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New appointment at ITAO

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CIOL Bureau
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BHUBANESHWAR: During its annual elections for 2009-10, the IT Association of Orissa (ITAO) elected Manoj Lalani of Lalani Computech as its new President.

The elections were preceded by the AGM of the IT association. Besides appointing the new President, ITAO also elected Manoj Kumar Mahapatra of Expro Computers as the VP. Dayananda Ratho of Cyber Software and Services, and N Bothra of Lalani Infotech have been elected for a second term as the Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

Following its norms of opting for an election rather than a selection, the VP portfolio was also contested by Vasant Mohanty of Compact Systems; however, the portfolios of Secretary and Treasurer went uncontested.

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Also, a 17-member Executive Committee has been appointed. This included four 'life members', since the association is keen on having 'active' members in the committee who can dedicate time to the association activities for its welfare. The committee has also been entrusted with the responsibility of organizing the next IT expo in the state.

Discussing the primary agenda of ITAO for this term, Bothra said, “Lalani has been one of the founding members of ITAO and has also shouldered the responsibilities of a President in the past. Numerous issues related to payments, vendor deals and credit policies are cropping up now. Hence, our primary agenda for this year is to settle disputes and claims, and resolve conflicts with vendors and distributors in the region.”

Apart from this, ITAO is also keen on expansion and is framing a policy for a consolidated confederation of IT associations across the state. The association has successfully tied-up with the local IT association in Cuttack for claims, dispute and cooperation, and is planning to expand its reach across the state while collaborating with the district-level associations. “Presently, we have 75 members and intend to take it to 200 by the next term,” said Dayananda Ratho, Secretary, ITAO.

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In this move of increasing its membership, the association has decided to follow the annual membership norm, replacing the 'life member' policy. Henceforth, membership in ITAO will be on an annual basis, subject to participation in the association. However, 'life membership' of the senior members has not been encroached upon.

With members keen on having an IT expo in December this year, ITAO will be finalizing the dates by Oct 15. “Our members want the expo to take place by end of this year, after seeing the amazing success of the previous one. We are sure that the expo will boost the IT buying pattern in the state, especially after the slowdown, and we think that it will benefit the market scenario in the state too. The new Executive Committee (EC) will be meeting soon to decide the dates,” Ratho added.

However, there seems to a difference of opinion about the expo. When contacted Manoj Lalani, President, ITAO said the association in fact was first going to evaluate if the expo should be held or not. “Having the expo is still undecided as our core team is evaluating whether doing an expo makes any business sense. IT products are now available off the shelf with channel partners in their showrooms. The complete agenda will be passed in the next EC meeting expected in middle of next month,” Lalani added.

Besides deliberating on the agenda and concluding the elections after declaring the AGM results, ITAO members have decided to take up rigorous activities related to awareness of IT in Orissa. This will be done on the hardware, software, communication and networking front across various areas of usage. The association is keen on doing its bit for a charitable cause. In this effort, some of the senior members have been entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating the association activities for its CSR program, and government activities with active participation from all members. Already, the association has donated Rs 10,000 to an orphanage, called Jiban Jyoti Ashram in Bhubaneswar for construction work of two lavatory facilities and uplifting the living conditions.

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