Malappuram earns laurels for e-networking

With the commissgioning of Akshaya project - a unique development initiative, this district in northern Kerala has become the first fully networked rural district in the world.

"Akshaya is an endeavour to bridge the digital divide in Kerala. The Malappuram project is a pilot one under the Kerala State IT Mission to impart computer education to all," state IT minister P K Kunhalikutty said at Manjeri near here.

"Akshaya is a unique initiative implemented through a network of 617 ICT hubs for providing a range of e-services to local community," Kerala Information Technology secretary Aruna Sundararajan told reporters here.

The project was kickstarted on November 18, 2002, by President A P J Abdul Kalam and 560 Akshaya centres have been set up since to impart computer training to at least one person per family in the district.

Under the project, two to three wards in a panchayat have one Akshaya centre and the government would give Rs 120 per candidate to each centre.

These centres would provide a range of e-services to the local community such as universal ICT access, e-literacy, creation of micro ICT enterprises and service delivery points.

Several other services, including malappurampolice.com portal, e-governance services, e-kissan, cancernet and community educational initiative, were launched along with the programme.

"Akshaya Rural Internet Banking & Financial Services" through the SBI-online e-payment gateway has also been launched to enable rural e-commerce activities such as business, financial products, insurance and on-line ticketing.

Sundararajan said Rs 3.5 crore has been spent by the government for the Malappuram pilot project.

The design, implementation and maintenance of this hybrid wireless network project has been done by Tulip IT Services in association with the state government.

"As per the project, a network of backbone connectivity and front-end Akshaya e-kendras have been set up and the e-kendras are connected through broadband wireless technology," said Tulip managing director H S Bedi.

Each e-kendra is equipped with five to ten computers, printers, scanners and other equipment and software.