's request for vegetable biryani, pappadums, naan (bread), pickles and rice. To comply with customs requirements the meal was meat free and frozen prior to being airlifted to Sydney. "My friend and I were laughing about how you can't get proper curry in Sydney," Kerr said. "We found a website and were joking around and said, 'Wouldn't it be funny if we e-mailed them and asked them to send us a proper curry.'" Fellow travelers from a nearby youth hostel are expected to share the curry feast once it has been defrosted in the microwave and served up piping hot. "It really should be eaten late at night when you've been out on the booze", delighted Kerr said. --India Abroad News Service From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 28 19:34:07 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id TAA71939; Wed, 28 Feb 2001 19:34:06 +1000 (EST) Received: from server.super.net.pk (server.super.net.pk [203.130.2.3]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA71919 for ; Wed, 28 Feb 2001 19:33:49 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.84]) by server.super.net.pk (8.10.0/8.10.0) with ESMTP id f1S4aFl30329 for ; Wed, 28 Feb 2001 09:36:18 +0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 14:38:44 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: China harnesses the Internet to reduce rural poverty Message-ID: <3A9D0D74.3441.C43936@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [something to learn from....] United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is joining with China's Ministry of Science and Technology in a $2.5 million pilot project to show how new information and communications technology (ICT) can be mobilized to reduce poverty in rural areas. The initiative aims to bridge the "digital divide" between urban and rural areas by setting up information and communication centres in five poor counties in different areas of the country with varying geographic, social and economic conditions. <...> read complete story at www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2001/february/23feb01/index.html From owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Wed Feb 28 20:28:38 2001 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id UAA80908; Wed, 28 Feb 2001 20:28:38 +1000 (EST) Received: from post.super.net.pk (post.super.net.pk [203.130.2.9]) by ns.apnic.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA80780 for ; Wed, 28 Feb 2001 20:27:46 +1000 (EST) Received: from excel586 ([203.130.7.84]) by post.super.net.pk (8.9.1/8.9.3) with ESMTP id PAA04713 for ; Wed, 28 Feb 2001 15:40:07 -0500 From: "Irfan Khan" To: s-asia-it@apnic.net Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 15:32:45 +0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: DEVELOPING WOMEN: HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP Message-ID: <3A9D1A1D.27179.F5AD3E@localhost> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.12c) Sender: owner-s-asia-it@lists.apnic.net Precedence: bulk [from ELDIS] DEVELOPING WOMEN: HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP Author(s): Goyal, A. Produced by: Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), (2000) In a model of household resource allocation and the labor market we show that equilibria satisfy static efficiency but are dynamically inefficient. A small difference in technology of production of the household good, or in preference for it, magnifies relative costs of external work for women. They devote more time to the production of the household good. But this choice lowers human capital embodied in women and changes the perceptions of women's abilities. Women are relegated to low productivity work in a self-reinforcing low-level trap that lowers their self-esteem. But modern information technologies (IT) make flexi-time, high paying, work at home feasible for women. They lower matching costs, compensating for lack of mobility. Women will more easily find jobs that match their preferences and attributes. Society will gain because dynamic inefficiencies will be removed but greater diversity preserved. Since entrenched perceptions take time to change special policies are required. . The author's model makes it possible to distinguish among the distortion that occur, and identify targeted policy interventions. There is evidence that the predictions of the model are being borne out in the use of IT. It was not the small difference in women's biology and preferences that harmed them as much as the absence of opportunities that matched these qualities. Technological change can, with a little help, remedy this. Since costs of mobility and potential contributions of women are particularly high in developing countries, developing women will hasten development [author] http://www.gdnet.org/files.fcgi/842_Ashima.pdf