Asia Times: India/Pakistan


	May 4, 2002	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

India, Korea may have clashing Media Lab proposals

NEW DELHI - India's federal government has sought clarification from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which has started the exclusive Media Lab Asia project in India, as to whether it is negotiating with South Korea for a similar project.

India's move comes in the wake of a statement by visiting South Korean Communication and IT (information technology) Minister Yang Seung-Tains in New Delhi last week that his government was also negotiating with MIT for setting up a Media Lab project aimed at taking information technology to the masses.

"We have taken up the matter with MIT and it is not clear as to what their response to the South Korean proposal is. We will decide on the next course of action after we hear from them," official sources said, adding that a response was expected in two weeks. "There is an exclusive agreement between MIT and the government of India. From that point of view it stands for the setting up of the Media Lab in Asia only in India. Allowing any other country to set up another such project is certainly violative of the original agreement."

The South Korean information and communication minister said during his visit to India that his country was interested in taking up research in cutting-edge technology and is neogiating with MIT for a Media Lab project.

The government of India and MIT are the joint-venture partners in the Rs50 billion Media Lab Asia project formulated last year. Meanwhile, the performance evaluation committee for monitoring the progress of the ongoing projects of Media Lab Asia is likely to be fully constituted and functional by the middle of this month, sources said.

The committee, to have members from academe and business as well as experts from related fields and senior officials from different ministries, would periodically review the various projects besides giving feedback and inputs. Projects undertaken by Media Lab include Baatchit, a scheme for connecting communities for rural empowerment.

The research of Media Lab Asia is focused on four broad themes - Digital Village, Tomorrow's Tools, Bits for All and World Computers. Leading industry associations including the Confederation of Indian Industry, the National Association of Software and Services Companies, the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology and The Indus Entrepreneurs have extended support to the project.

(Asia Pulse/PTI)