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