Rural Knowledge Centre launched in Andhra

BANGALORE: Microsoft Corporation India Private Ltd, NASSCOM Foundation and ICRISAT today jointly announced the launch of the first Rural Knowledge Centre (RKC) under the Microsoft Unlimited Potential (UP) Program, better known as Project 'Jyoti', at Addakal near Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.

This is a step towards 'Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre' - an alliance of more than 180 partners from Government, civil society and industry set up in July 2004, with the ambitious aim to set up a Knowledge Centre in each of the 600,000 villages in the country by 2007, the sixtieth year of India's independence.

The Addakal RKC will be a part of the Microsoft-NASSCOM Foundation Rural Knowledge Network (RKN) Program, which aims to establish, revitalize and foster a national grid of RKCs in strategic locations in seven coastal states of the country, namely Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

The RKCs would provide computer literacy and an array of IT enabled services to the adjacent rural communities, with a special focus on empowering women in these areas. It is envisaged as a nodal point for the delivery of IT skills and income-generating vocational training programs, providing e-governance services, e-learning programs, community based disaster preparedness initiatives, information related to ecological security, health and agriculture, besides encouraging entrepreneurship at the grass root level.

Self Help Groups will run the RKC, which is fully equipped with PCs as well as connectivity solutions.