Digital divides

The ambitious project called Digital India that the Cabinet recently approved may prove to be tougher to implement than the government had bargained for. Since the project entails massive computerisation of the country, it inevitably demands unprecedented co-ordination from India's 29 states and 10 Union Territories. An idea of the challenges became clear when the government invited information technology ministers and secretaries of all states to discuss the plan.

First, only 10 ministers turned up. Then, there was no clarity on who was going to speak when, so a minister went to the dais to speak out of turn and had to be asked to wait. The ministers were divided into two batches and when the time came for the second batch to speak, three ministers out of the four in that batch had already left. The only good thing from this was that the sole remaining minister was not asked to hurry up.