SPEECH BY HER EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, SHRIMATI PRATIBHA DEVISINGH PATIL, AT THE LAUNCHING OF THE INDIA DEVELOPMENT GATEWAY WEB PORTAL (WWW.INDG.IN) AT VIGYAN BHAVAN

New Delhi, 4th July 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to be amidst you today, for the launch of the India Development Gateway portal, developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing - C-DAC. I understand that this portal has been designed to provide information to the rural community in the areas of agriculture, health, primary education, energy and e-governance.

I am glad that the India Development Gateway has a local language interface which will make it more useful for the rural users. The portal, presently available in six languages - Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali and English - should be further expanded to include other Indian languages for wider relevance and acceptance.

Our country today is in the process of transformation to a Knowledge Society. Information and Communication Technology - ICT, no doubt, has played a pivotal role in enabling this transformation. India relied on its talented work force to generate a knowledge revolution. ICT has had a positive influence in almost all spheres of our everyday life and the nation's economy at large. Our Business Process Outsourcing units have provided premier computer and IT enabled services to the developed countries at competitive costs. We also seek to take advantage of the Information Technology enabled services sector to promote growth in all sectors and to serve our development needs.

Access to information and knowledge is central to human development. Information enhances the ability to take informed decisions and makes citizens aware of their rights and responsibilities. Information about markets helps entrepreneurs in formulating strategies for commercial activities. Information about scientific and technological discoveries opens up possibilities of working with better techniques. Information about government policies in the fields of administration, commerce, education, finance and health enables individuals and communities to fully take advantage of public schemes and to be law abiding citizens. Information flows can be catalysts for social development and empowerment. Information can contribute to bringing about a transformed India.

India Development Gateway initiative has the potential to address the critical issue of bridging information gaps. I strongly believe that our endeavour should be to make information through knowledge portals available to all sectors of the economy and social life as well as to all sections of society. In the services sector, which constitutes about 55 percent of our GDP, knowledge tools are important determinants of efficiency and for providing quality services. Access to knowledge is equally critical for the growth of the manufacturing sector as well as the agricultural and its allied sectors. The benefits of ICT must also reach our villages, including the remote and far flung areas and be available to the rural population, especially women and the weaker sections. Technological interventions that are gender sensitive and link the weaker sections of society to the national mainstream are the need of the hour.

We, as a nation, are committed to achieve a high economic growth rate with an inclusive growth process. Various flagship programmes of the Government demonstrate this commitment. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme provides basic livelihood security to the households in rural areas of the country. The Bharat Nirman initiative is aimed at strengthening the country's rural infrastructure, which is crucial for unlocking the potential of our rural communities. Participation at the grassroots levels is an important factor for the successful implementation of any development programme. I have spoken earlier of Panchyats becoming "knowledge hubs" so that they can provide information of social, economic and government services to the people. This Gateway can link panchyats across the country.

The launch of the portal throws open a window of opportunity to the rural development sector as a whole, in which relevant and credible information specific to rural development has been put together. A space has been created in the virtual world, where knowledge and experience of various stakeholders transcend geographical distances to benefit the citizen at the last mile. It is important that these efforts continue for achieving the desired outcomes. A ground level challenge is the effective utilization of the India Development Gateway in five critical fields of - primary education, agriculture, rural energy, health and e-governance. These technologies should be user-friendly while at the same time should focus on enhancing ICT literacy and skills among the rural population. Training for proper utilization needs to be imparted to the users in the villages, manpower deployed for familiarizing them with the system and necessary physical infrastructure installed.

India seeks to achieve the universalisation of primary education. As the vibrancy of India in the future is dependent on our children, we have the responsibility of providing sustained access to quality education to our children, whether they are from the cities or the villages. The power of ICT would be a strong proponent to attract children to schools and enhance their learning process.

Agriculture needs information pertaining to agro-credit, crop insurance, seed and fertilizer availability, weather, market and rural employment among others. The Indian farming community must be empowered by providing access to knowledge resources in these fields. The Green Revolution is an encouraging example of how knowledge inputs in terms of agricultural practices, improved seed usage and better fertilizers changed the landscape of the nation. It also is a lesson that we cannot be stagnant and that we would need to constantly upgrade our agricultural productivity. ICT can and must contribute to bringing about a second Green Revolution in the country, for which innovative steps have to be initiated.

Energy occupies the centre stage in almost all our daily activities and it will be important to provide energy access to our people. However, equally important is to make our villages self sustained communities who adopt energy conservation and energy efficiency measures as well as look at enhanced production from renewable energy sources. This portal must help them in this.

In the health sector, the portal should provide reliable information on various national and state level schemes along with a database consisting of the addresses of the health centres. It should also have medical tips on nutrition and hygiene, women and child healthcare, common diseases, public health and first aid. All this is important for our villages as medical services are limited there.

True to its nomenclature, the India Development Gateway should realize its potential to be the portal through which a citizen enters to gain knowledge of different services, products and information related to different schemes meant for his or her welfare. Awareness is basic for the availing of opportunities that exist, it helps in reaching the benefits of Government schemes to those for whom it is intended and, in this way, can improve delivery mechanisms as well bring about transparency in functioning which helps in preventing corruption. I expect that the portal will also cover major sectors related to agro-business and rural livelihoods, giving rural communities information about income generation options and bringing smiles on the faces in rural India. I also strongly suggest that public education on social evils like child marriage, female feoticide be undertaken. It is necessary to educate people on the harmful effects of alcohol, drugs and intoxicating materials on the body and how to keep away from these. It is common knowledge that addiction is spoiling our people, including the youth and also destroying family life. They should also be educated on civic duties and how to be good citizens.

I understand that for this project, the core competencies of various institutions inclusive of rural communities have been synergized to deliver the best knowledge products. This should make the contents relevant and interesting. The programme can derive further strength in connecting itself to the grassroots, particularly with women, through outreach activities in association with NGO partners.

I would like to congratulate the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. C-DAC and their partners who have been instrumental in the development of the India Development Gateway portal and wish them all success in their future endeavours to create service oriented and people friendly ICT services for the development of the nation.

Thank you

Jai Hind.

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