HILLONG: Meghalaya Information and Technology (IT) Minister A.L. Hek on Wednesday declared that all the Secondary schools in Meghalaya will have access to free Wi-Fi connectivity within a couple of months.
Speaking at the first meeting of IT Ministers and Secretaries on various initiatives under the recently launched Digital India programme held at New Delhi on Tuesday, Hek said that the Digital India programme also talks about school books being converted into e-books.
In Meghalaya, the Class 11 and 12 syllabi are already available on mobile tablets. Last year, the State Government had distributed 25,000 of these tablets to students of Class 12. The scheme will be implemented this year as well.
The meeting was chaired by Union Minister for IT & Communications, Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The Digital India programme was approved by the Union Cabinet on August 20 and was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day speech.
The overall scope of this programme is on being transformative, i.e., in the words of the Prime Minister, to realize IT+IT = IT, meaning Indian Talent + Information Technology = India Tomorrow.
Hek said that Meghalaya has already completed one round of the Universal Digital Literacy programme, and is planning for the next round through the Common Service Centres.
Hek was happy to note that the Digital India programme plans to set up BPOs for every North Eastern State. Towards this end, the Meghalaya Government has already allotted 70 acres of land for setting up an IT Park and has engaged a consultant to prepare the Master Plan.
The State is eagerly looking forward to the Centre’s active support in building the Technology Park in Meghalaya so that the dreams and aspirations of the young people of the State can be fulfilled.
Regarding the e-Healthcare component of the Digital India programme, the Minister stated that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) has already been submitted to the Centre about two years back, and that he was eagerly waiting for the necessary funds to enable the State to implement this important project immediately.
In Meghalaya, under the National e-Governance Plan, all the Core IT infrastructures are operational in the State. The Meghalaya State Wide Area Network (SWAN) and State Data Centre (SDC) are fully functional.
The State has 225 vibrant Community Service Centres (CSCs), popularly called as Rainbow Centres run by rural folks. The State Service Delivery Gateway (SSDG) is also operational which helps in integrating various e-Government services seamlessly through the Meghalaya State Portal.
The Digital India programme also mentions about the plan to extensively use Cloud Technology. The Minister shared that the State has already selected an implementation partner to make the State Data Centre (SDC) Cloud enabled. Meghalaya, the abode of the Clouds, will perhaps be the first state in the country to have its SDC on Cloud, Hek hoped.
The Digital India Programme, to be completed in four years by 2018, will make government services electronically available to the people by creating a country-wide ICT infrastructure for high-speed Internet up to the level of the gram panchayats, which will provide services such as health and education and ensure digital empowerment of the people through digital literacy.