The early indications available in AP assembly elections predicts that IT
industry in AP will now have to wait for the new regime to clarify how it will
continue the policies of the erstwhile TDP Government which was seen as
extremely IT friendly.
Will this affect the IT policy of AP? Will it introduce an economic imbalance in
AP with the separation of Telengana from the rest of AP? Will the IT majors
shift their focus to Chennai and Bangalore again?..are some of the issues that
will come up for discussion in the coming days.
First thing first. The change of Government after a decade in the State cannot
but put all policy decisions of the previous Government under review. The IT
policy will certainly be one of them.
Mr Naidu was an exceptional politician who was passionate about IT and started a
whole new trend in E-Governance. To some extent he influenced Mr S. M. Krishna
of Karnataka who had to fight to retain the position of Bangalore as the IT
capital of the country. Over the last few years, Mr Naidu had succeeded in
getting major IT companies to invest in Hyderabad and really change the profile
of the city.
With the political focus in AP more on the Telengana issue, the policy issues
are unlikely to attract sufficient time and attention of the top leaders. Also,
with the new Government in place, the businessmen have to build new bridges with
the power centers and this will delay most of the projects. Some who have not
yet committed funds may defer their decisions until the air clears or move over
to the neighboring states.
The new State Government will therefore require setting up a special task force
if not for any thing else, just to assure the industry that good things of
the previous Government are unlikely to be discarded.
Amidst all the confusion which the change of Government will bring, it must be
admitted that the defeat of Mr Chandrababu Naidu (With the possible weakening of
S M Krishna in Karnataka) is a set back for IT in Governance or at least is
indicative of the inefficient use of IT in Governance. It is high time that
politicians realize that E-Governance is a powerful tool but if it does not
reach the people the consequences cannot be positive. This is a lesson which
other CMs and the GOI should not miss.
AP under Mr Naidu tried to be a model state for E-Governance and took many bold
initiatives which had no precedence. In the process there was a learning curve
for the Government to negotiate. Perhaps some projects could not proceed
beyond creation the IT infrastructure since the training and content
aspects could not be fully addressed.
Hopefully, the new managers will not discard the progressive E-Governance
policies of Mr Naidu but will find ways to improve them.
Naavi
May 11, 2004
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