This document explains the complete picture of the Akshaya Project of Government of Kerala.

1. Akshaya – Down the years
You have to dream before your dreams can come true.
Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.
To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal.
Photo 1(either APJ single photo or Inauguration Photo)
Akshaya: The rising star on Kerala’s e-Governance horizon
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, then President of India envisioned PURA (Providing Urban
Amenities in Rural Areas) and said.
 Vision of Transformation to a developed India can be only realized if we launch
mega mission for empowering the rural people
 Creation of physical, electronic and knowledge connectivity leading to economic
opportunities in villages.
 PURA is to be a business proposition economically viable and managed by
entrepreneurs, local people and small scale industrialists.
 Government’s support should be in the form of empowering such management
agencies
The visionaries of Kerala can be proud of the moment when they launched Akshaya
Project as an initiative to address the backwardness of the Malappuram district in 2002.
Photo 2- Initial discussion meeting at Malappuram
They were able to materialize the exact concept PURA and it was officially inaugurated
by none other than Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on 18th Nov 2002.
Photo 3 – Opening Ceremony
There certainly existed a majority that could not use information technology for the well
being of the society. The idea that sparked at Malappuram was later on conceived as a
landmark ICT project of Kerala State IT Mission. At the socio economic front, for Kerala

2. to gain heights, it was important that they march ahead with time. Bridging the digital
divide was the need of the hour then. The vast majority of the populace had to be
equipped with the tools of information technology to achieve tangible progress.
Malappuram district Panchayath came forward with the plan to bring information
technology to the common household and Kerala State IT Mission, in turn acted as
government’s nodal agency for bringing transparency and accountability to the whole
process.
The grass root level ICT centers were established at Panchayath/Municipal ward
level, with the town planning department, identifying the suitable location through
spatial mapping, catering to the needs of 1000 families living in that place.
Entrepreneurs having social responsibility were selected by the concerned local bodies
to train one person from a family, which recorded 6.5 Lakh families residing in the
district.
The results were phenomenal. With the smart backing up of district Panchayth,
local bodies and officials, Akshaya Entrepreneurs of Malappuram achieved a feat which
no other place in India could achieve in 2004; making at least one person from a family,
electronically literate.
Photo 4 & 5– Concept of Akshaya in a painting& Campaign
The project opened up immense opportunities for the women participating at
various levels as entrepreneurs, master trainers etc. The community based model
attracted people’s participation as well. The connectivity (wireless) at centers enabled
the families in Malappuram to have a bond with their dear and near ones in the Gulf
countries. Akshaya Center network in Malappuram also came to be known as the
World’s biggest IP based outdoor community network
Photo 6A,6 B &Paper cutting Rosa Kutty @ 106 with Photo

3. The second phase in 2005 thus got the much required momentum to move on,
by building a wireless network to enable G2C, B2C, services to complement the e-
literacy plan. Around the same time the collection of the utility bills namely; Electricity
Bill, Water Charge, and Phone bills, filing of VAT(Value Added Tax) Returns which were
earlier done only at FRIENDS centers were integrated with Akshaya project.
Commercial Taxes – Akshaya Synergy
The success story of an e-Governance initiative of Govt. of Kerala
Study conducted by - Gulati Institute of Finance & Taxation
“While all the other states in the country find it almost impossible to achieve 100 per
cent coverage in e-filing of tax returns, Kerala was able to achieve that goal within a
year of launching the programme. At present, all the 170,000 registered tax payers in
the state are filing their monthly and other tax returns using e-filing facility offered by
Kerala Value Added Tax Information System. The success of this e-governance
initiative launched by the Commercial Taxes Department, Government of Kerala, owes
not only to the dedication of the department officials, the knowledge and infrastructure
inputs provided to them, and to willingness of the tax payers to switch over to the new
system, but very much also due to the synergy created by the intervention of an
organization: Akshaya – an ICT project of Government of Kerala. The proactive
decision to involve a network of Akshaya entrepreneurs all over the state in the e-filing
process became instrumental in bridging the digital divide and bringing in the entire
taxpaying community into the tax net.”

