Indus-DEF to bring 25 CIRCs in 15 states

BENGALURU: Indus Towers, the world’s largest telecom tower company, has partnered with Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) and inaugurated a Community Information Resource Center (CIRC) in Bengaluru.

The collaboration aims at opening up 25 such CIRCs across 15 states to help digitally empower the residents of marginalized areas across all these locations.

DEF’s CIRCs are digitally-enabled community centres that are run by and for local communities to ensure empowerment through information services. The facilities will enable the flow of information and knowledge towards disadvantaged communities and provide them with the opportunity to improve their lives through the power of technology, a release said.

Although the primary function of the CIRCs will be the same, the centers will operate across different demographic situations, languages, cultures, environments, and public diplomacy concerns, a release said.

B S Shantharaju, CEO, Indus Towers, said, “With our mission of ‘Putting India First’, we at Indus are constantly working towards the goal of taking India further with the power of telecom. Through this partnership with DEF, we aim to empower the lives of people living in the marginalized areas of the country by enabling them through technology.”

With support provided by Indus Towers, DEF will set up new CIRCs in 25 locations across the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Delhi.

Osama Manzar, Founder and Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation, said: "Digital is just not a tool but a complete medium that every citizen has to learn and adopt. Community Information Resource Centres (CIRCs) are designed to introduce digital tools to people of the community and integrate them into their lives. The CIRCs are the modern infrastructure that is taking India into the twenty first century with global gusto"

The centers are expected to be up and running by the end of 2015, and will feature wireless connectivity infrastructure along with necessary supporting hardware such as laptops, printer and scanners to provide complete digital support to each locality.