Telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday proposed that entities developing e-applications, especially in regional languages, should be incentivised to promote e-governance.

"Incentivise companies involved largely with the development of e-applications for rural areas and in regional languages," telecom regulatory authority of India (Trai) said in its response to the draft national telecom policy.

Also, developers should be incentivised to provide customised applications suitable for local needs, it added. e-governance refers to delivery of services like land records, birth and death certificates and other documents from government to citizens (G2C) electronically.

The national e-governance plan (NeGP) of the government seeks to set up the core infrastructure and policies and implement a number of mission mode projects at the centre, state and integrated service levels to create a citizen-centric and business-centric environment for governance.

Stressing on the need for developing and making available applications in regional languages, the regulator suggested the government should work with handset manufacturers and international standards bodies to make e-applications inter-operable in Indian languages.

The government should also "put in place an appropriate regulatory framework for delivery of value-added services (VAS) at affordable price so as to fuel growth in entrepreneurship, innovation and provision of region-specific content in regional languages."

To enable delivery of e-services to rural areas, the government should stimulate the demand for e-applications and services by working closely with Department of Information Technology in the promotion of local content creation, particularly in regional languages.