https://youtube.com/shorts/JVOGOZzxDGM?feature=share Minister Rajeev Chandrasekar
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan
Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has questioned the Kerala government's decision to employ Chinese-made cable or optical fibre for the Kerala Fibre Option Network (K-FON) project. he KFON project, a collaborative effort between the Kerala State Electricity Board and Kerala State IIT Infrastructure Limited, aimed to provide internet connectivity to the entire state as well as free internet to BPL families, but failed to comply with regulations as it made use of cables originating from China.
According to the minister, the issue does not stem from any bias against a particular country or source of equipment, but rather concerns the upholding of a trusted source framework across the country.
In response to the dispute between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh last year, the Indian Centre introduced a national security directive for the telecom sector.
The directive proposed using "trusted products" from "trusted sources" for telecommunication services. Moreover, it was reported that the project tender required the use of products designed and tested within India under the 'Make In India' initiative.
In a statement on Friday, he demanded an explanation from the state government as to why they are not opting for domestic products and whether any pressure was involved in this decision .
Taking exception to the Kerala government’s move to use Chinese-origin cable or optical fibre in the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (KFON) project, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday asked the state government explain the “reason or pressure” for not using the domestically available product.
Addressing the media over India’s growth in the digital sector in the last nine years under Prime Minister Narendra Modi government, Chandrasekhar pointed out that the country has many optical fibre plants. “This optical fibre is a domestically available product. There are many plants in India that manufacture optical fibre. Why did they (Kerala government) need to import from China? What was the pressure? What was the reason,” the minister asked.
Rajeev Chandrashekar
Reports said an audit of KFON project, a joint venture of Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and Kerala State IIT Infrastructure Limited that aimed to provide internet connectivity to the state and free internet to BPL families, revealed that China-origin cables were used. It is violating the regulations, the minister said. “We are not against any country nor are we particularly against a source of the product. But there is one framework in the country — a trusted source. It means, an equipment and its source should be trusted wherever it is from. There is nothing like against one particular country,” said the minister.
Following the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh in 2020, the Centre had come up with a national security directive on the telecom sector, suggesting that telecom service providers use devices which are designated as “trusted products” from “trusted sources”. Reports also pointed out that the project tender floated by the authorities had stipulated strict use of only those products under the ‘Make In India’ programme that are designed, manufactured and tested in India
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