Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Advanced Technology (R-CAT): All You Need to Know

JAIPUR: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot will inaugurate the much-awaited Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Advanced Technology (R-CAT) at DigiFest 2022 on Saturday. R-CAT is an IT finishing school which will provide training in advanced technologies. It will be equipped with world-class infrastructure and facilities.

Here are a few things to know about this ambitious upcoming project of the Congress government in Rajasthan:

• The centre will function at Old Suchana Kendra near SMS Hospital in Jaipur.
• The project cost is about Rs 200 crore.
• The centre was announced in the state budget of 2020-21 by chief minister Ashok Gehlot.
• It will provide training on advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, cyber security, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality / virtual reality, machine learning, robotics, big data analysis and blockchain.
• The centre would be equipped with world-class infrastructure. The leading IT companies will provide training and run certification courses. The centre will feature experienced faculty and mentors in all fields of advanced technologies mentioned above.
• The trainees will get the opportunity to work on live projects and get real-life applications of these technologies.
• The certification courses will be operated by leading tech companies such as VMWare, autofina Robotics, SAS, Oracle, Cisco and Red Hat. The Rajasthan government received proposals from seven companies. MoUs have been signed after formalities.
• In exchange, the companies have been offered fully-equipped training institutes and maintenance facilities free of cost.
• The centre is being established as a society and will be governed by society by-laws under the Rajasthan Societies Registration Act, 1958.  

Premium and free courses by R-CAT

There will be three types of courses that the trainees will be able to enrol in at R-CAT:

• A premium course, which will be fee-based.
• The second course will be subsidized by the state government, in which 100 children will be selected for each of the training partners.
• The third course will be based on e-learning and will be free of cost, in which the course material will be provided free of cost.

Eligibility and course duration

The training will be imparted to ex-graduate students, graduates and post-graduate students. The students from various streams including BE/BTech, BCA, MCA, MBA and MSc (IT) will be able to enrol in the courses at the centre. The course duration will range from 1 week to 6 months.

Course fee

The courses will be available at subsidized rates. Similar courses usually cost from Rs 30,000 to Rs 3 lakh.

Principal secretary, finance Akhil Arora said that advanced and emerging IT programs of one week to six months duration for professional graduates like BE/BTech, BCA, MCA, MBA and MSc (IT) in collaboration with global tech giants like Oracle, SAS, Red Hat and Cisco will be organized on core technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI-ML), Blockchain, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/PR), Big Data Analytics, Robotics and Quantum Computing etc.