IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

They discussed about digital signature, digital certificate and public-key infrastructure (PKI) which are key elements for promoting e-procurement, e-transaction, e-commerce, online income tax return and confidential data transfer.

Controller of Certifying Authority arranged the workshop on e-Governance and Digital Signiture at the auditorium of Bangladesh Computer Council on Monday. The workshop was divided into two parts-inaugural and technical.

Bangladeshi ICT entrepreneurs Saturday sought training and business supports from their Indian counterparts for the betterment of the sector in Bangladesh.

They stressed the need for cooperation from the entrepreneurs of the neighbouring country, which is leading the ICT business globally, at a seminar on “ICT Development in Bangladesh: Opportunities and Challenges” in Dhaka.

The State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak has said that the implementation of e-government has revolutionized the country.

He said 52,000 websites, 7 million free text subscriptions in Corona, digital education platform, more than 1.3 million dependable export earnings, 333, 999 BD police, virtual courts, 4 crore e-documents, and 8,000 docs, including use of e-office management system in Corona. Through the Prime Minister’s participation in the meeting of the Cabinet ECNEC, etc., all e-government has been made possible.

Internet is an amazing technological innovation that has revolutionised the entire range of economic, social and personal interactions. Internet merges notable features of traditional media like broadcasting and telecommunications. Internet has removed the barriers to information access and communication in ways that has never been experienced before in human history.

Internet is a uniquely universal platform that uses the same standards in every country. Every user can interact with every other user regardless of geographic location. Open access to the Internet has revolutionised lifestyles. Economic impact made by the Internet over the past decades has been quite massive. Research by the World Bank in 2009 found that for every 10 percentage point increase in the number of high-speed internet connections in developing countries, there was an increase of 1.3 percentage points in economic growth.

They also urged their Indian counterparts to assist Bangladesh in winning a larger share of the global IT business.

Bangladesh has a huge shortage of skilled IT professionals as the educational institutions in the country cannot produce the expected number of skilled people, said Mustafa Jabbar, president of Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS), the national association of ICT companies.

Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh ITO Naoki said that his country was keen to work together with Bangladesh to develop smart city.

‘We are contributing in many areas including infrastructure development in Bangladesh and Japan is now interested to develop smart city,’ he said during a bilateral meeting with state minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak at the latter’s office at ICT Division in Dhaka on Sunday.

South Korea is ready to support new areas of cooperation to help Bangladesh become a developed country by 2041.

Interacting with journalists on Tuesday, Joe Hyun-Gue Country Director of South Korea’s development agency, KOICA, said Bangladesh was a “priority” country when it came to development cooperation.

Dr Imran is one of the leaders of a project to build e-government capacity and knowledge in Bangladesh.

The project team has developed a five-year e-government strategy for Bangladesh. They have also produced an e-government management handbook for government officials, delivered training to more than 100 high-ranking and mid-ranking officials and developed a rigorous curriculum for e-government management to be run at Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC). The group is also developing a text book that will be first of its kind for developing countries.

Planning Minister MA Mannan on Monday underscored the need for more research data so that the government can make better decisions.

He came up with the comments while addressing a workshop titled ‘Innovations in Public Service Delivery’ held at the BRAC Centre Inn in the capital.

Massive steps have been adopted for building smart Rajshahi as part of the government efforts of building Smart Bangladesh envisioned by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by 2041.

To this end, Rajshahi City Corporation (RCC) has already signed a bilateral memorandum of understanding with A2I of the Information and Communication Technology Division.

As part of the government's vision 2041, a master plan has been jointly developed by the Urban Development Directorate, BRAC’s urban development programme, and Gaibandha municipality to transform Gaibandha town into a model city.

To mark World Cities Day, which has been observed on 31 October since 2014, the master plan was unveiled at a round table discussion on 'Financing Inclusive Urban Planning and Development', and an exhibition at the BRAC Centre in the capital on Wednesday, read a press release.

The prime need for making the government truly efficient and proactive is to ensure an optimum use of information and communication technology (ICT) in governance matters and service delivery at all levels. The policymakers do also appreciate this need. They are pledge-bound to transform Bangladesh into a digital one by the year 2021; they have already initiated a host of actions, including the preparation of an e-Government Master Plan, keeping this pledge in mind. This plan has been designed to cover proper digitisation of 52 ministries and divisions and 68 public sector departments and organisations. Enhancing the capacity of the government officials is the primary goal of the Master Plan, being drawn up with grant support of the Korean International Cooperation Agency (Koica). Here capacity-building is purported to ensuring better delivery of public services at a fast pace.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday approved a Tk 1,333 crore project to bring 17,500 government offices at the district and upazila levels under an ICT network.

China will provide Tk 1,087 crore in loans for the project, titled “National ICT Infra-Network for Bangladesh Government Phase-II”, according to a planning ministry statement.

The government should undertake an initiative to formulate a national e-Commerce policy, which is a must to flourish the business across country.

Speakers came up with the observation at an e-Commerce policy conference held at Radisson Blu Water Garden hotel in the capital.

They have also underscored the need for removing all the identified obstacles to flourish e-commerce across the country.

The move came as part of the government efforts to develop around 25,000 web portals for government offices to provide e-services and introduce digital signature, said a top official of the ICT ministry.

He said a firm legal framework and a dependable technical structure are necessary as per the ICT Act-2006 and the ICT-2009 that have allowed introduction of digital signature for e-service delivery.

In the age of globalisation, the modes and methods of communication are spreading enormously day by day. Among these various types and methods, internet is a glorious example of the modern communication. Most people take the positives from it but there may be some equipped to use this dynamic means of communication for ulterior purposes. Consequently, some people may suffer and there may be noise and chaos in the society. To address this, there should be realistic policies that the state can enforce to control and regulate such disorder.

The government plans to deliver all digital services through mobile phone by 2021, but in reality, they have increased customs duty on mobile handsets in the four consecutive fiscal years including the proposed budget for 2017-18.

According to the country's seventh five-year plan, all e-governance services will be available on mobile platform. Finance Minister AMA Muhith in his budget presentation also reiterated the government's importance on digitisation.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday inaugurated a state police-citizen portal, enabling tech-savvy people to send their complaints online to the authorities.

“Through the portal, a citizen sitting at home can avail a number of services at a click of the mouse. There is no need to go to any police station,” the chief minister said.

All the 531 police stations in the state have been linked through the online portal www.citizenportal-op.gov.in.

The government move to digitalise policing initially with online general diary has failed to make an impression as most people are unaware of it even a year after its launch.

Most people, who have recently visited police stations to file GDs for snatching, lost documents or other reasons, were found scratching their heads when asked why they did not go for online GDs.

In most cases it turned out that they have never heard of it.