e-Governance key to Right to Public Services for citizens

New Delhi September 2, 2011-Defending the pressing need of citizens to efficient public services, Mr. Shankar Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Department of Information Technology said that-e-Governance will play a significant role in citizens getting the services without any intermediaries.He expects a set of initiatives rolled out by the government to make-e-Governance a reality to start falling in place beginning next year. These include setting up of the 100,000th common service centre, making all State Wide Area Networks and electronic service delivery gateways operational and application roll out.

Mr Aggarwal his keynote address at the Telecom Special Interest Group session of the Delhi-NCR chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) indicated that a bill to legislate the delivery of all government services in electronic mode in the next five years is likely to be introduced in the next session of Parliament.



The official who is driving the e-Governance efforts of the Government added that for m-Governance initiative to take off the Department of Information Technology will soon mandate mobile device makers to enable with Hindi and one more regional language on the mobile phones. This step will allow mobile devices to deliver a variety of services in their local language—hitherto a common complaint against mobile makers. Mr Aggarwal shared that Goa has already launched a dozen government services on mobiles.
In a bid to encourage small entrepreneurs to participate in tenders for e-Governance and m-Governance, he told the TiE conference attendees that the department will soon be issuing model RFPs mandating 20% of the tenders be reserved for small entrepreneurs.

Opening the first session of the TiE Special Interest Group (SIG) on Telecom, army officer turned entrepreneur Col. H.S. Bedi of Tulip Telecom and Chairman of TiE SIG on Telecom said that vast opportunities lie ahead of entrepreneurs willing to look beyond the commoditized business. Col. Bedi added that the entrepreneurs are likely to make more money by finding innovative solutions in niche pockets of opportunity.

With government plans to take broadband fibre to villages with population of 500 people, entrepreneurs will have enough opportunities in making these facilities in the rural space, Col. Bedi added.

Dwelling on the flagship annual event of Entrepreneurs—TiECon Delhi 2011, Ms. Geetika Dayal, Executive Director, TiE Delhi-NCR said, “Innovative sessions planned for TiECon Delhi 2011 include a deal flow session where shortlisted entrepreneurs will get a chance to pitch their plans to over 50+ renowned national and international investors.”

Bobby Bedi, Kaleidoscope Entertainment, Abhishek Sinha, eko India Financial Services led the discussions on opportunities, challenges and innovations needed in the industry.As part of TiE Institute, the Telecom SIG will also facilitate mentoring for start-ups and emerging companies, while building bridges with investors leading to businesses that can scale up quickly.
The panelists include Mr. Ankur Lal, Infozech Software; Mr. Ajoy Khanderia, GAP VC; Mr. Satya N Gupta, BT Global; Mr Kunal Bajaj, Analysys Mason; Mr. Arvind Jha, Lava International and Movico Technologies; Mr. Raj Singh, 2ergo India; Mr. Siddharth Sahi, Bubble Motion; Mr. Abhijit Bhattacharjee, Luna Ergonomics; Mr. Sanjay Diwan, IMI Mobile; Mr. Rahul Khanna, Canaan Partners; Mr. Mukul Singhal, SAIF Partners and Mr. Kiran Vasireddy, One97.

About The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE)

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) is the world’s largest organization dedicated to the advancement of entrepreneurship. TiE was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals with roots in the Indus region.

There are currently over 15,000 members and more than 2,500 charter members in 57 chapters across 14 countries. TiE’s mission is to foster entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking, and education. Dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community, TiE’s focus is on nurturing our next generation of entrepreneurs
TiE members include senior and successful Entrepreneurs, VCs, Angel Investors, Private Equity, and Law Firms, Tech and Management professionals, SME’s, aspiring entrepreneurs and students.