The second phase of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) organised by the International Telecommunication of United Nations was held in Tunisia from 16th to 18th November’2005 with an aim to find solutions and reach agreements in the fields of Internet Governance and financing mechanisms and also to follow up on the implementation of the objectives of the first phase of the Summit held earlier in Geneva. Nearly 50 Heads of state/government and Vice-Presidents and 197 Ministers, Vice Ministers and Deputy Ministers from 174 countries as well as high-level representatives from international organisations, private sector, and civil society attended the Tunis Phase of WSIS. The Indian delegation at the event was headed by Hon’ble Union Minister of Communications & IT Thiru Dayanidhi Maran. A team of NIC Officers led by Dr N Vijayaditya, DG (NIC) formed a part of the delegation. The following products of NIC were formally launched by the Hon’ble Minister at the event:
Open eNRICh: A local language community software solution jointly developed by NIC, One World and UNESCO to facilitate knowledge gathering and dissemination in 15 South Asian languages. Through its customisable, multi-lingual interface, the software encourages collection, preservation and sharing of indigenous knowledge. With the ultimate aim of empowering communities through a collaborative approach, eNRICH acts as a useful tool for voicing the thoughts and feelings of the poor.
E-Government Toolkit for Developing Countries: Developed by NIC at the behest of UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Bureau for Communication & Information, this toolkit offers an action framework for stakeholders in the developing nations, ranging from policy makers in the government to institu-tions and NGOs to academicians in under-standing the various phases and critical components of e-government implementa-tion. Apart from in-depth analysis of all that is involved in implementing e-government in a developing nation, the toolkit also comprises a number of useful case studies of successful and unsuccessful e-government initiatives undertaken by other countries in the past.
Handbook on Good Governance through ICT: This reference handbook comprises a compilation of useful information about the important e-governance initiatives and ICT projects undertaken by NIC in various sectors of the economy. For details, refer to the news below.