All village panchayats to have broadband by 2012

[Avnish Jolly]

All village panchayats to have broadband by 2012
http://igovernment.in/site/all-village-panchayats-have-broadband-2012-39059

The network will be provided by the government and it will be the
responsibility of village panchayats to run, maintain and properly
utilise it

Published on 01/07/2011

New Delhi: All 250,000 village panchayats in the country will be
connected with broadband by mid-2012 under a US $4 billion project to
take the benefits of technology to the poor, tech evangelist Sam
Pitroda said on Friday.

"I can assure you that in 18 months every village panchayat will have
broadband. It will significantly change the way we deal with people in
villages," Pitroda, who also serves as the Prime Minister's Advisor on
Innovation, told a diaspora convention here, reports IANS.

The network will be provided by the federal government and it will be
the responsibility of village panchayats to run, maintain and properly
utilise it, he said. "Each panchayat will employ two people. They will
be paid by the panchayats."

Some 100,000 village panchayats already have broadband connectivity in
India that not only ensures faster communications but also allows
applications like tele-medicine, timely weather forecasts and remote
consultations on crops, soil, nutrients and marketin