CDAC products should reach common man

The Indian Express
March 24, 2012

Apart from coming up with products that put India on the global map of Information Technology (IT), the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) should be able to showcase and market its products to reach out to the common man, said Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Information and Communication Technology, here on Friday.

Pilot was speaking at the 25th foundation day celebrations of CDAC, as part of which iCare@Home, a healthcare product, a Perso-Arabic language suite and a suite of online Sanskrit courses were launched. The three products were unveiled by Pilot at Chandrashekhar Auditorium, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The annual foundation day lecture was delivered by Sam Pitroda, adviser to the Prime Minister, public information infrastructure and innovations, while Prof Devang Khakhar, director, IIT Bombay, delivered the presidential address.

“Till 1988, when CDAC was set up, India’s growth story was still undiscovered. Today, there are over 100 million Internet users in India, which is the third largest (number) in the world, after the US and China. However, we should ensure the Internet and its various applications do not remain limited to the laptop-using, English-speaking urban youth. We need to reach out to the villages,” said Pilot.

He added that if the Electronic Service Delivery Bill is passed in Parliament, it would be mandatory for every state government to provide a certain number of services online to every citizen.

Pitroda, who delivered his talk through video conferencing, said, "To link every panchayat with optical fibres, about $5-6 million is to be spent and the work will be completed in the next two years. Institutions such as CDAC will play a vital role in such transformations."