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Govt embarks on a digital drive

Muhammad Zahidul Islam
**MAJOR PLANS
Electronic bidding at all levels within six months
Internet for all villagesand educational institutions by 2018
Digitisation of education by 2021
Assembling mobile handsets and tablets**
The government made a big move towards speeding up the country's transition into a tech-sawy nation at the second meeting of the Digital Bangladesh Taskforce in the capital yesterday.
Major decisions include expanding the e-tendering process within six months,
ensuring internet for all educational institutes by 2018, appointing international business consultants, and encouraging local assembly of digital devices like laptops, pads,
tablets and smartphones.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who chaired the meeting at the Prime Minister's Office, directed all the ministries to ensure e-tendering for all procurements.
Till now some government offices were using the e-tendering process for some projects worth less than Tk 50 crore. From January 2011
till March this year, some 26,949 e-tenders were executed, according to government documents placed at the meeting.
*The prime minister has directed us to implement e-tendering processes within the next six months," Tarana Halim, the state minister for telecom, said after the meeting.
The Digital Bangladesh Taskforce, formed in 2009, is the highest authority for forming digitisation policies. The first meeting of the taskforce was held in 2010.
Prime Minister's ICT Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy underscored the need for connectivity, and directed officials to ensure low-cost internet for all educational institutions, even those in the villages, by 2018, said officials who were present at the meeting. The government will also establish hi-tech parks in all divisional headquarters initially, and then expand the scheme to the district level after observing the response, Tarana said, quoting the ICT adviser.
Joy also suggested state-run mobile operator Teletalk look for public private partnership to adopt new technologies.
The meeting accepted the proposal to appoint business development consultants in London, Tokyo, the Silicon Valley in California and Dubai, the proposal was placed by Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services.
"Telephone Shilpa Sangstha's fateful attempt at assembling Doel brand laptops was a complete failure, yet there is no reason we cannot do what other countries are doing," taskforce member Mustafa Jabbar said, quotingthe PM.
"She asked me to take some responsibility to begin device assembly in Bangladesh," he said.
There is a huge demand for laptops and handsets in the market and if the government remains supportive; every student can get a device within a few years, Jabbar said. The prime minister also stressed the need for a national structure for e-governance, under the ICT division 's existing taskforce, he said.