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FOCUS: KERALA - THE EMERGING E- WORLD
Right for knowledge industry
Kerala has crossed many milestones in its journey towards enlightened e-governance. K.R. Jyothilal, Special Secretary, Department of Information Technology, and Director, Kerala State IT Mission, speaks about the State's road map to a digitally enabled future.
Excerpts:
The State decided a few months ago to encourage the use of Open Source Software in government and education. What have been the initiatives in this regard?
The government has acknowledged that Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) presents a unique opportunity to build an egalitarian knowledge society. In fact, Kerala would be evolved as the FOSS destination of the country. This platform will be used in e-governance projects to the maximum extent possible. We are in touch with companies like Red Hat in this regard. The government intends to set up an International Centre for Free Software and has made a budgetary provision for this.
The successful culmination of the Smart City initiative has been widely discussed.
What exactly is this project?
The Government of Kerala and the Technology and Media Free Zone Authority (TECOM), Dubai, have entered into an agreement to set up an IT township in Kochi called Smart City. Covering 246 acres and an estimated built-up space of 88 lakh sq ft, Smart City will create a minimum of 90,000 jobs. Seventy per cent of the built-up space will be devoted to IT-related activities. The project, with an estimated investment of $350 million, will create infrastructure and the environment for knowledge-industry companies to grow and flourish.
Why is there an increased interest among IT companies to set up shop in Kerala?
IT industry would ideally like to have (a) a business environment that is hassle-free; (b) quality infrastructure; (c) cost advantage; (d) availability of the right manpower; and (e) cost-effective bandwidth and connectivity. Kerala is in a position to offer all these.
And the progress of Akshaya?
Akshaya is an initiative to bridge the digital divide. When the first phase of the project is completed, one person from each family in Kerala will have working knowledge of computers. This involves setting up over 3,180 Akshaya e-kendras across the State. The project, piloted in Malappuram district, is being rolled out to other districts. Kerala would then be the first e-literate State in the country. After the literacy stage, these broadband enabled e-kendras would serve as service delivery points. This is being integrated with the Common Service Centres scheme of the Government of India.
Interview with K.R. Jyothilal, Director, Kerala State IT Mission.
K.R. Jyothilal, Director, IT Mission, Kerala.