IIITM-K Postgraduate students get attractive placement offers from TCS.

Trivandrum, December 8, 2010 – Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management – Kerala post graduate students have received attractive placement offers from TCS during campus interviews held last week. Out of 20 students appeared, 14 students of the first batch of the Master of Science in IT have been offered placement by TCS during campus interviews held between 2^nd and 3^rd Dec 2010. The offer package is for Rs 3.5 lakhs.

“This was the first campus interview for the first batch of the M.Sc (IT) programme and 70% of the students who appeared got selected. Students from IIITM-K performed exceptionally well in the recruitment process and TCS had all praise for the quality of students passing out of IIITM-K.” said IIITM-K Director In-Charge, Elizabeth Shirley.

In a letter to addressed to the Institute, Brinda Rani, Assistant GM – HR, TCS expressed the honour for TCS at being provided the status being the ‘First Company’ to recruit the students from the batch of students graduating in 2011. IIITM-K is also rated A+ by TCS for recruitment.

M.Sc-IT is a two-year Post Graduate programme, where the degree is awarded by Cochin University of Science and Technology, basically to prepare B.Tech graduates in any discipline for a career in the booming IT industry. The course is oriented to Fundamentals of Computers, New technologies and Processes and latest practices in Software Engineering. Regular course work at IIITM-K is supplemented by training in Interpersonal Skills including communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical ability and English Language Comprehension Skills. Lack of training in these areas results in poor performance of the students in the campus interviews. IIITM-K students have the distinct advantage that they are trained in advanced technologies and are also prepared well for interviews, Director Dr. Elizabeth Sherly added.

IIITM-K is shortly announcing admission to two more post graduate courses viz. M.Sc in Geo Informatics and M.Sc in Computation Sciences. Admission to a Post Graduate Diploma programme in Agri Informatics has already been announced. Students admitted to the M.Sc courses are offered scholarship under SPEED-IT programme of Government of Kerala.

For more information, please contact C N Sajeev Kumar, Thought Factory @ 94470 19669

IFFK 2010 Signature Film

Kerala IT sets up Activity Lab for differently-abled children, Audio Library and Vocational Centre for Visually Challenged

CM to inaugurate the new centre in Trivandrum on December 3, 2010

Trivandrum, December 1, 2010 – Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala Shri V S Achuthanandan on Friday, December 3, 2010 will inaugurate the new activity Lab set up for autistic children and an audio library for the visually challenged as a project of Kerala State IT Mission. Hon’ble Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, M Vijayakumar will inaugurate the vocational centre, set up with an aim to provide gainful employment for the visually challenged students. KSITM is also celebrating the International Day for Disabled Persons by inaugurating this new lab. The new centre has been set up at Kumarapuram. This is the first occasion in India where IT deployment is being done to provide direct assistance for the children’s with special needs.

The activity lab, audio library and vocational centre is the result of the initiative undertaken by INSIGHT, a project of Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) in association with SPACE (Society for Promotion of Alternative Computing and Employment) conceived to empower the differently abled - through computers, internet and other ICT tools. The initiative is to educate autistic children so that they gain fruitful employment.

“INSIGHT was conceived and set up with an objective to assist the differently-abled as productive members of the society. In this pursuit, INSIGHT has been conducting a wide variety of capacity building programmes for persons with disabilities or different abilities. We are happy to see our initiatives in this direction reaping benefits and the activity lab and vocational centre are the first steps in the right direction.” Said KSITM Director, Ms.Ishita Roy.

Insight is trying to improve the functional and academic flair of autistic children through free educational software packages like Gcompris. Children from different parts of the city visits Insight centre for training on basic computer applications. Insight has also imparted Gcompris software training for over 60 special educators from a number of special schools in the state. Insight is gradually moving towards teaching programming interfaces like Scratch for high functioning autistic children to help them explore their individuality. Special educators who underwent training at Insight opine that these software packages are highly useful in improving the academic abilities of an intellectually challenged child. Parents were also happy to note that these tools have attractive interfaces and interesting activities, capable of capturing the attention of their kids.

The audio library set up for the visually challenged children will have a collection of books recorded for them. The library already has a collection of over 100 audio books in English and Malayalam. The vocational centre has been set up with the aim to provide a way of earning for the visually challenged students. INSIGHT has undertaken an activity under the Malayalam Computing project as its maiden initiative.

