Sachin Pilot 

Mesmerises

Mizoram

Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology (MOSC & IT) Sachin Pilot was recently in Aizawl where he interacted with people, officials and members of the media displaying his sheer presence of mind and charismatic looks. Mr. Pilot had arrived in Aizawl to inaugurate a new CDMA 2000 1XMobile Switching Centre (MSC) of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) besides launching the wireless Broadband Service based on EVDO at Aizawl.

Speaking to the media fraternity on July 22nd, Mr. Pilot said that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government is committed to providing easy and affordable access to telephone services to people of the North East. “Better telephone density and broadband services are the key initiatives of the UPA Government to deliver better governance to citizens and businesses besides customer services to the common people.” The Minister said that with the inauguration of a Mobile Switching Centre in Aizawl, people will be benefited with better service. The Minister also hopes that the inauguration of BSNL’s EVDO services which will provide high- speed broadband connectivity to CDMA mobile users would be handy for rural users across Mizoram. Mr. Pilot said that the WiMax services in the North East is a wireless high speed broadband service and makes possible applications like e-medicine and e-learning. There are 19 WiMax Towers at present and 82 more would be commissioned in the current year. Speaking to the media, Mr. Pilot said that for remote villages where connectivity by conventional means is not feasible, satellite phones are being provided. At present there are 795 such DSPT’s (Digital Satellite Phones) in India. Furthermore, 1097 more such satellite phones would be installed in 2010-2011.

The Minister also assured the Mizoram Government of all assistance in implementing IT related projects. He said that Aizawl would be developed as an e- district where government functions and processes would be made available to the citizens online. To attract IT investments to the state, a Software Technology Park would be set up by the Department of Information Technology in Aizawl to harness local entrepreneurial energies and boost the economy of the state.

According to the Chief Engineer, BSNL, Mizoram, Vinod Kumar, phone services based on CDMA technology popularly known as WLL has been operational in Mizoram for nearly five years. He said that this service offers internet access at the maximum speed of 144 Kbps. He went on to say that the Government of India with the objective of making e- governance services available to the citizens is encouraging the state governments to establish the common service centers (CSC) as the service delivery points. 136 CSCs will be set up in Mizoram, he said, adding that these CSCs will be provided with broadband connectivity not only from the landline broadband equipment but also from Wi- MAX BTSs. Notably, Mizoram is starting with four Wi- MAX BTSs in the rural areas, while 39 more BTSs are pipelined to be added to the network in the second phase.

Mr. Sachin Pilot said that the North East - 1 circle comprising of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura have about 4.4 lakh BSNL Mobile subscribers and another 1.6 lakhs subscribers would be added during 2010- 2011. 342 additional mobile towers would be installed during 2010- 2011 to improve coverage and added that the UPA Government in New Delhi is committed to improve connectivity in the North East with regard to mobile, broadband and postal connectivity. It may be mentioned here that Mr. Sachin Pilot, son of Late Rajesh Pilot was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha from Dausa Parliamentary Constituency of Rajasthan. At 26 years of age he became the youngest Member of Parliament (MP) in the country. He remained a member of the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Home Affairs and a member of the Consultative in the Ministry of Civil Aviation and also a member of the Budget Estimates Committee of Parliament. It is no wonder then that Mr. Pilot has been selected as one of the Young Global Leaders, 2008 by the World Economic Forum in recognition of his professional accomplishments and commitment to society. In may 2009, Mr. Pilot was elected to Parliament from Ajmer constituency of Rajasthan and is now the serving Minister of State in the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India. He is focused on the empowerment of the farming community and youth and is also trying to inculcate a sense of social and political responsibility amongst the youth who live in the rural and the semi urban areas of the country. Besides all this, Mr. Sachin Pilot is a Board Member in the Managing Committee of Delhi Cricket Association (DDCA) as a nominee of the Government of India. He is fond of aviation and got his private Pilot’s License (PPL) from New York, USA in 1995. Versatile in nature, Mr. Pilot is well traveled and likes to keep abreast of current political and economic affairs, both domestic and abroad.

Veejay Chhetri & MK Dey