4. Photo Malappuram Old Women
With the Malappuram experiment proving to be a big success, e-literacy along with the
utility services had been rolled out in seven more districts of the state in the second
stage in 2005, along with Broadband connectivity. At this juncture, considering the
financial sustainability of entrepreneurs, the initial concept of catering to the needs of
1000 families raised to 2500-3000, thus limiting the Akshaya centers to two or three
operating in a Panchayath. Government of Kerala took timely decisions to bring
transparency in Entrepreneurial Selection. A three tier selection process that includes
screening of application, written test and interview were introduced. Moreover, a
structured monitoring and handholding support system were brought in to place. A
state office and 14 district offices were set up. The Akshaya State Office coordinates
with various stake holding agencies to launch the services via Akshaya Centers. It also
plans and formulates training programs and extends handholding support to the district
offices to implement various programs. At the district level, the District Collector is the
Chief Coordinator and District Planning Officer is the District Coordinator of the Project.
Besides, the Akshaya District Office also oversees the implementation of the Project at
district level as per the guidelines laid down by KSITM and IT Department. They also
manage, monitor, evaluate and control the AECs in the District and maintain a close
liaison with the LSGI. LSGIs play an important role in implementing the Project at grass
root level. The role of LSGIs is imbibed in the Project even in its conceptual level. The
functions are;
o Selection of locations for Akshaya e-centers
o Selection of entrepreneurs
Lastly, the Akshaya Centers work on Public Private Participation (PPP). It is mandated
that an Akshaya Center should have a minimum of 300 Sq Ft carpet area with a
minimum of 3 computers, broad band connectivity and other peripherals like scanner,
printer, webcam and so on. The investment for setting up and operating of the e-

5. centres is made by the entrepreneurs. The ACEs act as delivery point for citizen
services. He is a social entrepreneur who will run his business by using the network.
Photo 7- Non BrandedAkshaya centers photo
Simultaneously GoI launched Citizen Service Center Scheme with the similar concept of
“ICT to the Masses” and recognized Akshaya Centers as under common service centers
under this scheme. The tag of CSC- Common service centers was regarded as a
stepping stone to many a success in the years to come for Akshaya.
Photo 8- CSC services photo
Kannur in 2007 became the second district after Malappuram to achieve cent percent
literacy. Gradually Akshaya emerged as one of the world’s biggest telecenter project.
In the third phase, by 2008 Akshaya made its presence in the all the districts of Kerala.
Photo9 – Advertisement with film star Mammooty
Once the e-literacy program reached a saturation stage & many parallel
organizations came up with various computer literacy programs, a transition was
inevitable. Sustainability of Akshaya entrepreneurs in Malappuram district was a major
challenge. The e-literacy program was funded by the government. But when the
government funding stopped, and there were no adequate G2C services or B2C
services, the income levels of the entrepreneurs dropped. Many of the Akshaya Centers
at Malappuram had bitter experiences and closed down. This led to exploring avenues
in citizen service delivery.
The Akshaya Centers network spread across the length and breadth of the state and
adequate infrastructure facilities of IT Kiosk could mark a difference in the field of e-
Governance. The e-governance initiatives of the Government department were in its
infancy stage. However during this period, Akshaya associated with organizations like
Intel. Intel under its CSR launched an after-school, community-based program designed
to provide technology literacy, problem solving and collaboration skills. The program

6. was launched in 2004 in Malappuram, and to date has reached out to more than 1 Lakh
students.
PHOTO 10 – Intel team Visit
Akshaya experimented many more services and business models got sustainable as a
variety of world class services were offered to the general public at their door steps,
which got wide publicity as the days passed by. The project got wide acceptance as a
catalyst in creating employment opportunities for the rural masses thereby achieving
rapid socio economic growth focusing on e-learning and e-governance.
Enabling Akshaya is Empowering Kerala
With the passage of time, Akshaya became a household name in Kerala.
Unnecessary visits to the government offices, the time delay in obtaining certificates,
the office hour constraints, and other teething troubles and plugging difficulties
generally allied with obtaining services were minimized when Akshaya took over this
initiative. From 2010, Akshaya has been actively engaged in various developmental
activities by performing all types of G2C services ranging from filing online application
for ration cards, registration of 35 Lakhs on RSBY medical insurance policy and issuing
various certificates from local administration authorities , thereby giving soothing
touches to many a family.
Photo – 11- RSBY
In the meanwhile, Akshaya centers also took up Aadahar enrollment as a designated
agency. Akshaya, one of the state UID enrollment agencies under Kerala State IT
Mission has evolved as one of the best agencies in quality of enrollment in the country
with 2500 certified operators, 750 supervisors and 723 UID Enrollment Stations.
Akshaya has completed Enrollment of over 16 million citizens. But an even greater
achievement is in the systems and procedures that were set in place for Akshaya to be
the top enrollment agency in the nation with meager resources. Akshaya's ability to

