Our Bureau

Coimbatore , July 6

THE President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has visualised the need to establish `village knowledge centres' at the panchayat level for knowledge connectivity.

"The village knowledge centre should have wireless/ broadband or satellite connectivity with nodal knowledge centres at the district level and be equipped with peripherals to function as a self-sustained knowledge centre," he said.

The centre could also be used for the collection, digital storage and dissemination of village-specific information on agriculture, craftsmanship, arts, artisan techniques and an informal judicial system based on local remedies for simple ailments, village stories with moral values, folk songs, and village marketing information. "Besides providing tele-education and tele-medicine, commercial transactions can also be integrated," he added.

Launching the Amrita-ISRO Satellite Network of Village Resource Centres (VRC) at Ettimadai, Dr Kalam hailed the project mission for taking the benefits of space technology and knowledge products to the ultimate beneficiaries. He also emphasised the need for providing area-specific meteorological data to farmers and fishermen. "Trained manpower should also be deputed to explain the data — He mooted suggested that to the ISRO could to have a real-time link with the world meteorological forecast, Indian meteorological centres and agricultural service stations to provide live data to the panchayat knowledge centres.

He called upon the industrialists to develop a low cost multi-task handheld computer with GPS for the benefit of the fishermen and farmers.

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