From the basics in the use of internet to e-governance in government establishments, a wide range of applications of information technology is on display at the Internet Exhibition that was opened on Thursday by Director of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation Armoogam Parasuramen, as part of the World Classical Tamil Conference at CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex.
Various departments of the government and private firms have put up 124 stalls where vehicle tracking system, online tax payment, networking of government hospitals and net-enabled service centres and animation techniques are demonstrated. The exhibition will be on till June 27, the concluding day of the conference.
Mr. Parasuramen, Union Minister for Textiles Dayanidhi Maran and State Minister for Information Technology Poongothai Aladi Aruna visited the stalls spread over two halls.
Near the entrance is the pavilion of the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu, showcasing the State Government's e-governance initiatives. It explains the initiatives taken up at various levels of governance, including the local bodies.
A few paces away is the Coimbatore Corporation's stall where it displays the civic body website's redone home page that was inaugurated on Thursday. Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra explained the online submission of building plans, e-tender and e-auction facilities offered by the civic body.
The tracking of garbage trucks using the Radio Frequency Identification system and the bio-metric attendance for workers are the other initiatives on display.
The announcement of bus stops to passengers comes from a pavilion put up by the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation and the State Express Transport Corporation. Officials at the pavilion said this was part of an intelligent transport system that announced bus stops to passengers in a bus.
Two buses in Coimbatore city had been equipped with this.
The officials also demonstrated a vehicle tracking system now in use in Chennai. They tracked a bus travelling from Koyambedu terminal to Tiruchi. The speed of the vehicle, the distance from the last and the next stops and the distance to be covered till Tiruchi appeared on the screen. An official said any breaching of the speed limit would trigger an alarm at the control centre.
The government-owned transport corporations had introduced online booking facilities for their inter-State services at 56 centres in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry. The use of information technology had improved the services, he said.
A stall of the Tamil Nadu Police shows how information technology is used in crime detection. One of the techniques demonstrated is finger print matching.
The Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project's stall explains the e-initiatives of the Department of Health and Family Welfare.
According to a doctor at the stall, 42 secondary referral unit Government Hospitals have been networked in the State. Registering, prescription and even discharge summary have been computerised.
A backdrop depicting a lush green locale in a village and a small structure explains Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited's focus on providing advanced services in rural areas.
P.T. Mathew, Principal General Manager, Coimbatore, said: “We provide bandwidth to the Common Service Centres in rural areas. People can pay mobile phone, land phone and even electricity bills here.”
The BSNL's stall is also demonstrating the 3G services.
Writer-orator Suki Sivam appears on a LCD screen, delivering a talk on Thirukkural. In the backdrop are animals and birds amid sylvan settings.
This is animation effect, explained a person managing the pavilion of a private animation firm. Quite a number of other stalls demonstrate various techniques of animation. One of them plays the animation versions of popular fables.
And, capturing the spirit of the Tamil conference are two massive boards on either side of a corridor linking the two halls. Printed on these are Tamil equivalents of software and hardware terminology in English.
“Sol seyali” for word processor, “pizhai” for error and “vazhu neekki” for debug were among the words listed.
