<nettime> EPW: Special issue on *Internet in South Asia*

[Frederick Noronha <fred@goa1.dot.net.in>]

The Economic and Political Weekly of Mumbai -- which "for over 50 years has
been mandatory reading for social science teachers, students and
researchers" -- has shifted focus in its latest issue to look at the theme
of *Internet in South Asia*.

It comments in this issue:

"The Internet offers some hope to the people of the region who live in
widely disparate living environments and particularly in remote
communities. But in order to take full advantage of this new technology,
there is a need to evolve regional and region-specific norms and practices.
A recent conference on the subject has thrown up several relevant issues.
(Arun Mehta and Shahid Akhtar write on *Promoting the Internet in South
Asia*). A review of telecommunication networks in India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Nepal reveals that they are in unformly poor shape. There is
an emerging scope for rationalising telecom policies with a view to
convergence of communication technologies across the region. (Vickram
Crishna, Noor-ud-Din Baqai, Bhoop Raj Pandey and Fazlur Rahman write on
&Telecommunications Infrastructure: A Long Way to Go*). The regulatory
climate in South ASia has only recently welcomed private Internet service
providers. The challenge lies in creating a level playing field so that the
digital divide between rural and urban, non-English and English-speaking
South Asia can be minimised and eliminated. (Madanmohan Rao, Sanjib Rai
Bhandari, S M Iqbal, Anjali Sinha and Wahaj us Siraj write on *Struggling
With the Digital Divide: Internet Infrastructure, Policies and
Regulations*). Meanwhile, a review of online content in South Asian
countries with a special focus on the number of websites, local relevance,
community involvement, directories, search engines, advertisement revenue
and third party audits. And policy suggestions for content development.
(Madanmohan Rao, Imran Rashid, Hasan Rizvi and Rajib Subba write on *Online
Content in South Asia*).

Another article *Linus: Open Source Software for South Asia* by FN also
appears on pages 2373-75.

Please check out EPW at http://www.epw.org.in
You can also visit it at http://www.south-asian-initiative.org/epw

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Frederick Noronha, Freelance Journalist, 784 Saligao 403511 Goa  India 
fred@goa1.dot.net.in or fred@vsnl.com  Ph (0091).832.271490 / 27 86 83 
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