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Government bridges digital divide with computers in slums

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DQW Bureau
New Update

Delhi government's e-initiative has brought computers and Internet to the slums, for the Minimally Invasive Education (MIE), the pilot project sponsored by the Delhi government and powered by NIIT's Center for Research and Cognitive Systems, was inaugurated in Ambedkar Nagar colony on Saturday. The project, which claims to be the first in the world to bring computers to the slums, was inaugurated by Ch. Prem Singh, Speaker of the legislative assembly, in the presence of Shiela Dixit, Chief Minister, Delhi. 

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Under the project, which is popularly known worldwide as the 'hole in the wall' experiment, five computer kiosks have been installed in the slum in front of the Viraat Cinema in Ambedkar Nagar colony. The hardware and the software have been provided by NIIT, whose scientist, Dr Sujata Mitra is the brain behind the whole project. MTNL has also shown its social commitment by providing the project with free ISDN line and Internet and taking up the responsibility of laying the ISDN lines, free of cost. The total cost of this project, Rs 80 lakh is borne by the government of Delhi. 

Another significant factor in this project is that the supervision and the maintenance of the kiosks have been left solely on the community itself. The Government of Delhi also plans to set up 30 Internet kiosks in six locations in Ambedkar Nagar and Madangir colonies of South Delhi as part of its policy of spreading computer literacy among the poors. 

The project will strive to provide computer, Internet and basic literacy for poor children with minimal level of intervention. It would also provide navigational tools to guide users through the informative and rich content of the Internet. In addition, provision will be made to provide local information pertaining to health, education, government circulars, etc. 

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While calling upon the kids and the women in the area to explore the world of knowledge through these kiosks, Dixit informed that six more kiosks of the type will be installed in various parts of the city within a year. 

Elaborating on the IT policy of the government, S Raghunathan, IT secretary, Government of Delhi, said that within the next three years, 1000 government schools in the resettlement colonies will get computer education. Dr Sujata Mitra, said that the project has been modeled on the theory that computers do not need an instructor and as such is minimally invasive. This sort of easy education is the third initiative taken by NIIT, the earlier ones being in Shivpuri village in MP and another in

Lucknow.

He added that the project and the education imparted by it will be scrutinized for the next one-year and a report will be made on that after the initial two years. 

Narender Sharma, Chairman, MTNL, while commending the project, said that this entry level computer initiative would go to a large extent in minimizing the digital divide, which was decided in the Asia Pacific declaration which was signed by 20 countries in the region. 

The residents of the resettlement colony welcomed the initiative wholeheartedly while children were enthusiastic in mastering the technology as well as in exploring the possibilities of the kiosks in front of them.

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