Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd, NASS-COM Foundation and ICRISAT jointly
announced the launch of the first Rural Knowledge Center (RKC) under the
Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) Program, better known as Project 'Jyoti',
at Addakal near Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.
This is a step towards 'Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Center'-an
alliance of more than 180 partners from Government, civil society and industry
set up in July 2004, with the ambitious aim to set up a Knowledge Center in each
of the 600,000 villages in the country by 2007, the 60th year of India's
independence.
The Addakal RKC will be a part of the Microsoft-NASSCOM Foundation Rural
Knowledge Network (RKN) Program, which aims to establish, revitalize and foster
a national grid of RKCs in strategic locations in seven coastal states of the
country, namely Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil
Nadu and West Bengal.
The RKCs would provide computer literacy and an array of IT enabled services
to the adjacent rural comm-unities, with a special focus on empowering women in
these areas. It is envisaged as a nodal point for the delivery of IT skills and
income-generating vocational train-ing programs, providing e-governance
services, e-learning programs, com-munity based disaster pre-paredness
initiatives, infor-mation related to ecological security, health and agri-culture,
besides encouraging entrepreneurship at the grass root level.
Self Help Groups will run the RKC, which is fully equipped with PCs as well
as connectivity solutions.
CyberMedia News
New Delhi