I was going through today’s Times of India, when I saw a small advertisement of Kerala Government on FOSS. I wasn’t surprised, as Kerala Government has always been in news for taking initiatives with Corporate FOSS Entities like Red Hat Inc. But I was excited to know more about the initiative, so I opened up the website. The website to my surprise was totally made in Joomla! 1.5. I liked it, unlike other govt. entities like NIC it was not in basic HTML/xHTML, it was something that websites around the Globe have been following standard CMS based approach, something that made it clear enough at the first hit – that YES Kerala Govt. is standing up to something and they have taken their first step – Joomla! 1.5.

Well I won’t be wasting your time, for those who are really interested here’s a Crash Course on what is all about -

It’s a 6 Months course, training 100 People (by the end of second year) on FOSS Technologies & Soft Skills. These people & their skills would then be utilized in Governmental > e-governance projects.

• Application Fee: Rs 500/-
• Mode of Application: Form, Online
• Course fee: Rs 50,000/-
• Reservation: 20% for SC/ST Candidates
• Eligibility Criteria: B.Tech/B.E.(CSE/IT/EC/EE) /MCA/M.Sc.(CS/IT)
• Current Intake: 25
• Selection Criteria: “Marks Obtained + Interview” | Selection at National Level
• Campus: ITeS Habitat, Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium

Well, my take on it: If you have 15 Degree of inclination of Open Source, Go for it. I have seen the Kerala Govt. involvement with Open Source since the days Red Hat got real HOT! at least in 2006 during Linux Asia Conference in New Delhi. Kerala Govt. has it’s people use Red Hat’s Desktop Linux in their Office, and believe me to a Linux user – Windows is a child’s play.

I would sure be monitoring this course, for some time. Till then Adios, namaskaar.

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