157
The Gujarat government meanwhile has to gear up to motivate and assist in the
spread of this revolution across the state. It has to extensively lobby with DoT/
VSNL and other private agencies, for providing high bandwidth and reliable
connectivity in the state. Today, even the 64 Kbps lines don’t get uninterrupted
supply. Sometimes bandwidth drops to an abysmal 9.6 Kbps, and even to a horrific
zero! VSNL and DoT will have to look at setting up special cyber cells in Ahmedabad to
take care of such cyber complaints.
Agencies such as the GIIC and GVFL will have to look at schemes
whereby loans could be given to budding entrepreneurs to set up cyber
cafes. PCO owners too will have to be given incentives to transform
their booths into Internet-enabled entities with an additional offering
on their service platters. Internet can also proliferate in Gujarat through
cyber community centers which can be set up at the
gramin
and
taluka
levels. The
government of Gujarat has already encouraged private sector giants, to lay around
20,000
miles of optic fiber cables across the state. This will become the state-wide
Internet backbone. From this backbone could flow connections to panchayat and
community centers in villages which would in turn be provided with computers
and connectivity.
Railway stations in Gujarat could be beefed up electronically with cyber
dhabas
which could even provide voice mail boxes. Illiterate farmers, unable
to communicate through the written word, could make use of these. At a cost
of a modest Rs. 120 crore, all railway stations in the state could be provided
with cyber
dhabas
.
The return on investment (RoI) here would be no more than
16
months
—
after that the
pao
and profits would flow!
Internet to the Gujarati masses could also come through the omnipresent
cable TV network. There are over 2.5 million cable TV subscribers in
Gujarat, who have the potential of becoming Netizens
—
all at a cost of
Rs. 300 per month! If the government and private sector come forward to
put in place a fiber optic network, this dream of merging cable TV with
Internet will become a reality. In fact, this infrastructure could be readied over
the next 12 months.
Provided these plans witness an early implementation, every Gujarati can be
converted into a cyber Gujarati and Gujaratis into an e-Gujarat. IT’s time now to call
for a cyber
satyagraha
!
n
Innovative methods
can be employed
to digitally empower
Gujaratis and lead them into
the cyber age
