Minister for Information and Communication Dr. Bikram Timilsina has said that digital transformation is a key national priority for Nepal.
Minister Dr. Timilsina made this remark on Wednesday during his meeting with visiting International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Area Representative for Southeast Asia and other Member States in Asia and the Pacific, Kishore Babu Yerraballa, at the Ministry.
Govt to rank cities by 'Smartness Level'
The government has finalized the "Smart City" indicators for the year 2081 BS. Minister for Communications and Information Technology Prithvi Subba Gurung announced that the Council of Ministers approved the decision during its meeting on April 30.
Despite frequent mentions of "Smart City" in political speeches and governmental declarations, authorities have yet to give the concept tangible form. The absence of a clear definition has gradually diluted the relevance of the slogan.
As a saying goes: “Wars are much easier to start than to finish.”
This comes true for Bengaluru Smart City Limited Project as developing a Smart City is “not easy as defined” — meaning, that are challenges!
“Yes, there are challenges. But we are steadily moving ahead despite hindrances,” P Rajendra Cholan, Managing Director of the Bengaluru Smart City, told an interaction with a delegation of Nepali journalists, who visited India’s “Silicon Valley” recently.
Read more: NP: Bangalore turning smart, green and vibrant; will Kathmandu follow suit?
In recent years, Nepal has been hit by an alarming rise in devastating cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and data systems across the country. Just in the last few months, major hospitals like Bir Hospital and Grande International Hospital suffered data breaches, compromising sensitive patient information.
Banks like Nabil Bank and Nepal Mega Investment Bank were targeted by cybercriminals looking to steal funds. Telecom providers like Ncell and Nepal Telecom had their networks disrupted by DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks.
Read more: Nepal’s cybersecurity crisis demands urgent AI-based solutions
The first Constituent Assembly elections in Nepal, held in 2008, were an important milestone in Nepal’s political history for they let the people’s representatives write the country’s primary law on their own. But, for Neil Kantha Uprety, an election commissioner then, they were more important because they let the public use electronic voting machines (EVMs) for the first time.
“That was a pilot project, and that proved successful,” Uprety says, “We were excited about its prospects in Nepal.”
Read more: The curious case of Nepal’s reluctance to use electronic voting machines