Use IT to Map seismic zones, says Mahajan

February 7: Union Minister of State for Information Technology, Pramod Mahajan, has mooted the idea of using Information Technology being ...

February 7: Union Minister of State for Information Technology, Pramod Mahajan, has mooted the idea of using Information Technology being employed to aid the earthquake affected people of Gujarat. Inaugurating the four-day Nasscom 2001 exhibition in Mumbai today, Mahajan said: “The software industry must create a blueprint for improving the communications infrastructure in the high seismic zones of the country.”

Earlier at the conference, president of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), Dewang Mehta, told participants that the association would increase the outlay for earthquake relief from Rs 5 crore to Rs 25 crore on behalf of the industry. To help the Indian industry abroad, Mehta said NASSCOM would open more chapters in the United States (US), Australia, the United Kingdom, (UK) China and Japan in the next three months.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasroao Deshmukh was chief guest at the launch, while the inaugural address was delivered by Dr Arun Netravli, president of Bell Labs. Mehta added that NASSCOM also plans to start a National Disaster Recovery Task Force.

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Mahajan said he felt the digital economy is a market-driven economy and the government should resist the temptation of regulation, censorship and taxation which could cripple the industry. He said the government is committed to pushing through the Information Technology Act before the year-end. “The government is committed to laying a globally competitive framework that would allow India to tap the latent potential in the telecom and broadcasting space,” Mahajan remarked.

The minister felt that with the Indian software industry growing to international competitiveness, “Bangalore should stop competiting for with Bhubaneswar or Chennai but instead think more about competing with Malaysia and Japan.”

Regarding the import of Chinese goods into the country, the minister felt that if Indian goods cannot compete in the Indian market, they will not find it easy to compete in foreign markets either. The government, he said, could introduce anti-dumping laws, introduce taxes to some extent. But Indian industry must stop clamouring for protectionism and learn to compete at global levels, Mahajan said.

In his keynote address, Dr Netravali added: “Seven hundred million phone lines will double in the next 15 to 20 years with 6,30,000 lines adding up just next week. The 450 million wireless subscribers will touch 1 billion by 2005 and 275 million cable TV subscribers will grow by 400 million in the next 15 to 20 years.”

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For this major IT event, a public exhibition has also been set up at the World Trade Centre, in Cuffe Parade.

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