Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley and the chairman of Indian ICT giant NIIT, Rajendra S Pawar, met in New Delhi yesterday to take the Nu 2.05 billion Total Solutions project forward.
The project, funded by the Government of India, is aimed at creating a knowledge-based Bhutanese society by harnessing information and communications technology.
Bhutan’s Information and Communications Secretary, Dasho Kinley Dorji, who also attended the meeting along with the Bhutanese ambassador in New Delhi and the GNH Commission Secretary, said the concepts, goals and expectations from the project were tabled and discussed.
“Today’s meeting was for the Prime Minister to make very clear our goals, the concept of the project, the boundaries and what are our expectations from the project,” he said.
He added that groundwork was being done by reaching a very clear understanding between the government and the NIIT, which is executing the project.
The project will provide access to information technology and IT solutions to a significant proportion of Bhutan’s population, including government officials, teachers, entrepreneurs and rural children, by training and establishing ICT enabled schools, computer labs, and computer stations in rural Bhutan over the next five years.
The Prime Minister and Pawar will meet again in Mumbai next week to discuss the project further, on the sidelines of the World HRD Congress where the PM is the keynote speaker.
Staff Reporter
