State’second ‘E-Gyan Kendra’ to come up in Jhalawar district

Jhalawar district, which found a place in the Union government’s book on innovations ‘New Beginning’ in 2017 for setting up the first E-Gyan Kendra in Rajasthan, and another centre will be set up in the Iklera region.

The first E-Gyan Kendra was set up under the joint initiative of Rajasthan government and Moinee Foundation in the Sunel panchayat samiti of Jhalawar district. The centre aimed to facilitate e-governance and e-learning to villagers through local Wi-Fi network without dependence on internet.

“Soon, state’s second E-Gyan Kendra will be established in the Iklera region with the help of district administration of Jhalawar, which will provide several free e-learning facilities not only to students, but also to local people including traders without dependence on internet,” said Dr Vijay Vyas, director of Moinee Foundation.

“Inspired by Jhalawar’s E-Gyan Kendra, Chhattisgarh has seen establishment of e-Mitra Kendra at 125 gram panchayats in Dantewada district,” he said.

Jhalawar district collector Dr Jitendra Kumar Soni, the man behind the initiative, said unavailability of the internet or slow network speed often pose connectivity problem in rural areas. “E-Gyan Kendra based on an open media server was established in Sunel panchayat samiti in July 2016 to provide free access to the best of open source digital content to the local community without dependence on internet,” he said.

E-Gyan Kendra offers a Wi-Fi network through routers and point-to-point access, where preloaded e- content is available on an open media server that can be regularly updated. E-books, educational videos, government schemes and other information can be accessed. Open media server empowers users to access preloaded content on Wi-Fi-enabled devices like tablets, mobile phones, laptops and computers without dependence on internet. The existing set-up gives access within 1.5 km radius.

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