Fwd: Releases.........pt3

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Press Information Bureau Ministry of I&B <pib.kolkata@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 2:39 PM
Subject: Releases.........pt3



Press Information Bureau
Government of India
* * * * * *
Ministry of Communications & Information Technology
Proposal for Setting up of National Knowledge Network (NKN)
New Delhi: March 25, 2010

Decision:  Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure has approved the
establishment of the National Knowledge Network (NKN) at an outlay of
Rs.5990 crore to be implemented by NIC over a period of 10 years.

Point-wise details

1.                   Background:

1.1 One of the important recommendations of the National Knowledge
Commission (NKC) is to inter-connect all knowledge institutions
through high speed data communication network. This would encourage
sharing of knowledge, specialized resources and collaborative
research.

1.2 The Government's decision to set up such a National Knowledge
Network was announced by the Finance Minister in the Budget speech of
2008-09. An initial amount of Rs.100 crore for FY 2008-09 was
allocated to the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of
Communications and IT for establishing the National Knowledge Network.
A high level committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Dr. R.
Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India,
to coordinate and monitor the establishment of the NKN.

2.                   Implementation strategy and targets:

2.1 The architecture of the National Knowledge Network will be
scalable and the network will consist of an ultra-high speed core
(multiples of 10 Gbps and upwards).  The core shall be complemented
with a distribution layer at appropriate speeds. The participating
institutions can connect to the NKN at speeds of 1 Gbps or to the
distribution layer through a last mile connectivity bandwidth.

2.2 The NKN will provide nation-wide ultra high speed
backbone/data-network highway. Various other networks in the country
can take advantage of this ultra high speed backbone, with national
and international reach to create independent and closed user groups.

2.3 The NKN will have about 25 core Point of Presence (PoPs) and 600
secondary PoPs. It will connect around 1500 institutions. The Physical
Infrastructure (setting up of core network) is expected to be
completed in a span of 24 months.

3.                   Major Impact:

3.1  NKN will enable scientists, researchers and students from diverse
spheres across the country to work together for advancing human
development in critical and emerging areas. NKN will catalyse
knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer between stakeholders
seamlessly – that too across the nation and globally. NKN is expected
to encourage a larger section of research and educational institutions
to create intellectual property. NKN would enable use of specialized
applications, which allow sharing of high performance computing
facilities, e-libraries, virtual classrooms and very large databases.

3.2 Health, Education, Grid Computing, Agriculture and e-Governance
are the main applications identified for implementation and delivery
on NKN. Applications such as countrywide classrooms will address the
issue of faculty shortage and ensure quality education delivery across
the country. The crux of the success of the Knowledge Network is
related to the education related applications, databases and delivery
of services to the users on demand.

4.                   Current status of initial phase

In the initial phase, a core Backbone consisting of 15 Points of
Presence (PoPs) have been established with 2.5 Gbps capacity.  Around
40 institutions of higher learning and advanced research have already
been connected to the network and 6 virtual classrooms set up.

ad/lv/dk/kol/14:34 hrs.

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
* * * * * *
Ministry of Shipping
Installation of mechanized fertilizer handling facilities at Eastern
Quay-7 Berth in the inner harbour of Visakhapatnam Port on DBFOT basis
New Delhi: March 25, 2010

The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure today accorded approval for
Installing mechanized fertilizer handling facilities at Eastern Quay-7
(EQ-7) Berth in the inner harbour of Visakhapatnam Port (VPT) on
Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis at
Visakhapatnam at an estimated cost of Rs.217.58 crores.

The mechanization of the berth along with additional bagging and
dispatch facility would enable the Port to handle 5.2 Million Tonnes
of fertilizer per annum.  The project is to be implemented within a
period of 24 months from the date of award of the concession.

The following are the benefits/results of the project:-

i)      It will enable the post to handle 5.2 Million Tonnes(MT) of
fertilizer per annum with a capacity addition of about 3.7 MT per
annum.

ii)     It will enhance the operational efficiency levels at various
stages of fertilizer handling at the port, reduce cost of handling and
avoid demurrages to ships.

iii)    It will lead to faster unloading and speedier evacuation of
fertilizers at the port.

iv)     The mechanized handling of fertilizer will also decongest the
roads, avoid spillage, minimize the pollution and other environmental
problems.

ad/lv/dk/kol/14:34 hrs.

--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/