Cabinet nod for convergence of 2 e-learning schemes
31.12.69
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the merger of two Government schemes - National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) and National Knowledge Network (NKN).
The former was run by the Human Resource Development Ministry and the latter was under the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT.
Under NKN, the aim was to connect 1,500 educational institutions with high speed data communication network.
The Cabinet meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, decided to set a target of enabling e-learning in 25,000 colleges and 2,000 polytechnics. Of these, 18,000 colleges had been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in 2009.
“There will be a shift in technology from copper wire-based connectivity to optic fibre cable (OFC)-based connectivity in respect of already connected universities and university-level institutions. The remaining universities, university level institutions will be connected on OFC with the provisioning of 400 nodes of LAN (local area network) on an average (including private universities),” said Ms Ambika Soni, Minister for Information & Broadcasting.
Source: Hindu Business Line
UPA govt targets Mayawati's vote bank
31.12.69
New Delhi: The Union cabinet on Tuesday approved a policy under which central ministries and state-run firms will have to source a certain proportion of goods and services they buy every year from small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The decision is among a number of recent initiatives taken by the government aimed at improving its image, damaged by several corruption scandals, and its inability to control inflation. It comes ahead of next year’s elections in key states, including Uttar Pradesh.
Some portion of the goods and services sourced from SMEs will have to be from firms owned by people belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes (SCs and STs).
SCs constitute the main electoral base of Bahujan Samaj Party chief and Uttar Padesh chief minister Mayawati. The Congress party, which heads the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition at the Centre, has been trying to regain lost ground in the state.
Source: Livemint