E-Pao! - a journey through 2002
- III Anniversary -

It was a year of mixed emotions for the IT industry, particularly in the IT movement of Manipur. Things definitely look upward globally but no one has forgotten the dark times, which has not even faded beyond the corner. Manipur Government has also made some definitive steps towards the enabling of IT in this state. The successful installation of VSATs and computers at block level under the CIC scheme and rallying for people support for STPI is definitely a good sign. Will Manipur adopt e-governance? Well, that will be unfolded in the coming years. We hope the government will be able to cope the small hiccups that come along the way.

On the E-Pao! front, there has not been any major face lift or change. We had kept with the format that has been accepted last year. But it has been evolving along with the techonology advances. The last half of 2002 has kept us occupied with blueprinting the next generation architecture of E-Pao! It has come to it's final stages and it should soon be unvieled for the global users soon.

However we had been in the forefront of issues and events in Manipur. The worried population of Manipur went for general elections, following the early dissolvement of the earlier government, on 14th feb and 21st feb 2002. On the days building up to the election, E-Pao! ran regular updates on the poll buildup, news and views of the election. This culminated with an online coverage of the poll countings on 24th feb 2002. With this, E-Pao! has accomplished the second of online coverage of election countings - the first being the 2000 general election. we count this as a definite feather on our cap.

We had been the support site for the MITEX 2002, the first and only IT expo event of Manipur. This event is becoming a yearly affair and is serving as a platform for local entrepreneurs to display their ideas and for the government to interact with them. This year's edition was held between March 10 and 13 of 2002.

Mid March also saw a unique talent hunting event organised by Bright Films, Manipur, under the banner of Dawn 2002. Bright Films, Manipur has already produced six manipuri feature films and it was their effort to hand pick young actors and actresses with the aim to train them in the film arts for the future of Manipuri cinema. E-Pao! ran a gallery for the aspirants and asked the users to choose their own 'Shajik Thaba' (morning star). The poll became so popular that the organisers decided to nominate a prize for the 'Shajik Thaba' selected by E-Pao! users from across the globe.

Manipur Science & Technology Council (MASTEC), an autonomous Apex Advisory Body of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of Manipur, has been organising a State Level Science Festival under the banner of ' Science Meet' since 1997. MASTEC plays an important role in promoting science and bringing appropriate technologies to the state for socio-economic applications. Leading science NGOs of the state like Science Teachers' Forum, Manipur (STFM), Manipur Association for Science & Society (MASS), Manipur Association for the Promotion of Science (MAPS) and Manipur Science Communicators' Association (MASCA) supports this meet and is funded by the National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC). The 2002 edition was held between May 11-15, 2002 at Manipur Kangshang, Khuman Lampak Stadium Complex, Imphal. MASTEC found another supporter in E-Pao! in this edition. E-Pao! sponsored the prestigious Science Quiz of this meet.

Govt. of Manipur ran a survey for initiating installation of STPI at Imphal in association with DST. This came as an eager sign from the government side and E-Pao! was more than happy to collaborate in this noble venture by web casting the survey to garner support and feedbacks from all through the internet meduim between 26th June and 15th July 2002.

The popular friendship seek channel eFrenz crossed the 500 users mark sometime in June and is going ahead in full pace to touch it's 1000 mark. To regularise the chat channel, E-Pao! had improved the chat services starting june 2002. Around this time E-Pao! was also featured in the canadian TV channel called CMFTV in a show named 'Istyle TV' as the website of the week.

Miss Manipur 2002 was organised by TAPRO & UMTC in november. E-Pao! ran an online poll for the E-Pao! sponsored 'Internet Queen' Title which went to Miss P. Sushila who eventually won the Miss Manipur title too. The web interface proved a great platform for these young aspirants to reach out and for all non-resident Manipuris to get participate in this Manipur event.

Meitei Mayek, the old script of the Manipuris has been included in the VIII schedule of the Indian Union but very less work is seen to be done for it's upliftment. As the pioneer of internet technologies in Manipur, E-Pao! engineers managed to assemble a web enabled Meitei Mayek font and started running Meitei Mayek articles from November. E-Pao! thanks Mr. Tabish and Ms. Prava who shared their experiences and expertise during the creation of this dynamic Meitei Mayek font.

Santosh Trophy is arguably the most competed football tournament in India, it being the only inter-state football competition of this country. This year's edition was held at Imphal between 17th October and 5th November 2002 and E-Pao! extended all support to this popular game by running live updates complete with team standings, points, pictures, match-updates and related articles.

E-Pao! would like to thank our contributors and users. It is their support and trust that makes E-Pao! complete and enable it to become a complete e-platform for the Manipuris.