Government of Karnataka, Department of Information Technology (DIT)
and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) organised their fourth statewide
Rural IT Quiz in Karnataka whose finals coincided with Bangalore
IT.COM on November 1-5, 2004. For an account of last year's Rural
IT Quiz 2003, visit http://www.bangaloreit.com/html/itscbng/BIT2003-
itquiz.htm.

For Rural IT Quiz 2004, claimed to be a hallmark of the
BangaloreIT.COM, preliminary competitions were held in all the 27
districts of Karnataka. The competition attracted 62,000 students.
Zonal finals were held in eight centres in which 50 teams from each
district participated from 7th to 21st October 2004. The grand finale
was held in Bangalore on November 2, 2004 and the finals were
conducted by master quizmaster Giri "pickbrain"
Balasubramanyam.Open only to students hailing from rural areas in
Karnataka, the competition has first prize of Rs 50,000 (Winners),
second prize of Rs 30,000 (Runners-up) and third prize of Rs 20,000.
The following eight teams qualified for the state finals:

1. PDJ PU College, Bijapur
2. JT College, Gudag
3. Govt PU College, Karwar
4. Little Rock Indian School, Udipi
5. Sri Venkateshwara PU College, Hasan
6. VKJJ PU College, Siriguppa
7. Sri Siddaganga High School, Tumkur, and
8. PES PU College, Mandya

(Source: It's raining questions in the hinterland, The Economic
Times, New Delhi, November 3, 2004, p-8, Wednesday, An Economic Times
Special Report).

Department of Information Technology, Government of Karnataka and
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) need to be congratulated for
organising the event. Other states need to follow the example set by
Karnataka. The organisers would have, however, done it well if they
had posted the results of the competition on their websites
immediately after their announcement. This has so far not been done.
It can still be done, and should be done, now.

Dr D.C.Misra
November 4, 2004