South Asian Business news and information

Digital Divide is a concept that we talk a lot about but hardly do anything to put an end to it. In Bangladesh, most people in the rural areas do not have access to modern technology. To many people, Internet is something like a fairy tale. It is nice to see that a number of organizations have come forward to bridge the digital divide in Bangladesh and the National Launching programme of "Mission 2011: Building Sustainable Information and Knowledge System for the Poor" took place in Dhaka (capital city of Bangladesh) today.

Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, Honourable Chief Adviser, Government of Bangladesh was present as the Chief Guest at the inaugural ceremony and it shows that Mission 2011 has got the support from Bangladesh government.

 
The Daily Star reported:

Addressing the function, the CA hoped that Mission 2011 would play a significant role in unleashing the immense power of ICT for the country's national development and help achieve MDGs in the medium term and a poverty-free Bangladesh in the long run.

Highlighting immense prospects of knowledge economy, he mentioned that India currently earns more than $50 billion annually from their software services alone.

Besides, e-governance programmes have brought about dramatic improvements in many countries of South Asia and Southeast Asia as well as in transition economies.

The CA said export earning from knowledge economy of Bangladesh is also growing but it remains far behind its actual potential.

Member organizations of Bangladesh Telecenter Network (BTN) are working to set up a number of telecenters in different parts of the country. Telecenter is a great tool to take the blessing of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to the ordinary people. Most people still live in rural areas of Bangladesh and most of them do not have access to Internet yet. So, under Mission 2011, all the stake holders are going to work together to implement the goal of establishing knowledge based society in the country.

If you like to know about Mission 2011 then you can visit the website: http://mission2011.net