TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2006 03:01:30 AM]

NEW DELHI: There is some good news for those who were looking for the convenience of booking railway tickets online, but did not have a credit card or a net banking facility to make that transaction on the net.

Internet company Sify has announced its tie up with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to make online railway ticketing service available at over 3,400 iWay cybercafes across 154 cities, on cash payments. As the first step, a pilot project at 10 iWays in Delhi has been kicked-off on Thursday.

The Statseman, Kolkotta reports about the Asansol station, for the first time in the history of Eastern Railways, will have a cyber cafe with 2 mpbs Internet broadband and audio-video conferencing

Economic Times  MUMBAI reports : Online commerce is projected to jump more than four times to about Rs 2,300 crore in ‘06-07 as a rapid growth in cyber cafes across the nation spur a craze for internet shopping.

Internet users did online business worth about Rs 570 crore in ‘04-05. The figure is expected to grow to Rs 2,300 crore by ‘06-07, according to a report titled ‘Online activities and e-commerce from cyber cafes’ conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

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The Govt of India released a draft frame work for roll out of over 100000 common Service centres.

Advances in Information and Communication Technologies have made it possible today to provide a whole range of high-quality and cost-effective services relating to video, voice and data content through a single communication channel using appropriate terminal equipment. This opens up a whole realm of possibilities for provision of e-government, entertainment, education, telemedicine, e-commerce, info-services, etc. ubiquitously. Government of India is committed to leveraging these advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the benefit of the citizens, especially those in rural and remote areas. It is therefore considered necessary to create a network of access points termed Common Services Centres(CSCs) throughout the country as outlets for such services.