The Kanchi Shankaracharya’s prayers have been answered. The Human Resource Development Ministry has set the ball rolling and is ready to release the first tranche of funds to build an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Kanchipuram. For a tech-savvy religious leader, commanding a huge following throughout the country, this is happy news. Apart from Kanchipuram which will be the third IIIT after Allahabad and Gwalior, another similar IIIT has been sanctioned at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh for Rs 57 crore each. Not that the HRD Ministry had to think twice about the Kanchipuram project. That the seer wants an IIIT in his backyard had been conveyed to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi more than a year ago. And since the Sankaracharya ‘‘encourages scientific spirit,’’ as spokesman of the Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt says, the ministry in New Delhi was informed that the Mutt was donating 50 acres adjoining the ashram. The ministry then sanctioned the money after theplot had been earmarked. Said the Kanchi spokesman: ‘‘His Holiness stresses on effective use of computers.He himself reads and responds to e-mails sent to him by hordes of devotees.’’ Mutt authorities said the Shankaracharya has got used to video-conferencing with disciples and worshippers living abroad. The IIIT won’t be the first such institute there. The computer science Department of the deemed university at Enathur, Kanchipuram, run by the Mutt, offers programmes in computer science including engineering. The Sankara Arts and Science College, with 1,700 students, also offers degrees in computer science. The International Library at Enathur has a collection of palm leaves. These are being preserved and digitalized. And the HRD Ministry has redesigned its IIIT concept for Kanchipuram. It is going to focus on design and manufacturing to promote indigenous manufacture of hardware. An HRD official said the curriculum for the Kanchipuram IIIT has been redesigned to provide knowledge-base on computer science applications in areas like automobile manufacture, aerospace and defence, industrial machinery and the manufacture of consumer durables. The Mutt said that there was a growing demand for computer education in Kanchipuram, which is the closest city to Chennai. Already the Centre has sanctioned a Rs 90-crore project to improve Kanchipuram’s connectivity with Chennai.
