The communications and IT ministry is set to a launch a slew of schemes on December 28 that will seek to digitally connect rural post offices across the country and enable core banking facilities at 12,000 other post offices. The ministry will also announce a programme to set up over 1,000 ATMs in three months for the convenience of post office savings bank customers. Communications and IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will launch the schemes to mark the 'Good Governance Day'. The ambitious project to digitise all transactions made by postmen in rural India will include equipping branch postmasters with solar powered, biometric hand-held devices. Are Multiple Sclerosis Patients Experts?Living Like You by Novartis Rocket Kitten: A Campaign with 9 LivesCIO for Check Point Recommended By Colombia It will be launched at three pilot circles in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. A senior government official told ET that the Good Governance Day will hence be a critical date for the government to measure its success in digitising governance and for setting new digitisation goals. The official said the government's attempt to mark the day on December 25 last year had become controversial and it was thus decided to shift it to December 28. "By March 2017, 1.30 lakh hand-held devices will be made available across rural branch offices. This instrument will revolutionise lives of people across villages," the official said.
