NEW DELHI: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil said today that digitisation would "create a more equitable and transparent system" and provide "better viewing experience at affordable cost".
In her last address to the joint sitting of Parliament, on the opening day of the budget session, she said the Government had undertaken a time-bound programme to convert the entire analogue cable television system to digital by December 2014.
She said, "In order to extend FM radio services to millions living in small towns and remote areas, the Government had taken a significant decision to e-auction 839 FM Radio Channels in 245 cities across the country including in border areas of Jammu and Kashmir and the North East."
She said the Government was working on new policies on Telecom, Information Technology and Electronics. A National Optical Fibre Network was being created at a cost of Rs 200 billion for providing broadband connectivity to all panchayats. Suitable measures were being put in place to facilitate the domestic manufacture of IT hardware.
She said efficient and automated delivery of public services with minimum human intervention is one of the keys to reducing corruption. More than 97,000 Common Service Centres had been established across the country for making public services conveniently available to citizens under the National e-Governance programme. Increasingly, public services under all e-Governance projects will be delivered through Internet and mobile phones.
