The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is planning to collaborate with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to deploy V-SAT stations on a pilot basis for around 80 tribal villages in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Maharashtra to bring Internet services there, according to a proposal unveiled on Thursday at a ministry event meant to brainstorm innovative projects for tribal development.
ISRO chief S. Somnath confirmed to The Hindu that they are going to collaborate with the Ministry on this project and that the two bodies would soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding to give pilot connectivity (services such as Internet, medical and educational connectivity) to these tribal-dominated villages.
This proposal was among the many that were tabled at Thursday’s meeting on innovative projects for empowering tribal communities, chaired by Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda. In addition to the collaboration with ISRO, proposals for projects with other eminent institutes like AIIMS Delhi, IIT Delhi, IIM Calcutta, and IISc Bengaluru were discussed.