INSIGHT is a project of Kerala State IT Mission (www.itmission.kerala.gov.in) with an aim of empowering of differently abled through IT. In this pursuit, INSIGHT has been conducting a wide variety of training programmes for persons with disabilities or different abilities. The INSIGHT Resource Centre at Vellayambalam has been providing in IT skills to persons with disabilities, mainly the visual challenged, on Open Source Computing tools. They are trained to effortlessly navigate the computer and to use the computer to facilitate day-to-day communication through employing ORCA screen reader technology. To enhance the credibility of the training programmes, INSIGHT has also entered into arrangement with IGNOU whereby the University would evaluate the performance of the trainees and award certificates.
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Cabinet approves acquisition of 7.8 hectares of land for the development of Technopark Phase III

Technopark to sign agreement with HCL Technologies allotting 2 acres of land in Technopark Phase III on December 7, 2010

Trivandrum, November 30, 2010 – The State Cabinet today approved the recommendations of the District Collector of Trivandrum for acquisition of 7.8 hectares of land for the development of Technopark Phase III in Attipra Village.

With this the land acquisition for Technopark Phase III would be complete. The work for the biggest IT building of 1 million sq.ft, is also progressing at fast pace and is expected to be completed by mid-2011.

Technopark board has allotted 2 acres of non-SEZ land in Technopark phase III to HCL Technologies, one of the leading IT companies in India. The lease agreement for this will be signed on December 7, 2010 in the presence of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri V S Achuthanandan.

“When the Phase III campus is fully operational, it will provide employment for about 20-25000 IT professionals.” says CEO, Technopark, Mervin Alexander. The Phase III project is funded by a consortium of banks led by South Indian Bank.

The Technopark Phase 3 is being developed over 92 acres of land. Technopark has already commenced construction of a signature building with 1 million sq. ft. built-up area which will be one of the largest IT Buildings in the country. Technopark will be allotting land in Phase 3 to IT/ITES Companies and Infrastructure Development Companies. The support facilities like 110 KV sub-station, water supply system are ready. Work on sewage treatment plant, canal embankment, approach road, internal roads and bridge works are in progress.

For more information, please contact C N Sajeev Kumar, Thought Factory @ 94470 19669

Indian Animation Industry to grow by 22pc by 2012 – Says Former Technopark CEO R K Nair

“Indian animation industry is expected to grow by 22% by 2012 to reach $1 billion mark.” Said former Technopark CEO R K Nair. “According to NASSCOM estimates, the gaming industry would grow 49 per cent to reach $830 million by 2012.” Mr. R K Nair said this at the convocation ceremony held for the 70 students who passed the one year full time Advanced Diploma in Digital Arts and Animation (ADDAA). The function was held at the Travancore Hall in Technopark.

Congratulating the students, R K Nair said, “Despite the difficult economic environment, the animation, gaming and visual effects industry is witnessing growth rate of over 20 per cent in India. In India animation industry is still in an infant stage. We will witness massive growth in this industry for the next 10 years. Currently there are more than 300 small medium and big animation companies employing nearly 10000 animation experts. I am sure our students who have passed out of this course today will create their mark in the animation industry. I wish them all the best for a great future!”

Noted Malayalam film director Rajasenan handed over the certificates to the students. Addressing the students, he said, “Though in its infant stages, Animation has a major role in mainstream cinema. The scope of animation is not just restricted to the cinema world but has great applications in other areas as well and it is imperative that we tap these.”

Speaking at the function Hari Varma, Chief Creative Officer, Toonz Studio said “Recently we have revamped the curriculum and methodology of our diploma course to make it more relevant for the industry process and practices. Students have developed their diploma project exactly the way a project developed in a studio”.

Toonz Academy is the training division of the award winning animation studio, Toonz Animation India Pvt Ltd. (www.toonzanimationindia.com). The academy was established in the year 2002 and is a fully owned subsidiary of Toonz Entertainment Pte Ltd Singapore, the parent company of the Toonz Group. The first centre of the academy was established in Trivandrum near the Technopark campus during the year 2003. Since then the academy has grown in stature with centres in Delhi, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Indore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bhopal, Jabalpur and Calicut. Plans are in fast swing to establish centres elsewhere in major cities across India. The academy offers 12 months Advanced Diploma course in animation. The Academy also offers a portfolio of short-term courses in animation and visual effects. Continuing its fast pace of growth, the Academy has signed MOU's with leading Chinese Universities to set up animation training centres in China and plans to expand its operation to West Africa, Middle East and South East Asia.

