ICTA strengthens Mahinda Chintana forward vision

Shirley WIJESINGHE

The Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) has launched several projects to implement the Mahinda Chintana Idiri Dekma.

According to ICTA sources, National e-Literacy Project is aiming to bring out 100,000 citizens in the rural community to ICT literate within 18 months.

This is one of the projects tasked to run for Instant Global Village envisaged in the Mahinda Chintana Idiri Dekma ensuring 75 percent island-wide ICT literacy by 2017.

During the period from the launch of Mahinda Chintana in November 2005, ICTA has implemented a number of programs aimed at making a multitude of dividends of ICT to reach the people.

A number of intensive programs have been launched by ICTA including 600 Nenasalas Rural Information Communication Technology Centres in island-wide.

"e- Society Development Program" was another program which targeted the rural community to monitor the prices of agricultural produce, empowerment of small and medium-scale entrepreneurs and teaching English to rural children through the Internet and provision of Internet and email facilities to the visually handicapped.

Facilities were provided under the creation of Effective citizen-centered state service by launching the ' Lanka Government Network Project (LGN) aimed at combining 325 government institutions,departments and district secretariats into the information technology network.

Government Information Centre, Birth, Marriage and Death Certificate digitization (BMD) and e-Revenue Licence Project have been launched under the mediation of ICTA to adopt the Mahinda Chintana stipulation.