Cabinet approves of National Knowledge Network

With use of high speed data communication network, the National Knowledge Commission (NKC) had recommended that all knowledge institutions were to be inter-connected for encouraging sharing of knowledge, specialized resources and collaborative research. This recommendation has recently received approval and the Cabinet committee has accorded approval for the establishment of a National Knowledge Network (NKN) to be implemented by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The government's decision to set up such a NKN was announced in 2008-09. An initial amount of INR 100 crore was allocated to the department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT for the establishing the NKC.

A high-level committee was also set up to coordinate and monitor the establishment of the NKN. The NKN is expected to 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. Around 25 crore Point of Presence (PoPs) and 600 secondary PoPs are to be a part of the above mentioned network. Around 1500 institutions are to be connected through this initiative. The national network will catalyze knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer between stakeholders seamlessly - that too across the nation and globally.