Santhosh Babu leads some of the key projects of the Kerala government as MD of KFON (Kerala Fibre Optic Network), MD of KSITIL (Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd), CMD of IKM (Information Kerala Mission), and Head of the Work Near Home Project. A medical doctor-turned-IAS officer of the 1995 batch of the Tamil Nadu cadre, he took voluntary retirement as principal secretary of Information Technology in Tamil Nadu in 2020 and joined Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam party. Santhosh, who joined the Kerala government in the rank of principal secretary in 2021, explains in detail the status of the various initiatives, including free internet to BPL families (via KFON), mobile app-based government services (KSmart), etc. Edited excerpts from an interaction with The New Indian Express - Kerala.
0:59 - Internet a basic right
7:37 - Government offices and Internet
13:02 - 5G Technology
23:13 - Government Support
27:52 - Funding Issues
30:32 - Accessing documents through KSmart
34:07 - How connected have be become?
40:18 - Kerala and Tamil Nadu Comparison
47:54 - Future of KSmart
51:34 - Acquiring New Skills
53:23 - Future of K-FON
56:35 - Skyrocketing Data-Usage
1:01:51 - Santhosh Babu IAS, Also a Doctor
1:09:35 - Kerala, A High-Performing State
#SanthoshBabuIAS #Interview #KFon #ExpressDialogues
News from across the state as well as the latest updates on Kochi curated and shared here, the official account of New Indian Express for Kerala.