Maharashtra to unveil new IT policy: Shinde

Barely three weeks into his new role as chief minister of Maharashtra, Sushil Kumar Shinde on February 13 expressed enthusiasm and eagerness to invite IT companies to set up shop in his state at the National Association of Software and Services Companies' annual IT conference in Mumbai.

During a session titled 'Maharashtra: An IT destination', the state Minister of Industries Patangrao Kadam spoke about a World Bank-Confederation of Indian Industry survey which said Maharashtra has a favourable investment climate and a Gallop poll that showed Maharashtra was the best city in the country to do business in.

Speaking about Maharashtra's outstanding achievements in the field of IT, Shinde said it was the first Indian state to announce an IT policy in 1998, in order to provide a direction to the information and communications technology sector.

He said a new, reworked policy, based on industry recommendations and touching the areas of IT, ITES-BPO and telecom, is on the anvil. The new policy will be announced and implemented at the end of this month.

The policy is expected to reduce procedural hurdles standing in the way of ICT companies and add various concessions and sops for these vendors.

Shinde also plans to take pro-active steps in the area of e-governance by transforming the ways in which the government interacts with citizens.

In the next six months, Shinde wants to start about 50 Integrated Citizen Facilitation Centres in Mumbai. The centers provide a one-stop service center facilitating interaction between the citizen and individual departments spread over various government offices. The project currently delivers over 100 services to around 500,000 citizens in Maharashtra.

"My endeavour is to ensure delivery from these centres on a 24 x 7 x 365 basis," said Shinde, sharing his dream of a 'wired Maharashtra.'

Since the growth and sustenance of IT depends on skilled manpower, Shinde plans to introduce English as a compulsory subject in schools from standard one, computers from standard eight and IT as an optional subject at the Higher Secondary Certificate level.

He said that by March 2004, students will even start taking IT examinations online.

Shinde also announced the setting up of a working group on data protection and consumer protection to be headed by Nasscom president Karnik.

Since he was only recently inducted as chief minister, Shinde said that he has still not got the opportunity to interact with leaders in the IT industry.

Concluding his remarks, Shinde said he wanted to take the state of Maharashtra to the highest level and will keep all avenues open for those who want to set up their IT offices in Maharashtra. "We have to grab the opportunities now," he said.

Shinde will also be setting up a separate secretary for IT and a separate IT department, he announced at the conference.