Delhi Govt. to announce IT-enabled services policy

NEW DELHI: In an effort to provide the IT-enabled sector a boost, the Delhi

Government will soon come up with a comprehensive policy. Principal Secretary to

the Government of Delhi S Reghunath says, "We are planning to announce a

policy on IT-enabled services soon after we get a feedback from the

industry." The policy is mostly to facilitate those industries that were

ordered to close by the High Court on grounds of environment pollution. "In

the next couple of weeks, there will be several rounds of discussions with these

industries to work out a favorable political climate for IT-enabled

services," he added. The Delhi Government will thus kill two birds with one

stone. While on the one hand, it will provide for the rehabilitation of the

closed units, announcing the policy on IT-enabled services will also go a long

way in projecting the Delhi government as an IT-savvy government, a much

sought-after tag amongst states.

The Delhi government had announced its IT Policy in the first week of August.

The salient features of the policy include: computerization of all departments

that deal directly with people, like transport and education; the smart-card

project which will become the all-in-one identity card for citizens and

initiating steps to set up cyber dhabas over the state. The Delhi Government

also will seek to boost the IT industry by setting up Habitat Parks, the details

of which are yet to be finalized.

Meanwhile, IT-enabled services are on the top of the list of priorities among

most state governments, what with the growing realization about its potential to

provide mass employment to the educated unemployed. Andhra Pradesh was the first

to announce a special policy for the IT-enabled services industry. Himachal

Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, are in the process of announcing special

policies for the industry. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Goa, Himachal

Pradesh, Gujarat and Orissa have already announced special and attractive

initiatives for the sector. Karnataka is setting up Grameen Data Processing

Centers around Bangalore and Mysore.

But the initiatives taken in Andhra Pradesh far outstrip other states. Among

other incentives, Andhra Pradesh has provided land at a concession for the

industry. Chandrababu Naidu has not only worked on the connectivity issues

within the state, but also plans to hire capacity with a Malaysian satellite to

provide for international connectivity. In short, he has a master plan ready to

turn Andhra Pradesh into a hub of IT-enabled services–truly taking IT to the

masses!