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Journalism of Courage
BANGALORE, MARCH 18: The Karnataka Government will soon raise Rs three billion 69 million through information technology IT bonds which will be used to boost the state8217;s technology infrastructure, Karnataka Chief Minister S M Krishna said on Saturday.
quot;We will raise Rs three billion by floating quot;Mahithiquot;information bonds,quot; S M Krishna said at the launch of Karnataka8217;s new millennium IT policy also called quot;Mahithiquot;. quot;The proceeds of the bonds will be used for human resources development, training in schools, technical institutions, training centres for uneducated youth, incubation centres, earth stations, IT parks and communication infrastructure,quot; he said.
quot;Besides, the policy will also focus on E-governance, incubation centres for start-up companies and focus on business with non-English speaking countries,quot; the statement said.
Karnataka8217;s capital city Bangalore is home to dozens of leading global and domestic technology companies and is often referred to as India8217;s quot;Silicon Valleyquot;.
The State Government has also entered into a joint-venture agreement with Carnegie Global Technologies Inc., Indian Institute of Science and LG Soft India to establish the Carnegie Centre for Software Engineering in the City. This would offer consultancy, training and education services, Krishna said.
Noting that the 2.8 lakh IT professionals are currently employed in the State IT sector, the policy envisages an employment potential of 10 lakh in the next decade. IT enabled services such as customer interaction, financial and accounting services, call centres, medical transcription, engineering and design data management, remote education, networking, web-site services and market research would be open for employment, Krishna said.
Observing that IT was primarily English-centric, Krishna said his Government would bring about the usage of Kannada in the sector. Standardisation of codes in Kannada would be achieved by a committee headed by the Secretary of Kannada and Culture department. A standardised computer keyboard had been developed with the help of the Kannada Development Authority, the Kannada Ganakala Parishad and the Kannada and Culture Department. Wipro had developed a Kannada printer, Krishna noted.
Towards encouraging business with non-English speaking countries, the policy believes that IT companies in the State should tie up with China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Singapore etc.
The State would establish a Centre for E-Governance, aimed at allowing information-access to the common man. Mukhya Vahini8217;, the Chief Minister8217;s database would provide information about day-to-day business and decisions taken at the village and district levels. This data-base would help decision-makers to arrive at a 8220;sophisticated decision support system8221; for the use of the Chief Minister.
Bhoomi8217; a data-base of land records would record rights of ownership of land, agricultural crop details, besides helping farmers to obtain loans from banks. Nondani8217;, another data-base, would make land registration simple and also prevent corruption in sub-registrars8217; offices. Computerisation of treasuries all over the State and creation of a data-base termed Khajane8217;, and computerisation of operations in the Commercial Taxes Department under the data-base Therige8217;, are part of the new IT policy8217;s goals.
