A 'national alliance' has been formed to route the benefits of information technology to Indian villages, noted scientist M S Swaminathan said on Tuesday.
Underlining the importance of knowledge and digital connectivity, he said the alliance -- 'National Alliance for mission 2007 - every village a knowledge centre' - would mobilise the power of partnership among public, private, academic and mass media sectors to take the benefits of IT to the 6,00,000 Indian villages by 2007.
Addressing the plenary session of the Science Congress in Ahmedabad, he emphasised the need for systems to predict natural disasters and a proper communication system to disseminate information.
Swaminathan, giving an instance of how connectivity could benefit villages, said when the tsunami hit the Indian coast last Sunday no casualty was reported from Veerampattinam village in Pondicherry, thanks to the knowledge centre with an Internet communication system.
The center had provided the village prior information about the approaching killer waves.
"It was by chance that one of the former members of the knowledge centre was in Singapore, who got information on the tsunami in advance," he said.
"He rang up the village and the information was then disseminated through volunteers, and fishermen did not venture into the sea," Swaminathan said.
In contrast, a nearby village, which did not have this facility, reported high number of casualties, he added.