7. develop a cost effective, highly efficient and high quality enrollment procedure is the
secret to this unparalleled success. In the UID enrolment, Akshaya has recorded the
highest quality of 92% against the national average of 80%, better than any of the
CMMI level 5 and ISO 9001:2008 companies. UID Enrolment was really the litmus test
for Akshaya Entrepreneurs. Unlike the conventional online services, this required
financial investment, human resource management, skill up gradation, training and
certification. ACEs proved their mettle and could raise their income level into next level.
There were many ACEs who could earn above Rs.10 lakhs as UID service charge.
Photo 12 a & B – Aadhar Enrollment process
It was e-District service which was piloted in 2011, that brought people more closely to
Akshaya. A Mission Mode Project under NeGP, e-District aims at electronic delivery of
high volume citizen centric services at district and sub district level. The 23 certificates
from revenue department were of high demand to the public. Akshaya from 16.12.2010
to 13.11.2015 filed 1.7 crore e-district applications.
PHOTO 13 – eDistrict 1 Crore Certificate award
With the financial inclusion in place, by 2013 Akshaya widened its reach to encompass
Banking and Insurance sectors as well. These Kiosk models were rural electronic hub
models to deliver banking services through a ‘Business Correspondent’ or a facilitator to
the citizen’s door step, especially cash in-cash out transactions, thus addressing the
last-mile problem. Insurance is another critical sector in financial inclusion. Akshaya had
joined hands with New India Assurance Company to provide insurance coverage to the
excluded rural poor.
Photo 14 A ,B& C- Banking Kiosk operation
Akshaya, through branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence
for itself that would attract and retain customers for them. The citizen centric services
would be delivered professionally. In an era where service delivery happens at multiple

8. levels, Akshaya centers would be keen on smart delivery of citizen services. Certainly
the citizen would be living the life "king size" as far as the availability of services is
concerned and Akshaya centers are all prepared to take this new age challenge.
Photo 15 – A branded Akshaya center
Akshaya now has grown into one of the world’s best ICT for Development project that
could literally serve millions with its social development goals of social inclusion,
universal access, education for the masses as well as economic growth through
enterprise development and employment. It has won many national and international
accolades for its noble service namely Golden Nica Prix Arcs Electronics Award 2005,
Stockholm Exchange finalist in the year 2004, PC Quest 2004, Data Quest 2004, I4D
2007, Manthan Award 2010, State e-Governance Award 2010, CSI Nihilent e-
Governance Award and so on.
Photo – 16 – Visit of Infosys Narayanmoorthi.
The journey of Akshaya to its current position was not so easy. The project was
launched in Kerala when the community culture was just against this technology.
Amidst the differences of opinion, Akshaya could thrive only because of its noble
mission as technology to reduce socio economic inequalities. Though Akshaya had
created history by imparting e-literacy training to over 32 lakh families, financial
sustainability of Akshaya Centers after the e-literacy phase was still a question mark.
However, picking up all possible services and serving the local people, Akshaya survived
till 2010. Thereafter there were multitude of e-governance services that was launched
and implemented through Akshaya. Many a time, various Government departments
could fruitfully explore the potential of Akshaya Center network and not only could
reach their service at the doorstep of common man but also could bring transparency
and effectiveness in the process. Though Kerala Public Service Commission notifies for
recruitment of Tribal Watchers, often the information does not reach the deserving. Tie
up with Akshaya Centers could easily resolve this issue by conducting the interview at
tribal colony and thus providing maximum opportunity to the otherwise secluded group.
Another sterling example is live webcasting of polling process from 1022 troublesome

9. and sensitive polling booths during 2014 LSGI Election-2015. Mere one hour training
imparted by KELTRON, could empower Akshaya Entrepreneurs and they were able to
successfully complete the assigned task.
Photo 17 -JSP
It is indeed worth to note that Akshaya was instrumental to prepare an e-readiness
state. Realizing the hardcore reality that Akshaya cannot survive with mere data entry
or filing of application it has stepped into new avenues like banking kiosk and insurance
services by associating with state owned agencies. To keep the resilience of Akshaya
Entrepreneurs alive, Government has decided to organize a massive training program
called “Patshala” for Akshaya Entrepreneurs. “Patshala” aims at harnessing
entrepreneurial skills and sharpening necessary technical knowledge of Akshaya
Entrepreneurs.
Photo 18 – Patshala Training
It is certain that the adaptability quotient of Akshaya is very high. It has always
explored something important and has stood as the inevitable component of the
society.