Chief Minister flags off Akshaya Janasevana Pracharna Yathra

Chief Minister flags off Akshaya Janasevana Pracharna Yathra

Trivandrum, November 9, 2010 – Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala Shri. V S Achuthanandan via web conference today flagged off the Akshaya Janasevana Pracharna Yathra from Kasargode. The ceremony held using the web hosting facility at IT@School premises in Trivandrum had the presence of Dr. Ajay Kumar, Principal Secretary – IT, Akshaya Director – Korath V Mathew, Anwar Sadath – IT@School Director and Kasargode District Collector Anand Singh IAS. Kasargode MLA, C T Ahmed Ali delivered the Presidential address from Kasargode Collectorate Compound.

The ceremony was witnessed by over 5000 people from the IT@School centres in all districts.

Inaugurating the function, Shri V S Achuthanandan said, “Today though Information Technology has grown leaps and bounds, only a small percentage is exploiting its capabilities. Realizing this, Kerala Government’s initiatives to take the benefits of IT to the masses is seeking realization through Akshaya. Akshaya has also been successful in providing direct and indirect employment to over 15,000 people. Kerala Government is now trying to introduce more Government to Citizen services (G2C) through Akshaya.”

Shri C T Ahmed Ali MLA delivering the Presidential address said that Akshaya established in 2002 as an e-literacy pilot project in Malappuram, has grown to be a 2000 strong network across the state and that Akshaya Janasevana Pracharna Yathra is an initiative to spread awareness of the Akshaya Citizen Service Centres across the state and the services offered. The dignitaries present at the function held Kasargode Collectorate Compound were Shri. K Kunjiraman MLA, Shri. K V Kunjiraman, MLA, Shri. Pallipram Balam MLA, and Shri H Kunjambu, MLA.

The vehicle from Kasargode reached Kannur. Shri V K Balakrishnan, Kannur District Collector received the vehicle. Kannur Muncipal Chairman M D Shreeja inaugurated the Akshaya exhibition at the Kannur Collectorate. Additional District Magistrate Sudheer Babu presided over the function. The function at Kannur was also attended by Akshaya District Coordinator Abdul Rajeeb, Akshaya Deputy Planning Officer Ramesh Kumar, PRD Deputy Director P P Chandran, District Information Officer Manoj. The exhibition reiterated that the services offered by Akshaya Centres across Kerala needs to be increased providing more employment.

From Kannur the yathra will move on to the other districts and culminate in Trivandrum on November 18, 2010 to celebrate Akshaya Day. The vehicle traversing all the districts will be stopping at various places spreading awareness on Akshaya and its services through street plays, distributing literature detailing its various services. The vehicle after starting from Kasargode will reach Kannur Collectorate Compound in the afternoon

About Akshaya

Akshaya is a landmark ICT project by the Kerala State Information Technology Mission to bring the benefits of this technology to the entire population of the State. It is instrumental in rural empowerment and economic development. It has opened over 2000 Citizen Service Centres across the State with at least two centres (e-Kendra) in every village Panchayat. Each e-kendra, set up within 2-3 kilometres of every household cater to the requirements of around 1000-3000 families to make available the power of networking and connectivity to common man. The project is a catalyst in creating massive economic growth and creation of direct and indirect employment in the State by focusing on the various facts of e-learning, e-transaction, e-governance etc.

Some of the services provided by Akshaya are:

· eLiteracy programmes

· Citizen Services

· Educational programmes

· e-Krishi

· Service and Payroll Administrative Repository of Kerala (SPARK)

· Online application of Ration Card

· Registration of BPL families under Health Insurance

· Unique Identification Number

· Collection of Yearly subscription of NRK Welfare Fund

· E-Grantz for SC/ST

For further information please contact Sajeev Kumar, Thought Factory (the official Public Relations company for Kerala IT) @ 94470 19669/Richy Alexander, Thought Factory @ 98474 16617

November 18, 2010 to be celebrated as Akshaya Day

November 18, 2010 to be celebrated as Akshaya Day

Akshaya Janasevana Pracharna Yathra organized from Kasargode to Trivandrum to spread awareness on the Akshaya activities

Trivandrum, November 8, 2010 – Kerala IT department’s ‘Akshaya’ initiative today announced that November 18, 2010 will be commemorated as Akshaya Day. This was announced at a press conference called by Korath V Mathew, Director – Akshaya. As part of the celebrations, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri. V S Achuthanandan on November 9, 2010 will flag off the ‘Akshaya Janasevana Pracharana Yathra’ through a video-conference.

