Plans are afoot to computerise all government officesIf N. Chandrababu Naidu can do it in Andhra Pradesh, why can't Kalyan Singh do it here? That is what the bureaucrats in Lucknow seem to be saying these days.Last week, Singh zeroed in on information technology (IT) as one of the thrust areas of development and ordered members of the highpowered Economic Development Sub-committee - headed by Chief Secretary Yogendra Narain - to ensure that the state emerged as the foremost in the country in this field. This is part of his plan to ensure transparency in the functioning of the administration, where any individual could access information through information kiosks and the Internet. To achieve this objective the Government plans to computerise all its offices. A separate Department of Information Technology has already been set up.Budgetary provisions for setting up software technology parks (STP) at Noida, Dehradun, Agra, Lucknow and Varanasi with dedicated earth stations have been made. An IT park has already started functioning at IIT Kanpur in collaboration with the UP State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) while VSNL has constructed an international gateway in Kanpur to provide high-speed data communication linkages.The IT revolution scheme also includes the setting up of Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) at Allahabad and Kanpur to cater to the growing IT needs. Besides their also are plans for "Electronics Cities" at Agra and Noida.Officials claim that at least one crore people would become computer-literate within a decade. Computer education is to be made compulsory in all schools from the standard VI onward and all colleges and engineering institutions would be involved in a big way to impart this education to students. Naidu evidently has reasons to constantly look back over his shoulders.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Sep 28, 1998--- ENDS ---
