Title: Bangladesh takes experts to the village, via internet
Author: Mark Dummett
Source: BBC News
Publisher: BBC
Date (published): 12/03/2010
Date (accessed): 07/04/2010
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
The government of Bangladesh has begun work on an ambitious new scheme to tackle poverty with the help of the internet. It plans to improve schools, hospitals, businesses and government services by linking them to the web by 2021.
At the moment, most villages - and even some communities in the capital Dhaka - do not even have access to electricity.
But the rapid spread of mobile phones to even the most remote and impoverished parts of the country in recent years, has shown what is possible.
"This will be a digitised nation depending on information technology, for information, for services, for all kinds of activities that individuals can do," the finance minister, Abdul Muhith, told the BBC.
"This is a simple dream, and is really workable.
"It is the ideal solution for Bangladesh's various problems. I'm sure that by 2021 the largest sector in Bangladesh is going to be information technology, not textiles and garments."