government

The apex planning body of India, Planning Commission, is entrusted with developing, executing and monitoring the five year plans, which are plans formulated for the effective use of the nation’s material, capital and human resources. The commission was set up in 1950 in order to improve the standard of living of the people by efficient use of resources, increasing production and creating employment opportunities. The commission has so far formulated 11 five year plans.

The commission has decided to seek suggestions from public for the 12th five year plan, which begins in the year 2012. The commission has decided to launch “a web portal for general public to share their views about achieving more inclusive and robust economic growth of over 10 per cent during 12th Five-Year Plan”. The web portal to be launched next month will have specific objective type questions and a suggestion box. The responses received on the portal will be sifted and suggestions will be used to prepare the approach paper of the plan, which will be out in 2011. The Planning Commission is also setting up a facebook group to engage youth in the process. This is welcome move in a country where 50 per cent of the population is under 26 and the average age of the cabinet ministers is 64.

When: Friday, January 22, 2010

Where: Twitter, use hashtag #ICT4D

Local governments - from regional to village level - can be both a help and a hindrance to information and communication technology deployments in the developing world. Yet they cannot be avoided and should be brought into the project.

In the January Twitter Chat this Friday, we'll explore three vital questions any ICT practitioner faces when designing and deploying technology-based projects at the local level, using the #ICT4D hashtag in Twitter:

1. Do you work with local governments or bypass them? Why?
2. What are the keys to project success with local governments?
3. Where are examples of positive local government buy-in?

*Update* - We'll be looking at each question as it relates to Haiti, the immediate earthquake response, and the long-term rebuilding process.

Ashoka's Chloe Feinberg will co-host, along with @ICT_Works and @downeym.

We'll start at 12-noon Eastern Time ( http://bit.ly/Noon-worldwide ) with introductions, then move into the discussion.

Our hope is to learn from each other to find ways we can increase our impact and reduce failure, by engaging local governments.

-- Handy Twitter RT to let others know and join in the conversation  --

Well, Wired's article's title is really "AND Data for All: Why Obama's Geeky New CIO Wants to Put All Gov't Info Online" but I couldn't resist to give it an Ashoka slant by calling this entry "Data for all".

The article is an interesting interview on how the Obama government plans to make government data more accessible to the public--they even envision people whipping out their iPhones and making quick charts out of census or health care data, or any other government data that you can think of. I can't wait to be one of those people (I love playing with data).

Because knowledge = power, the best public policies are based on a comprehensive grasp of all the related data and user studies. Similarly, the best social enterprises are based on a deep understanding of the social problems that they aim to solve, and this means having access to excellent data sources. In this field of work, Ashoka Fellow Pratima Joshi comes to mind -- she is using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to survey and map city slums, generating critical information to advocate for the provision of essential public services to slum inhabitants in Pune, India and surrounding urban areas.