"Microsoft Corporation India will set up a research and development laboratory at Kurukshetra University for the promotion of Hindi in computer application," a Haryana government official said here Thursday. The decision was taken at a meeting between Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and Microsoft India managing director Rajiv Kaul. Microsoft and the Punjab government Thursday signed an agreement in the presence of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Kaul to jointly work towards accelerating e-governance at different levels. They will also jointly work on information and communication technology education to make Punjab a "knowledge rich" state. In his meeting with Kaul, Chautala suggested that care should be taken while developing Hindi software to use words that would be easy to understand and simple to write. Chautala was all praise for the contribution made by Microsoft in promoting IT, especially at Gurgaon, adjoining New Delhi. Haryana's proximity to the national capital and its investor-friendly climate were added attractions for entrepreneurs, he noted. A Punjab government official said the agreement with Microsoft was aimed to facilitate greater transparency, better citizen services, reduced cost of operations, enhanced agility in governance and to make the people of Punjab realise their potential by using IT. Microsoft will set up two centres of excellence for e-governance in Chandigarh and Jalandhar in collaboration with the Punjab government's IT department. These centres will showcase Microsoft technologies and solutions and demonstrate the interoperability of Microsoft technologies with other platforms. They will also be used to train Punjab government personnel.
Source: IANS