(a) whether Government of Kerala has submitted any proposal for development of Information Technology in the State;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Union Government have any new proposal for IT Sector in Rural Areas; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS AND COMMUNICATIONS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY(SHRI PRAMOD MAHAJAN)
(a) and (b): Yes, Sir. The Government of Kerala has submitted
the following two proposals for development of Information
Technology in State. These are:
(i) Establishment of a `Technology Habitat: for development of software and IT enabled services of Cochin;
The focus areas of the habitat would be the development of IT
and I.T enabled services of Cochin including e-commerce,
multimedia and e-education etc. The total outlay of the project
is Rs.40 to 50 Crores.
(ii) Project for IT facilitated education in schools and colleges;
This project is targeted for distance and web based education
in the country, it envisages the networking of educational
institutions through IT - thereby enhancing the quality of
teaching and also to generate large number of quality IT
facilitated graduates and teachers in diverse subject areas.
The project duration is 3 years with a total outlay of Rs.4,421
lakhs.
(c) and (d): The Working Group of IT for Masses has given
recommendation regarding benefit of IT for rural residents. In
principle, the recommendations have been accepted by the Ministry.
A National IT Mission has been set up recently to oversee the
implementation of recommendations of the Working Group. MIT has
been implementing pilot programmes and projects for the benefit
of rural areas which can be replicated by other agencies
including State Government. Projects taken up in rural areas are
at Annexure.
Annexure
1) Samadhan Kendra
Four Pilot `sAMADHAN KENDRA` projects have been initiated in the country, two in Madhya Pradesh,One each in
Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Based on the sustainability and usefulness of these projects in rural areas,
further expansion schemes would be formulated in consultatioh with concerned State Governments and Rural Departments.
Samadhan Kendras are conceived as Village Information Centres for providing locally relevant content and information
to the villagers on topics such as agricultural practices, health status of communities, educational opportunities,
government schemes, and employment opportunities.
2) Community Information Centre (CIC)
With a view to accelerating the socio-economic development of the community in hilly areas of difficult geographical
terrain having poor infrastructural and communication facilities in the North-East region of the country, a scheme was
approved for providing connectivity by setting up Community Information Centres (CICs) at all the block headquarters
in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim.
A pilot project was launched in August, 2000 at an estimated cost of Rs.15 crores by setting up 30 CICs in the
aforesaid states at sites selected by the state government. These systems are being used by the community mainly for
browsing the Internet and utilising the E-mail facilities. The school and college children are also using these
facilities extensively. Based on the experience gained with existing CICs, there is a proposal to set up another
457 CICs at the remaining block headquarters of these states. The project cost is to the tune of Rs.220 crores which
is under EFC approval.