Britain commits Rs 1 crore to develop Indian IT managers

"Get Connected" is the new clarion call of Britian. Wanting to forge a stronger relationship with India in the field of information technology, none other than Peter Hain, MP, Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Tony Blair's special envoy to India, came calling to Bangalore.

Get Connected is a program where new scholarships program will be held for young Indian IT professionals under the British Government's Chevening Scholarship Scheme. Starting next year, the scholarships will provide an opportunity to 10 young Indian specialists to develop their managerial and

business skill courses in the UK. Peter Hain said, "The British government is committing 120,000 pound (Rs 1 crore) a year to the scheme. The scholarship would be exclusively for the IT sector and would not be coupled with the other prevailing scholarships," he added.

Launching this initiative in Bangalore, Peter Hain said, "We consider Bangalore to be the best place to launch out new initiatives. Today, Bangalore is at the cutting edge of new innovative technologies, illustrated by its dynamic software industry, aimed at bringing together the best of British and Indian talent in this field".

The visit of the British minister will be followed by that of the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescot who will lead an official delegation to India later this year. He will be later followed by the UK Computer Services Software Association and the British Computer Society with a major IT trade mission early next year to build and further develop the Indo-British tie. The visit of the Deputy Prime Minister would be followed by the secretary of state Steven Beyer in March 2000.