The Hindu Business Line : Pitroda for Internet backbone

ENCOURAGING TALENT: (From left) Mr Mahesh J Prasad, President, Applications Solutions & Content Group, Reliance Communications; Mr Sam Pitroda, Chairperson, National Knowledge Commission; and Mr Kiran Karnik, President, Nasscom, at the 2nd Reliance Mobile Developer Awards in the Capital on Wednesday. - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , May 10

The National Knowledge Commission Chairperson, Mr Sam Pitroda, has said that the country should have an Internet backbone, especially as many optic fibres were lying unused.

Stating that cost was not an impediment, Mr Pitroda, said the country should be connected with broadband to widen the knowledge base, and that information should be made more accessible to help the young innovate and excel.

Mr Pitroda felicitated the winners of the second Mobile Developer Awards organised by Reliance Developer Programme, which aims at encouraging outstanding young talent in the area of mobile application development in India.

In the corporate category, Astute Systems, Indore clinched the first prize for its Hanuman Chalisa application; while in the student category, Mr Aditya Sharma, Mr Siddharth Shah, Ms Vasundhara Kantroo from DAIICT, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, walked away with the first prize for their Prashnavali application.

In the Hanuman Chalisa application, music is played on the mobile while `dohas' are displayed in Hindi or English. The graphical application provides `dohas' in detail or brief. Organised under the corporate and student categories, the contest was open between November 2005 and February 2006.