The Hindu Business Line : Akshaya-Unesco pilot project to be launched in Kannur

Thiruvananthapuam April 30 As part of the Kerala Government's programme to provide all gram panchayats in the State with their own custom-made Web portals in Malayalam, a pilot project is set to be launched in Kannur district.

The project is being implemented by Akshaya, a Government initiative, with financial and technical assistance from Unesco.

The panchayats that will get their own Web portals under the pilot project are: Azheekode, Pinarayi, Muzhappilangadi, Eramam-Kuttor, Pappinessery, Sreekantapuram, Payam, Maloor and Vengad. Besides, the Thalassery municipality and Kannur district panchayat will also be covered under the project, according to Mr. T.K. Manzoor, Director of Akshaya.

The portals will function from the Akshaya centres in each area and they will feature the local history, information about prominent individuals, organisations, institutions and places of special interest in each panchayat.

They will also contain farm information, list of enterprises and the products manufactured by them, employment opportunities available in the locality and the services provided by the local self-government institutions. There will be periodic updates and newsletters on new trends in information technology.

Mr Manzoor said the project would be extended to the rest of the State if found successful. Permission will be given for inclusion of local advertisements and yellow pages in the portals. A local level call centre facility to provide information relating to the locality was also planned, he said.

The pilot project will be fully funded by UNESCO. It will also provide support for portal design and for training and research. Local level information will be collected by community facilitators to be selected from community groups and compiled by Akshaya entrepreneurs.

The information will be processed by content managers and content editors and transferred to the portal. And the information to be included in the portal would be decided as recommended by the panchayat member in charge of the IT-related matters, Mr Manzoor said.

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