AFTER SPREADING its wings in North Canada, Allahabad's Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-A) is now all set to make its presence felt in the ASEAN countries.
The Deemed University has been entrusted with the task of setting up a unique Science and Technology (S&T) Digital Library in the member-countries of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) by the Government of India.
Established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original member-countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, ASEAN today has Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia as its members.
"The ASEAN region has a population of about 500 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometres, a combined gross domestic product of almost US$ 700 billion, and a total trade of about US$ 850 billion. India's role in establishing the S&T Digital Library is another step forward in strengthening of India-ASEAN relationships that has grown significantly during the past few years," informed IIIT-A Director Dr MD Tiwari in an exclusive tête-à-tête with HT Allahabad Live.
It is worth mentioning that ASEAN and India have committed themselves to jointly contribute to the promotion of peace, stability and development in the Asia-Pacific region and the world, and respond positively to the challenges of a dynamic regional and international environment.
Dr Tiwari said that a proposal for setting up the S&T Digital Library was extended by India to the visiting Indonesian President in 2002. "Its concept paper was presented in 2003 and the review took place in May and July 2003.
{{/usCountry}}Dr Tiwari said that a proposal for setting up the S&T Digital Library was extended by India to the visiting Indonesian President in 2002. "Its concept paper was presented in 2003 and the review took place in May and July 2003.
{{/usCountry}}Thereafter a high-level delegation visited Indonesia, Thailand and other ASEAN countries to identify and verify the need, structure and contour of the proposed digital library network," he added.
Dr Tiwari said that a joint survey too has been conducted by India and other participating countries. "In this regard I attended a meeting in New Delhi on October 16 that was also attended by Ministry of External Affairs and Department of Science and Technology officials. In the meeting the final decision to entrust IIIT-A with the task of setting up the digital library was taken," he added.
"It is a massive task as the need is colossal. Indonesia alone has 1300 universities as compared to just 300 universities in India. So a proper preparation is needed to truly ascertain the magnitude as well as the capacity of the mirror server of the proposed digital library that is to be set up here at IIIT-A," Dr Tiwari said.
One such digital library—INDUS— is already existing in India and which has been set up at the cost of Rs 21 crore.
"A number of concepts, models and formulae are being mooted and deliberated for the ambitious digital library network. A high-level seminar is also scheduled to be held in February 2007 either at Jakarta in Indonesia or at Kuala Lampur in Malaysia in which we along with our counterparts will chalk out the blueprint of the network," Dr Tiwari said.