Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan today flagged off the Akshaya Janasevana Pracharna Yathra from Kasargode aimed at creating awareness on the state's ICT project.

Speaking on the occasion after inaugurating the yatra through web conferencing here, Achuthanandan said though formation of Information Technology has grown leaps and bounds, only a small percentage of the population was expoiting its capabilities.

Kerala Government's initiatives to take the benefits of IT to the masses has been realised through Akshaya Centres, he said. Akshaya has also been successful in providing direct and indirect employment to over 15,000 people.

The ceremony held using the web hosting facility at IT@School premises in Thiruvananthapuram was attended among others by IT Principal Secretary Ajay Kumar and IT@ School Director Anwar Sadath.

The yatra would culminate here on November 18 to celebrate Akshaya Day. The vehicle traversing across the state would stop at different points spreading awareness on Akshaya and its services through street plays and literatures.

Akshaya is an ambitiouis ICT project by the Kerala State Information Technology Mission to bring the benefits of this technology to the entire population of the state. It has opened 2,000 Citizen Service Centres across the state with at least two e-kendra in every village panchayat.

e-literarcy , educational,e-krishi, facilities to apply for ration card on on-line, registeration of BPL families under state's health insurance scheme are some of the programmes undertaken by Akshaya Centres.

The ceremony was witnessed by over 5000 people from the IT@School centres in all districts.