It may sound like an unlikely switchover, but that's exactly what the Kannur-based Dinesh Beedi Central Cooperative Society, which provides employment and vocational training to out-of-work beedi-makers, is doing.

The society, which recently entered the food sector as part of its diversification plans to stay afloat, has begun to set up a computer education programme at its main office and will soon offer one-year diploma and crash courses in computers.

Dinesh Beedi, the apex body of 22 primary cooperative societies, had earlier taken to production and distribution of coconut cream, chutney (spicy vegetable sauce) powder and pickles. It was a timely move as the beedi market was gradually slipping into the red following a drop in demand due to the anti-smoking campaign and emergence of new brands of mini cigarettes.

The diversification intocomputers is also expected to benefit the state as far as the dissemination of information technology in northern Kerala is concerned.

Dinesh Beedi, set up in 1969 to employ 12,000 jobless beedi workers of the Malabar region, has earned international recognition for its outstanding performance in the cooperative sector. It now employs 30,000 beedi workers and has total assets of over Rs 260 million. Under a Memorandum of Understanding, the Electronics Research and Development Corporation (ER&DC), a research organisation under the Telecommunication Department, will assist the society in framing the syllabi for the computer courses and recruiting teachers. Society leader C V Kunjhiraman said in the second stage of the project, a data entry centre would be opened to handle work currently being done only at software technology parks in the state. The number of such centres would depend on the actual volume of work available.

A technology park would eventually come up in the district with technical assistancefrom the Software Technology Parks of India and the ER&DC, he added.

According to the initial plan, the ER&DC would set up a router to provide Internet access and pave the way for the setting up of information technology units in Kannur. The state government has already assigned a specialist from the software park at Thiruvananthapuram to help the society with its latest project.

Dinesh Beedi would earmark 20 of the 30 slots in its first batch of computer trainees for educated beedi workers and their dependents.

Going by its previous record in diversification, experts here expect the new project to do well. The Dinesh Foods division of the society now has one unit each for making coconut cream, chutney powder and pickles as well as a unit for packing, labelling and despatching. There are also plans to start producing jams, squashes and syrups from January next year with the help of the Kerala Agricultural University.