AP has been the leader in eGovernance among the Indian states. Writes the Economist:
The 28 eSeva centres in Hyderabad, where citizens can pay utility bills, register births and deaths, and conduct many other dealings with the government…At present, about 600,000 households a month already use the service, launched 18 months ago, in a city of 6m people. The centres are partnerships between the government and private firms, which provide the hardware in return for transaction fees. The government supplies the staff.
eSeva centres are [now being] opened across Andhra Pradesh. [The Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu] expects the World Bank to provide $55m towards his plans. The obstacles are obvious: illiteracy, and the shortage of internet connections and electricity. Mr Naidu remains resolutely optimistic. Soon, he believes, every village will have a connection. In fact, one village went online in a blaze of publicity in January. It was a project of CyberGrameen, a non-profit organisation set up by Krishna Prasad Tripuraneni, a telecoms entrepreneur in Chennai, and uses wireless technology to offer digital entertainment, distance learning, tele-medicine and government services.
