IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

The Election Commission (EC) will hand over smart National Identity (NID) cards to 96.2 million voters by June next year.

"We are working with an objective of giving smartcards to voters on the Independence Day on March 26 (2016). If we fail, we will at least start distribution of smartcards on that day by handing over symbolic cards," Secretary of EC Secretariat M Sirajul Islam told BSS.

EC earlier signed a contract with a French company for manufacturing and distributing nine crore smartcards.

The volume of e-commerce business will get bigger in near future as the use of smartphones marked a rise in recent times, while the much-talked-about 3G technology is just in the offing, analysts said yesterday.

But they said higher transaction fees and a lack of security may discourage customers from using the e-payment methods.

In an unprecedented move, the parliamentary standing committee on housing and public works ministry has directly recommended a major development project—to build an offshore smart city claiming land from the Bay of Bengal—directly to the prime minister.

The offshore smart city project involves the development of a seaside bayview smart city on a stretch of 60 square kilometres of land connecting Sagarika Point of the Patenga Beach with the Bangabandhu Shilpa Nagar in Mirsarai. A consortium of two local companies—The Peninsula Chittagong and Mazumder Enterprise—and two Chinese companies— China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and China Railway Design Corporation (CRDC)—are pushing for the approval of this project. In return for stake in the smart city, the consortium has also proposed to build a 20.5-kilometre metro rail line in the port city, which would cost about USD 2.2 billion.

Things have changed a lot in Bangladesh in the last two decades. Bangladesh is now experiencing high-speed ICT development and the changes in the ICT sector are remarkable.

Here we are having a number of digital inclusions like picking a ride within a minute just by tapping our phone. We can buy gadgets, lifestyle products or even order pizza online while sitting on our cozy couch in between watching movies.

The study also finds that the income of a household has a strong and significant impact on the household’s digital access, skills, and literacy

A recent survey has revealed that about half of all rural households in Bangladesh do not have access to a computer or the internet.

Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Financial Institutions Division and the Prime Minister’s Office has been using Boithok partly for their virtual meetings

Highlights

• On 23 April State-Minister of ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak first disclosed Boithok
• Currently, only public organisations can use it
• It can host maximum 60 participants in a meeting
• It cannot host more than 30-35 meetings simultaneously
• The developers now working to increase the number of meetings and participants

When information and communications technology (ICT) has made inroads into almost every sphere of human activity, governance cannot be an exception. However, unlike in the sphere of trade and commerce, the challenges of digital governance do not lie simply in storing and transmitting data generated from day-to-day office work digitally. The real challenge is bringing about changes in the age-old work culture of the humongous bureaucracy. This is because, with digitisation, information not only can pass instantly within the government offices, it also becomes accessible just with a keystroke by clients seeking service from the government. This is about openness, which comes up against the long-nurtured mindset of guardedness about official information. Even so, given the political will to effect the necessary changes is there, it will not be a big deal to get around the remaining inertia in the administrative-work culture. The good news is that the government has meanwhile made much headway in this direction. Thus the progress made over the past years in digital government has been duly recognised by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) as it has ranked Bangladesh 119th among 193 nations. The ranking is the outcome of the surveys the UN body carries out every two years. The grading has been done in the shape of E-Governance Development Index (EGDI), which reflects the modest progress Bangladesh has made over the past years in e-governance through its initiatives to increase efficiency and capacity in the area of delivering public service.

We need to outwit the graft-taker, outsmart him. In fact, we should try to be one step ahead of him so we can beat him in his own game! The reason why I am suggesting such an unconventional, even a little surrealistic method is simple and easy to understand.

A little realised rule of thumb is making a cake-walk into our society: “If you can't resist or overpower the corrupt, join him.” In other words, give in to his pressure for bribe, otherwise your file will not move from his desk.

Equipped with IP cameras and GPS Tracker, 10 school buses start their journey on the city streets on Monday

Upon boarding a smart school bus, students will now need to tap their smart cards, which will instantly alert their parents of their whereabouts and boarding time. Similarly, as the students get down, another message will be sent, informing guardians of their children's drop-off location and time.

Citizen’s Voice (Nagorikkontho.org) is one such project which has been launched by Population Services and Training Center (PSTC) to empower Bangladeshi public by having their voices heard, especially regarding feedback on public services. The platform supports both Bangla and English language to make it versatile for all the users and all the technology platforms (mobile texting sill do not support Bangla font).

Civil Aviation authority is going to introduce electronic-Government Procurement (e-GP) to ease tendering process for the acquisition of goods, works and consultancy services with enhanced efficiency in procurement management, reports BSS. "Activities of the first phase of the e-GP system will begin on July 1.

"To achieve economic improvement by removing all these constraints the government has taken the plan to digitalise the country by 2021," a senior official of the ministry of information and communication technology (MICT) told the FE.

Industry insiders said it is a 'breakthrough' for the ICT (information communication technology) sector development which has been facing problems for long due to dependence on the lone submarine cable -- SEA-ME-WE-4.

The Central Procurement Technical Unit (CPTU) plans to expand its structure to cover all the regulatory functions of National e-Government Procurement (e-GP) in the country, reports UNB.

"As per the current structure, CPTU is a wing of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED). Considering huge upcoming activities of CPTU, plan to restructure it is justified," said CPTU Director General (DG) Md Faruque Hossain.

They also urged the government to take steps to produce cheap smartphones for farmers so they can reap the benefit of advanced technologies.

They spoke at a roundtable on the application of ICT in the agriculture sector, at the office of the Prothom Alo, a Bangla daily, in the capital.

This will not only build greater synergies in information technology between the two countries but also create more near-shore outsourcing opportunities.

Bangladesh’s IT export revenues stood at around $250 million in 2013-14 against India’s $110 billion. The neighbouring country has seen its IT market registering a 100 per cent growth in the last fiscal. The buoyancy has been achieved largely on the back of start-up companies and the entrepreneurship-enabling environment.

Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has introduced a Smart Digital Graveyard System to facilitate people with a hassle-free burial process and trace their relatives' graves easily even after several years.

DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam on Thursday inaugurated the system at a function at Nagar Bhaban Auditorium in the city's Gulshan area, said a press release.

Aponjon, a mobile health messaging service for mothers and newborns, has launched two mobile phone apps for expectant mothers and adolescent girls to provide necessary health information services, ensuring healthy life.

The two mobile phone apps -- Aponjon Shogorbha and Aponjon Koishor -- have been developed to meet health needs of expectant mothers and adolescent girls, said Chief Executive Officer of D.net Dr Ananya Raihan at the launching function at Spectra Convention Centre in the capital on Thursday.

The 400-year old capital city Dhaka now ranks among cities with the worst air quality. Once its lifeline, the Buriganga is dying, and surrounding rivers are polluted and encroached. Despite big problems though, small interventions might be able to make it more liveable

If an architect is given a blank sketch paper to draw their dream version of a modern city, they may outline residential, business, school, hospital, office areas with spaces marked for parks, lakes, wide roads with pavement, and bicycle lanes. The design might be one of a zero-carbon smart city with clean air and water, integrated transport and utilities.

Recently, he encountered some problems in his brinjal cultivation.

“I visited the Union Information Service Centre (UISC) in Mohajanpur looking for a remedy to my problem,” Billal said.