21st April 2009
Srinagar
Dr. Drabu to chair committee for framing State's IT policy
Consequent to the discussions to work out various initiatives for the development of Information Technology in the J&K state, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has appointed Dr Haseeb A. Drabu, Chairman and Chief Executive, J&K Bank, as head of the committee assigned the job to develop the IT policy for the state. In addition to this, Dr. Drabu has been put as one of the members of the Task Force on Information Technology.
While the Chief Minister will himself chair the Task Force set up for initiating the IT-isation of the state, Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), will be its Co-chairman. The government started with the idea of bringing J&K on the IT map of India with special focus on skill development of the unemployed youth to ensure their professional and gainful employability. But Dr Drabu's inclusion in the endeavour is being seen as a credit to his philosophy of Kashmir's regional economy specific IT revolution.
Pertinently, Dr Drabu in his presidential address at the two-day ICT conclave organized here recently by NASSCOM in association with EMMRC and MERC, University of Kashmir, had urged the visitors to do the reassessment of real needs of the state with an extraordinary thrust on its special status and a peculiar economy.
Commenting on the development Dr Drabu said that he would ensure that the people of the state, irrespective of their economic activities, reap the dividends of information technology. Dr. Drabu has already roped in Infosys Chairman and chief Executive Officer, Nandan Nilkani, to seek his support in developing IT policy for the state. Advocating distinction between IT as an industry and IT as an enabling process, Dr Drabu remarked, "We need to invest in the technology of business instead of business of technology."
Elaborating his point he said that he believed in a policy that helps people to utilize IT in their respective trades and economic activities rather than a policy that encourages business of IT. "This approach, I am sure, would work wonders for a state like J&K, which has a different economic character on account of its unique and varied regional sub-economic activities," he maintained.
While the Chief Minister will himself chair the Task Force set up for initiating the IT-isation of the state, Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), will be its Co-chairman. The government started with the idea of bringing J&K on the IT map of India with special focus on skill development of the unemployed youth to ensure their professional and gainful employability. But Dr Drabu's inclusion in the endeavour is being seen as a credit to his philosophy of Kashmir's regional economy specific IT revolution.
Pertinently, Dr Drabu in his presidential address at the two-day ICT conclave organized here recently by NASSCOM in association with EMMRC and MERC, University of Kashmir, had urged the visitors to do the reassessment of real needs of the state with an extraordinary thrust on its special status and a peculiar economy.
Commenting on the development Dr Drabu said that he would ensure that the people of the state, irrespective of their economic activities, reap the dividends of information technology. Dr. Drabu has already roped in Infosys Chairman and chief Executive Officer, Nandan Nilkani, to seek his support in developing IT policy for the state. Advocating distinction between IT as an industry and IT as an enabling process, Dr Drabu remarked, "We need to invest in the technology of business instead of business of technology."
Elaborating his point he said that he believed in a policy that helps people to utilize IT in their respective trades and economic activities rather than a policy that encourages business of IT. "This approach, I am sure, would work wonders for a state like J&K, which has a different economic character on account of its unique and varied regional sub-economic activities," he maintained.