Digitized India ?

A few days back , India banned 59 Chinese Mobile apps

Then Central Govt threw a grand challenge to startups to launch locally developed apps to replace those banned ones – including one for Video Meetings ( like Zoom )

That made Reliance Jio to come out with JioMeet ( 100 participants + FREE )

No doubt rest will follow

Question :

Was that our “ Priority No: 1 “ ?

Or , is finding an URGENT SOLUTION to the following problem, our “ Priority No : 1 “ ?

HRD makes 1^st attempt to know student access to Net and Computer  

Extract :

Ø  While a recent Unicef report said more than 270 million students in India have been impacted by the school closure due to Covid-19 and that only 24% Indian households have Internet access, there is no clear government assessment yet on the subject

Ø  The HRD ministry is also, meanwhile, working on guidelines for digital education with specific provisions for children without Internet and device access.

     It has advocated TV- and radio-based programmes beaming out at panchayat

     community halls, besides teachers addressing student queries on a weekly basis over

     the phone or WhatsApp

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Here are some good news :

Ø  Maharashtra launches 3 channels on JioTV for X , XII , online learning 

Extract :

          The state school education department launched three educational channels on JioTV

          Mobile application, and one Radio Channel on JioSaavn, on Sunday

          The lectures will be aired for six hours daily

         The department aims to replace physical classes with this initiative.

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Ø  5G & Wi-Fi 6 : Powering our connected future  

  

Extract :

Edu-tech platforms can be made more interactive, seamless, and democratized.

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Ø  Microsoft, NSDC partner to offer digital skills to youth in India 

          Extract :

          The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) on Wednesday said it has

          entered into a strategic partnership with Internet giant Microsoft with a vision to

          equip over 1 lakh Indian youths with digital skills in the next 12 months.

          Microsoft will collaborate with NSDC’s eSkill India portal to provide free access to

          learning resources …….

         “The digital transformation of India is driving demand for tech-enabled jobs across

          every industry and with it the need for digital skills,” said Anant Maheshwari,

          President, Microsoft India.

        “The collaboration aims at accelerating online learning for enhancing the employability

        of the young workforce in a rapidly evolving digital environment. With focus on new-

        age and advanced skills, the initiative will meet the growing demands of

        our, economy,” said Manish Kumar, CEO & MD, NSDC. {mkumar@nsdcindia.org }

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Ø  Deepfakes Are Becoming the Hot New Corporate Training Tool 

Extract :

THIS MONTH, advertising giant WPP will send unusual corporate training videos to tens of thousands of employees worldwide

AI is now being used by major corporations for such anodyne purposes as corporate training

Pretorius hopes to distribute the clips, 20 modules of about 5 minutes each, to 50,000 employees this year.

AI video and image-generation technology are now available to any interested amateur

Synthesia, the London startup that powered WPP’s deepfake project, makes video featuring synthesized talking heads for corporate clients including Accenture and SAP. Last year, it helped David Beckham appear to deliver a PSA on malaria in several languages, including Hindi, Arabic, and Kinyarwanda, spoken by millions of people in Rwanda.

Making a video with Synthesia’s tools can take seconds. Select an avatar from a list, type the script, and click a button labeled “Generate video.”

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My Take :

Ø  27 crore ( 270 million ) students are unable to attend classes due to lockdown

Ø  20 crore ( 200 million ) Indian households have TV sets

Ø  Hence, all Indian States should follow the example set by Maharashtra and launch TV channels for each SUBJECT taught at each STANDARD class

Ø  Disadvantage of TV Channel-based “ lectures “ is that these are one-way monologues.

    There is no “ dialogue “ between teacher and students ( No questions / answers –

    ensuring that TV watching students understood the subject being taught )

Ø  This is why ZOOM / GOOGLE MEET / JIO-MEET are preferred ( since interactive )

Ø  But, to use these platforms ( for online education purpose ) require :

#   Internet-enabled device ( a Computer / Tablet / Big Smart phone )

#   Internet connection ( Broadband Cable / Fibre or Wi-Fi )

[ A ] …..How can we make available device ( FREE or at nominal cost ) ?

