The Hindu : Front Page : Russian officials one click away from being sacked

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Monday, Jul 21, 2008
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Russian officials one click away from being sacked

Learn how to use a computer or be prepared to be dismissed, President Dmitry Medvedev tells them

Moscow: Russian officials may be just one click away from being sacked if they fail to heed President Dmitry Medvedev’s warning to strengthen their poor computer skills. “They either should learn or, as they say, goodbye,” President Medvedev warned, adding computer literacy should be part of job evaluations.

Russia’s new President, who in an interview with the ‘Itogi’ magazine before his election in March had said that he even watches the television news online, has warned government officials that they face the sack unless they learn how to use a computer. “Civil servants who don’t have elementary computer skills cannot work effectively,” he said during a nationally televised meeting with federal and regional officials.

A must

“We don’t hire people who can’t read and write. Computer literacy today is the same,” Mr. Medvedev was quoted as saying by the Mail online of Britain.

Determined to increase transparency, the 42-year-old leader has made it his mission to see that the government carried out more of its work online.

He claimed that an increase in the government’s online work would make it more difficult to hide corruption, the report said.

“No real progress”

Blaming the bureaucracy for the foot-dragging on poor computer skills, Mr. Medvedev said there had been no real progress toward putting documents, government purchase orders or the results of government-funded research online, despite years of talk about establishing an “electronic government.”

Internet penetration in Russia is among the lowest in Europe, with only 12 per cent of people aged 15 or older online, according to a 2007 study by Internet research company comScore. — PTI

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