To streamline the process of issuing driving licenses in the state, the Government of Nagaland has launched Vahan and Sarathi software Scosta, the smart card operating system for transport application. Vahan software is for registration where as Sarathi was for issuing of driving licenses.
The Finance Minister of India P Chidambaram stated that biometric Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards will be introduced to the income tax payers of the country. In the first phase, these will be issued to new applicants.
In order to check national Electronic Identity (eID), the European Commission launched a pilot project
The Government of India has asked private organisations specifically the ICT industry to establish BPOs and call centres in rural areas. While addressing a gathering of dignitaries at the VARIndia IT Forum 2008, Chandra Sekhar Sahu, Minister of Rural Development stated that the growth of India can be achieved if government is able to offer employment to the youth in the rural areas, which comprises 70 % of the population.
Journalists have been issued new electronic press accreditation cards by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of India. These new tamper proof electronic cards have security features like electronic signature of PIB and Home Ministry officials and are valid for two years.
“Financial Inclusion is in its infancy and requires careful adoption of technology. The customer
In Ghana, the National Switch and Smartcard Payment System, which link the payment system for licensed banks and non-bank financial institutions in the country launched in the country. e-Zwich operates under the new Universal Electronic Payments (UEPS) technology.
[This article was published in the April 2008 issue of the eGov Magazine (http://www.egovonline.net) ]
Lessons learnt
It has been deliberated and discussed, in detail, in the recently concluded 8th Annual Baramati Initiative, on the importance of reaching the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in India, especially to the areas that are normally out of reach, where the interventions of tele-Education, tele-Medicine and tele-Governance, in addition to a plethora of innovative services such as smart card accessing, simputering and mobile banking, can be made possible.
[This article was published in the April 2008 issue of the eGov Magazine (http://www.egovonline.net) ]
Background
Estonia is internationally renowned for being a pioneer in the adaptation to new banking technologies. Estonia is currently belonging to the country group of medium Internet penetration on the global scale outnumbering its Baltic neighbours and Eastern-European countries but being somewhat behind from the Scandinavian countries, USA, Canada, leading European countries and some Asian countries.
Qatar government to issue smart identity cards to the residents either later this year or in early 2009. These cards would enable the residents to apply for work permits online.
