Union Cabinet Minister of Electronics & Information Technology, Communications and Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw virtually inaugurated the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) Centre Leh, Extension Centre Kargil and IT Enabled Incubation Centre for Handicraft and Handloom Sector on Tuesday.
The inauguration event organized at NIELIT Campus Leh was graced by R K Mathur Lieutenant Governor, Ladakh, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, Member of Parliament UT of Ladakh, Saugat Biswas, Commissioner Secretary IT, UT of Ladakh and Dr Madan Mohan Tripathi, Director General NIELIT. Feroz Ahmad Khan, Chief Executive Councilor, LAHDC, Kargil, and Dr Jaideep Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, MeitY joined the event online.
During the inauguration, Ashwini Vaishnaw reiterated the commitment of PM Modi to the development of the UT of Ladakh. With the abrogation of Article 370 and the formation of a new UT, the path of development in this area is diverse. He further added that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will immediately give a nod to any proposal related to IT Education, Training, and Incubation for the development of UT of Ladakh.
The minister also said that the whole of UT of Ladakh will have mobile connectivity. Even if there are ten villages on top of the hill the connectivity will be provided. The communication ministry is looking for available technological solutions as an alternative to optical fibre and once it is finalized and regulatory requirements are met, the mobile connectivity would be provided across UT of Ladakh as well as Kargil, Jammu & Kashmir in the first phase.
He further informed that an indigenous 5G stack is ready to be used for the up-gradation of BSNL towers and the first phase will be rolled out in the month of September 2022. By 2023, all the hilly states including UT of Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh etc. would have upgraded BSNL towers.
Lieutenant Governor R K Mathur appreciated the launch of NIELIT Leh as it would play a vital role in augmenting IT enablement in UT of Leh. He emphasized that NIELIT Leh, along with offering its normal courses, has contributed to the Digital Literacy of the UT of Ladakh.
