India in World’s most ‘e-ready’ Countries
Posted : April 27, 2006 at 6:28 pm [IST]
Recently, IBM and the intelligence unit of British magazine The Economist have released their annual “e-readiness rankings 2006″ of 68 countries. It removed many misperceptions about the country’s readiness. Denmark tops the list scoring 9 out of a possible 10 points. The United States and Switzerland follow closely.
According to the study, Denmark takes good advantage of the Internet, both in connecting citizens securely over broadband and wireless networks and in using its near-ubiquitous hookups for Internet banking and government services such as tax returns.
As reported in the study, “E-procurement (for public services) is saving Danish businesses 50 million euros ($62.1 million) and taxpayers as much as 150 million euros ($186.54 million) per year.”
Both India and China are in the lower rankings in the second half of the most Web-savvy nations: India, ranking 53, and China, 57. Even in Asia-Pacific EIU e-readiness rankings, 2006, India is having rank 10, while China is at 12. Even Thailand is better than India. However, in score both India and China have improved in 2006 with respect to that in 2005. While India improved from 4.17 to 4.25, China has come to 4.02 from 3.85.
Though the worldwide digital divide is narrowing, the difference between the list’s Web-savviest nation, Denmark, and the least e-ready countries is huge. And this provides the opportunities to the governments of the countries and the entrepreneurs to bridge the gap fast. It means business as well as prosperity for millions of left out citizens. It also tells the necessity of effectively good education to use the technology to bridge the gap as well as to take advantage of the global opportunities in the fast flattening world.
For India besides, making the computers and related appliances cheap enough to afford, it also means making available many necessary services available on line. And there are miles to go, though the spread of mobile phones raises the hope.
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Category: Government Policy/Administration |
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