IIT Madras and rural employment

The institute’s Research Park is looking to generate rural employment.

What’s it about? The 11.5-acre IIT Madras Research Park is a big success for many with its facilities and ₹50-60 crore annual revenue. For its president Ashok Jhunjhunwala, it’s not enough. There’s a lack of rural jobs causing migration with negative consequences for migrants and cities. To tackle this, it has set up a Rural Technology Business Incubator (RTBI).

• The RTBI has set up a company called Rubiz IT Services which will run a rural data annotation centre in the Tirunelveli district. Data will be tagged and categorised for AI applications, a job for high-school-educated rural people.
• HTC Global will support this initiative. NASSCOM will also be a partner giving their clients access to the centre. The first one will begin operations next month.

Opportunities: The centre will bridge the gap between urban and rural areas to produce new jobs and change the rural landscape. For Jhunjhunwala, now’s the right time with a good power supply, communication, and a better-educated workforce. In the long run, similar centres to the one in Tirunelveli will be set up across the state.