Dr. Bedi has also put the syllabus of the Police Training College online. It is accessible from any cybercafé and will help men and officers to update their knowledge and prepare for in-service exams.

According to co-author Sandeep Srivastava, " E-governance is a government structure which is efficient and effective and is duly controlled by its citizens."

A web-enabled country would have other advantages too. Doctors in villages could get wired to big hospitals in any major city and consult online with senior doctors in case of medical emergencies. Similarly, doctors in big cities would benefit by connecting to super-specialty hospitals around the world.

 in Kerala the Cancernet project enables on-line cancer detection for the entire state. It helps patients avail of consultation services of doctors at the Regional Cancer Centre [RCC], Thiruvanthapuram, from its sub-centres in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Palakad, Kannur and Lodongallor. The treatment records available at the server at RCC can be accessed from any of these nodal centres.

The book contains a number of success stories reported from different parts of the country. Experiments like the Warna Wired Village Project in Maharashtra, the Gyan Doot Project in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, Friends Project in Kerala and many more are using Internet not as an elitist medium but as a social phenomenon that has the power to touch the day-to-day lives of every Indian.

The Gyandoot programme in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh is networked to 31 village centres. The service covers wide ranging information needs of the villagers like agricultural produce, auction centre rates, copies of land records, on-line registration of applications, village auction site and more.

In Rajasthan, Nyala became the first village of the state to have the Raj Nidhi Information Kiosk, when the former U.S. President Bill Clinton visited the village to observe the functioning of the gram panchayat. Through Raj Nidhi citizens are able to access information related to health, family planning, employment, taxes and water and electricity.

The Andhra Pradesh Twin Cities Network Services [TWINS] launched in December 1999 provides an initial set of 18 services to the citizens of Ward 8 of Hyderabad. The Andhra government proposes to replicate the TWINS pilot to other areas of the State, and provide more government services on the net.

The 'Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Education, Science, Culture and Communication' held in Paris in 1996 noted, "…Far from being unsuited for developing nations, the Net is well adapted. Its capital costs are low: all that is required is a personal computer, a modem and a telephone connection.

" Internet connectivity to small towns and villages will be through cyber kiosks or cafes. Just like the STD booths revolutionized communication by connecting villages to the outside world, these will be the future hubs of the economy. In fact, cyber cafes will have edge as they will be faster and would cost a fraction," says Dr. Bedi who has also authored two other books I Dare, and It’s Always Possible.

Will Internet also help weed out corruption? Dr. Bedi feels that corruption will be dealt a body blow as there will be a larger gain by going on-line with all government services. The book gives vivid example of how corruption is being checked by the Central Vigilance Commission via the Internet. " Computers will change everything," she says.

But in a country perennially plagued by shortage of power and faulty telephone lines, will computers and Internet be possible?

Yes, says Dr. Bedi. "It is possible to run an Internet-enabled computer by non-conventional methods like solar energy or bio-gas, as it needs no more energy than an electric bulb. It is also possible to bypass a telephone by going directly via satellite-based links for a cluster of villages which is also cost effective especially for remote locations.

Srivastava feels that government@net will become a reality in India in five years. Dr. Bedi says it would take five to ten years for the IT revolution to work at the level of the masses. Whatever the timeframe, there is no way anyone can now stop this revolution.

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