Fortunately , Shri Prakash Javdekarji has taken following timely initiative :

          HRD seeks Rs 60,900 crore for giving laptops to college students 

     Extract :

          The Union Human Resource Development ministry…… plans to launch a

          Rs 60,900 crore scheme to provide laptops/devices to over 4 crore college students

         over the next five years, to bridge the digital divide. [ 80 lakh / year ]

         The plan for laptops comes at a time when the education system is faced with the

         challenge of running nearly an entire academic session in online mode due to Covid-

         19 and is grappling with the reality of a huge chunk of students being left out due to

         the lack of access to computers and internet.

        The higher education department has proposed to launch from 2021-22 a scheme for

        ‘ Making Devices Available ’ to 40% of students in higher education, estimated to be

        4.06 crore in five years

       The ministry proposes to start with distributing laptops / tablets of about Rs 15,000

       each to 1.5 crore students in 2021-22 at a cost of Rs 22,500 crore

      Of this, Rs 13,500 crore is expected to be borne by the Centre and the remaining Rs

      9,000 crore would be the states’ share

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     I urge Shri Prakash Javdekarji ( HRD Minister ) to consider my following proposal as a

     much cheaper alternative to the above-mentioned plan :

     

Let Central Government float a global tender for pre-owned desktops ( in working condition and less than 5 years old ) for 100 million units ( 10 crore ).

I think we could get for Rs 2500 each ( at total cost of Rs 25,000 crore ).

Deliveries could be spread over 24 months

[ B ]……How to provide FREE internet connections to ALL households ?

Government may not be in a position to provide a FREE connection – at least till our economy is fully back on the track

And no one can expect the Private Sector companies to provide FREE connections

I urge the government to evaluate and urgently implement, one of the following options :

In my following blog / email,

( 08 April 2018 / https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2018/04/wifi-lifi-broadband-internet.html ),

I re-reported :

“ The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has mooted a concept of open architecture-based public Wi-Fi grid to bring down the cost of internet by 90 per cent.

By doing so, it will allow small entrepreneurs such as tea stalls, grocery shops and vendors to set up and maintain access points.

Device manufacturers, payment companies, ISPs / telcos and consumer internet companies can provide the remaining pieces to set up public data offices (PDOs), it said on Thursday “

Details at :

https://www.cdot.in/cdotweb/web/product_page.php?lang=en&catId=3&pId=30

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/trai-shares-concept-of-open-architecture-based-public-wi-fi/article23446957.ece

I also suggested following alternative :

But what we need is :

FREE internet connectivity to every Indian , everywhere , all the time

Here is my suggestion to achieve that

(https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2018/04/wifi-lifi-broadband-internet.html ):

*  Very soon , whole of India will switch over to LED lamps ( street lamps – homes –

    shops – offices – factories etc )

*  Within next few months , electric power will reach all the villages under “ Saubhagya “

*  Broadband over Power Lines  has established that internet can be delivered over

    simple electrical distribution network ( - that means , to every place in India )

   { http://tec.gov.in/pdf/Studypaper/BPL%20[Final].pdf  }

    I believe, this technology is already working in USA – Canada – Europe etc

*  Li-Fi technology can deliver internet to all internet-connected devices , which are

    receiving light from an LED lamp , placed above

Li-Fi provides better bandwidth, efficiency, connectivity and security than Wi-Fi and has already achieved high speeds larger than 1 Gbps under the laboratory conditions. 

By leveraging the low-cost nature of LEDs and lighting units, there are lots of opportunities to exploit this medium. 

Li-Fi is the transfer of data through light by taking fibre out of fibre optics and sending data through LED light bulb

( source : http://tec.gov.in/pdf/Studypaper/lifi%20study%20paper%20-%20approved.pdf  )

Related Reading :

Light Communications as a part of 5G and beyond   /  23  Sept  2019

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With regards,

Hemen Parekh /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  13 July 2020

   

    

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