All village panchayats to have broadband by 2012

Avnish Jolly   View profile    More options Jan 10, 8:32 pm All village panchayats to have broadband by 2012  http://igovernment.in/site/all-village-panchayats-have-broadband-2012...  The network will be provided by the government and it will be the  responsibility of village panchayats to run, maintain and properly  utilise it  Published on 01/07/2011  New Delhi: All 250,000 village panchayats in the country will be  connected with broadband by mid-2012 under a US $4 billion project to  take the benefits of technology to the poor, tech evangelist Sam  Pitroda said on Friday.  "I can assure you that in 18 months every village panchayat will have  broadband. It will significantly change the way we deal with people in  villages," Pitroda, who also serves as the Prime Minister's Advisor on  Innovation, told a diaspora convention here, reports IANS.  The network will be provided by the federal government and it will be  the responsibility of village panchayats to run, maintain and properly  utilise it, he said. "Each panchayat will employ two people. They will  be paid by the panchayats."  Some 100,000 village panchayats already have broadband connectivity in  India that not only ensures faster communications but also allows  applications like tele-medicine, timely weather forecasts and remote  consultations on crops, soil, nutrients and marketin