Akshaya Janasevana Pracharna Yathra is planned as an initiative to spread awareness of the Akshaya Citizen Service centres across the state and the services offered by them for citizens. The Yathra will start its journey from Kasargode Collectorate Compound and traverse all the 14 districts, stopping at various places spreading awareness on Akshaya and its services through street plays, distributing literature detailing Akshaya’s various services. It will also stop at all the District headquarters for a seminar on Akshaya and its activities and will culminate at the State capital on November 18, 2010.

“Akshaya, an innovative project of KSITM launched in 2002 with the aim to bridge the digital divide through e-literacy, today has grown manifold to become an ICT initiative that brings the benefits of technology to the entire population of the State.” Said Korath V Mathew. “The vehicle traveling across the State will showcase the different services offered by Akshaya and how the e-world is transforming and ensuring all the citizen services offered by the Government is reaching to the grass root level.”

“Akshaya today is bringing in a lot of Government to Citizen (G2C) services to the grass root level in Kerala. With over 2000 Citizen Service Centres (CSCs), Akshaya is playing a key role in rural empowerment and economic development and is a catalyst in creating economic growth by creation of direct and indirect employment in the State by focusing on various activities of e-governance, e-learning, e-transactions, etc. Through this Yathra we aim to inform all the citizens about the services they will get from an Akshaya Centre near their house and urge them to avail the benefits of an Akshaya centre.” Said Korath V Mathew.

Special stalls will be set up in each district headquarters when the Yathra reaches the respective district for citizens to attend and understand the various services offered by Akshaya centres. The stalls will offer Akshaya services such as e-Payment, e-Filing, online application of Ration Cards, Registration of BPL families under Health Insurance, collection of subscription amount for NRK welfare fund, etc.

“On November 18, 2010 when the Yathra culminates in Trivandrum, we have a seminar showcasing Akshaya’s activities, future challenges and a presentation by our clients (other government departments). The celebrations will culminate with an awards ceremony for Akshaya entrepreneurs to recognize their contribution in the success of Akshaya.” Added Korath V Mathew.

At the flagging off ceremony, the presidential address will be delivered by Shri. C T Ahmed Ali, MLA and the felicitations will be delivered by Kasargode District Collector Shri. Anand Singh IAS, at the venue. The other dignitaries expected to be present at the venue are Shri. K Kunjiraman MLA, Shri. K V Kunjiraman, MLA, Shri. Pallipram Balam MLA, Shri H Kunjambu, MLA and Principal Secretary for IT Dr. Ajay Kumar. The inaugural ceremony of flagging off the Akshaya Janasevana Prajarana Yathra from Kasargode will be done through the video conference facility of IT@School from Thiruvananthapuram.

Akshaya Service Delivery Manager, Mr. K S Ramesh Kumar and Assistant District Coordinator for Kollam, Mr. Regi Thomlal as participated in the press conference.

About Akshaya

Akshaya is a landmark ICT project by the Kerala State Information Technology Mission to bring the benefits of this technology to the entire population of the State. It is instrumental in rural empowerment and economic development. It has opened over 2000 Citizen Service Centres across the State with at least two centres (e-Kendra) in every village Panchayat. Each e-kendra, set up within 2-3 kilometres of every household cater to the requirements of around 1000-3000 families to make available the power of networking and connectivity to common man. The project is a catalyst in creating massive economic growth and creation of direct and indirect employment in the State by focusing on the various facts of e-learning, e-transaction, e-governance etc.

Some of the services provided by Akshaya are:

· eLiteracy programmes

· Citizen Services

· Educational programmes

· e-Krishi

· Service and Payroll Administrative Repository of Kerala (SPARK)

· Online application of Ration Card

· Registration of BPL families under Health Insurance

· Unique Identification Number

· Collection of Yearly subscription of NRK Welfare Fund

· E-Grantz for SC/ST