more-in Minister for Information Technology M Manikandan has said that the government is all set to roll out ‘Illamthorum Inayam’, providing internet service to households on Fibre to Home Technology (FTTH). Addressing after distributing free laptops to school students here on Tuesday, he said in the first phase, the government proposed to digitally connect 12,524 village panchayats and identified the villages. The digital connectivity was aimed at helping people in rural areas to get access to high quality medical services and consultations through videoconferencing, using internet, he said. Addressing functions organised by the School Education department in Thiruvadanai and RS Mangalam blocks, the Minister distributed free laptops to 1,153 students at the total cost of ?1.72 crore. Mr. Manikandan said after former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had launched the free distribution of laptops to school students, the government, during the last five years, had distributed lap tops to 33 lakh students on a total outlay of ?8,900 crore. For this year, the government proposed to distribute free laptops to 5.35 lakh students and the distribution was going in all the districts, he said.

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