Microsoft inks MoU with M'rastra govt

REDMOND: Microsoft Corporation India Private Ltd today announced the signing of a comprehensive MoU with the Government of Maharashtra for accelerating IT literacy in the state, enabling delivery of e-governance services and ushering in local language computing at the grass root.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Vilasrao Deshmukh, Maharashtra CM and by Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd.

Commenting on the partnership, Deshmukh said, "Our partnership with Microsoft complements our government's unique focus and vision for creating a unique edge for the state of Maharashtra on the IT front. We believe that through technology, we can create a skilled resource base in our state comprising of the next generation of professionals both at the grass root level as well as in terms of high-end IT talent."

Elaborating on Microsoft's partnership with the Government of Maharashtra, Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft Corporation India said "India is synonymous with IT success today and is mirroring the new face of IT led development in emerging economies. We seek to work closely with Indian governments."

A key deliverable of the MoU for collaboration in education entails implementation of Microsoft's Partners-in-Learning Program in the state at the school level and Microsoft's University Relations Program for academia and student engagement at the university level.

For the Partners-in-Learning program roll-out, Microsoft is working with the Government through the School Education Department, the nodal agency of the Government for promoting IT education across government schools. Microsoft is setting up a third IT academy in the state in addition to 2 IT Academies that have already been set-up in Pune and Nagpur respectively. The aim is to train over 20,000 teachers at these IT academies who will train 2,00,000 students (From class III to class XII) over a 5 year period.

On the e-governance front, Microsoft will collaborate with the state government in its twin role as a Technology Provider and Consultant for e-governance. Microsoft will fund and administrate a Center of Excellence for e-governance applications.

For ushering in local language computing under the aegis of Project Bhasha, Microsoft will roll-out Marathi language interfaces for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office, working in close collaboration with the state government.