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<DIV><SPAN class=843311107-29092004>Friends:</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843311107-29092004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843311107-29092004>Shahiduddin Akbar comments that "Nowhere in
the world, Telecenter has widely expanded". Largely true, but it will
change very soon. A massive programme of establishing knowledge centres in
everyone of the more than 625,000 villages of India by 15 August 2007 has been
</SPAN><SPAN class=843311107-29092004>launched under the leadership of Prof. M S
Swaminathan. Called "Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre", this
programme is based on multi-stakeholder partnership and the active members
include government departments (Department of Information
Technology, Department of Space, etc.), Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India, Higher educational institutions and research laboratories, civil society
organizations, local government institutions, corporations and industry
associations, and so on. Expert committees have been forme to take care of
content, connectivity, resources, training, policy issues, etc. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843311107-29092004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843311107-29092004>We will share the concept and delivery of
this project with the participants of the South-South Exchange Travelling
Workshop that would take place in the village knowledge centres of the M S
Swaminathan Research Foundation in southern India during 15-22 October 2004. The
participants come from Asia, Africa and Latin America and their participation is
supported by GKP. Incidentally, this workshop is an annual event and it helps
southern development workes learn from one another. </SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843311107-29092004></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843311107-29092004>Arun</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=843311107-29092004>[Subbiah Arunachalam]</SPAN></DIV>
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