Govt planning I-cards for all citizens

   TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2002 8:31:03 PM ]
   NEW DELHI: Identity cards for all citizens, a Rs 15,000-crore National
   Rail Vikas Yojana and a national commodities exchange were among the 15
   key initiatives announced by the government on Thursday. The home
   ministry will prepare a plan to issue multi-purpose machine-readable
   identity cards to all citizens. A pilot project, which will be launched
   in October to cover select districts in eight states, will also
   facilitate the implementation of e-governance initiatives to be
   completed within a year.The Rail Vikas Yojana will over the next five
   years aim to remove all capacity bottlenecks in critical sections of
   the Railways, including a Rs 8,000-crore project to strengthen the
   Golden Quadrilateral to run more long-distance mail, express and
   freight trains at a higher speed, and a Rs 3,000-crore project to
   strengthen rail connectivity to ports and development of corridors to
   the hinterland.Rs 3,500 crore will be spent on constructing two bridges
   over the Ganga and one each over the Brahmaputra and the Kosi. The
   consumer affairs, food and public distribution ministry will set up a
   National Commodities Exchange to streamline commodity futures trading.
   All villages will be electrified by 2007 and 130 lakh new telephone
   lines, including 75 lakh mobile telephones, will be added in the coming
   year. A comprehensive social security scheme for the poor and the
   middle class and a food-based social security for the destitute will be
   launched. The communication and IT ministry will implement a programme
   to improve efficiency, transparency and accountability at the
   government-citizen interface, with the e-bill post and internet-based
   e-post service network to cover all districts in the coming year. Media
   Lab Asia, a collaboration between the IT department and the
   Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, will be set up to address
   the digital divide in the country. The government also announced
   formulating a model municipal law to facilitate private sector
   participation in urban infrastructure projects, especially in water
   supply and sanitation. Simultaneously, a fund will be operationalised
   this year to promote urban sector reforms with special focus on making
   urban local bodies viable. National scholarships will be given to
   disabled persons to pursue higher technical education. The culture
   ministry will launch the National Mission for Manuscripts to preserve
   and unlock the scientific, intellectual, literary and spiritual
   knowledge in different Indian languages. The ministry of petroleum and
   other ministries concerned will take steps to universalise blending of
   ethanol from various feedstocks, including sugar factories, with petrol
   and diesel. Sale of gasohol will become mandatory in nine states and
   four Union territories from January 1, 2003.

   [1]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?artid=19185813
   A.Roy says,"dont listen."
   [2]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?artid=[3]19207425

References

   1. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?artid=19185813
   2. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?artid=19207425
   3. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?artid=19207425