Dated September 01, 2004
The Financial Express

Internet will finally start benefitting the common man, particularly villagers, in a big way, as part of a government-private sector partnership to promote information and communication technologies (ICT). India Development Gateway (InDG), as the project is known, will facilitate effective use of ICT in the areas of health, primary education, agriculture, among other sectors.

Addressing a press conference on the launch of implementation phase of the project here, chairman of governing council of InDG Prof MS Swaminathan, announced the setting up of the Development Gateway Foundation (DGF) research and training (R&T) centre at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Bangalore.

According to Prof Swaminathan, the DGF R&T Centre will address the major technology domains of Internet technologies, language technologies and speech technologies to address requirements in the application sectors of healthcare, education and agriculture.

InDG is a joint initiative of the department of information technology, ministry of communications, World Bank, and DGF, Washington. It has received an initial funding of Rs 2 crore for its implementation phase. InDG plans to operate through its strategic partners in the area of both content development and services.