North East Block Community Information Centres project was initiated by Government of India in the year 2000 to set up Community Information Centres (CICs) at 446 blocks of seven North Eastern States and 40 CICs in the state of Sikkim to facilitate e-mail, access to internet, database access and computer related training at block level, at an approximate cost of Rs 220 crores.This was a novel idea, as for the first time in the country a large network of this nature and magnitude was planned.

In the 1st phase, Nagaon was the only district from Assam, along with other North Eastern States, to be included for the pilot project implementation. 15 blocks of Nagaon (listed below) out of a total of 30 blocks of 7 North Eastern states and Sikkim, were selected and the computer and internet facilities have since been installed. Later on, CICs were set up at the remaining three development blocks of this district by September,2002. Thus all the 18 dev. blocks are now equipped with CIC facilities. Villagers have been visiting the CICs in large numbers to get information from internet and familiarize themselves with the information technology. Both basic as well as comprehensive computer training programmes have been organized by the CICs for the benefit of local students. The blocks where one CIC each have been set up, are listed below :

The Community Information Centres are equiped with High speed IPA V-SAT links for fast and reliable internet access, alongwith a powerful server, 5 client PCs, one router, ether hub, modem, dot matrix printer, laser printer. This ensures that 5 persons can use the computers and access internet simultaneously.

The CIC project has been sponsored by the Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India and jointly implemented by National Informatics Centre(Ministry of Communication &  I.T.) , NICSI, AMTRON - a Govt. of Assam corporation, and District Industries Centre & Commerce.

Through this scheme, efforts have been made to reach out to masses who are outside the digital world particularly in the application of IT in the healthcare, education, e-governance, data-transmission, documentation, connectivity for management of natural calamities, disaster management and the like. These CICs can help in combating escalating crisis in health, energy, water, education and literacy as well as proverty alleviation directly or indirectly.