The government of Jammu&Kashmir is committed to provide better facilities
and a transparent government to its citizens. And IT is the key enabler that can
transform the states growth and economy to a greater height. In an exclusive
interaction with Dataquest, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, Minister, Department of IT,
Science & Technology & Animal Husbandry, Government of Jammu & Kashmir talks
about how the paradise on earth plans to leverage IT in the months ahead.
Excerpts
J & K has been a late starter as far as e-governance is concerned.
What has been the key motivator behind embarking on this journey?
J&K as a state has its own unique problems that has been a key hindrance.
Apart from geographical challenges, the state is grappled with certain political
issues too. However, under the current leadership, and with the improvement in
ground situation, we are witnessing a lot of positive initiatives. Efforts are
on to bring back peace and stability that is required for future growth. The
government is committed to provide better facilities to its citizens and
transparency in its operations.
IT can help in achieving this goal, and the J&K government has decided to
take on e-governance as its prime focus area. Various e-governance initiatives
have been rolled out in the state in the last year. Similarly, a lot of
initiatives are being taken and planned to promote growth of the IT sector
within the state that will help it flourish by generating employment and
creating a healthy economy.
What are the key initiatives taken by the state government to promote IT
in J&K?
Realizing the fact that IT is the key enabler that can transform the states
economic growth to a greater height and create major job opportunities, the IT
department is ready to provide all kinds of support. The department is working
towards creating an efficient and modern infrastructure in order to support the
growth of IT.
Special plans are being developed in order to encourage local entrepreneurs.
Rural Kashmir is still very distanced from the concept as well as the benefits
of IT. Therefore, it is important to encourage and expose them to the world of
technology for future development of the state. Through the development of local
entrepreneurship this objective can be achieved faster.
What are the states plans to attract external investors in the IT sector?
For that it is essential to build a proper platform. We are eagerly waiting
for investors with all support and cooperation embedded in the much known
hospitality of Kashmir. We will support, cooperate, help and insentivize them to
build a green ICT indistry in this paradise. With the improvement of security,
the government is working for the development of a strong mechanism for the
growth of ICT that can send the right signals to the investors and assure them
of a stable and secured business opportunity in the state.
The first step undertaken by the J&K government is to educate and encourage
its citizens to enhance their IT knowledge, and build required skill sets to
make them employable for this sector. Additionally, we are also encouraging
local entrepreneurship through public-private partnership and creating proper
infrastructure equipped to sustain the growth.
We are also working towards designing a comprehensive IT policy. for which a
high task force is being formed. Presently, the state does not have a well
defined IT policy in place.
What are your plans for harnessing IT savvy human resource in J&K?
The industry and the education sector will play a pivotal role in this. They
have to work hand in glove for the overall development of local human resource
and make them employable for this sector. To begin with, substantial
modification is required in the education system and the industry-academia
collaboration is highly desirable at the higher studies level. Once established,
this partnership can be very helpful to achieve our objective. The government
has to be in the forefront and play a very active part to make this
collaboration happen.
How do you plan to nurture local talent and encourage local
entrepreneurship in the IT sector?
J&K doesnt lack in local talent. We have National Institute of technolgy
(NIT) in Srinagar. Around 5,000-6,000 ICT graduates are produced annually by
local institutes. This is in addition to those who graduate from outside the
state.
However, due to various problems with which the state was infected, they have
been forced to relocate for better opportunities due to various problems
affecting the state right now. Once they get a congenial atmosphere along with
government support, these people will be interested to grow their business or
career in the state.
Over the last few years, the telecom sector has witnessed major growth in
J&K. This is a very good indicator that such industries have the potential to
thrive here. ICT and BPO are two other sectors that can flourish in the state.
The local ttalent has to be ready to take up the challenge. The government is
willing to provide all kinds of support and benefits that are required to set up
businesses in these sectors. As per our policy, we have very good incentive
schemes for local entrepreneurs as well.
IT is an enabler that can help the state attain socio-economic growth.
Through IT we can also promote local talents like calligraphy, rug and carpet
industry, woolen, and other handicrafts.
What are the various e-governance projects that have been initiated by the
state so far?
The state government has initiated the state wide area network (SWAN), state
service delivery gateway (SSDG), and state data center (SDC). Keeping in mind
the interdependency of SWAN and SDC and failure and success of these projects in
different states, we have decided to integrate these two projects and implement
them on PPP model. Envisioning there viability, we decided to integrate the
implementation of Internet kiosks (in urban areas as well as those not covered
under CSC) and VoIP with this integrated project to be implemented by a single
vendour/consortium.
Initially it will cover all twenty-two districts in the state, and then take
connectivity to the block and tehsil level. Under SSDG, we have identified 1,106
villages, wherein common service centers (CSCs) will be opened. Named as e-Khidmat
centers, we have currently rolled out 120 CSCs, and the full project is expected
to be completed by March 2010. Presently, there are issues relating to proper
connectivity. To meet that, the government is creating an alternate OFC link
between Jammu and Srinagar that will provide unhindered connectivity services.
This will offer a better connectivity option for CSCs to function.
Piyali Guha
piyalig@cybermedia.co.in