Visakhapatnam: Scientific secretary, principal advisor to Government of India, Prof. S.V. Raghavan said National Knowledge Network (NKN), his brainchild project, is being used by many educational and research organisations across the country. It is going to be worked towards 100Gbps for next year and 400Gbps in a couple of years.

He was delivering the convocation address at Andhra University on Monday. He said around 1300 institutions are on the network and the country would shortly become a technology leader. AU honoured him with an honorary degree of doctor of science during the convocation.

The NKN is a state-of-the-art multi-gigabit pan-India network for providing a unified high-speed network backbone for all knowledge-related institutions in the country that enables scientists, researchers and students from different backgrounds and diverse geographies to work closely for advancing human development.

“By virtue of seamless connectivity and knowledge sharing facility, the collective wisdom is now available and  is practically reachable. If the focus is on health referral system, the benefits will be obvious for examination, diagnosis, and treatment. Education, health, and agriculture are fertile areas for contribution and innovation,” Prof Raghavan said.

He appealed to researchers and students to realise their potential for learning how to serve others because every human being is endowed with tremendous capabilities. He also said many subjects like climate change; nuclear energy, connectivity, infrastructure, science and technology, and social change are undergoing a sea-change.

Andhra University Vice-Chancellor Prof. G.S.N. Raju said they had awarded 517 Ph.D degrees  during 2013-14. He expressed his deep gratitude to the state government for providing excellent financial support to the varsity during the current academic year.

He also announced new courses being offered from 2014-15. He said 184 international students from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives are at present pursuing various programmes.