Dear Goan Press and Media friends, Keeping you all posted on our official reaction and recommendations to Goa govt. about the Rs.86cr tender recently opened by ITG under the Cyberage scheme.
Regards, *Goa IT Professionals – GITP *| www.goaitpro.org | [email protected] *Important links: About GITP <http://www.goaitpro.org/gitp> | GITP on Social Network <http://www.goaitpro.org/follow-us/> | GITP Core Team <http://www.goaitpro.org/our-team> | *Goa Skills Registry - GSR <http://skills.goaitpro.org/> | Project GEIT <https://www.facebook.com/GoansEmpoweredWithIT/> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Goa IT Professionals - GITP <[email protected]> Date: Tue, May 9, 2017 at 4:44 PM Subject: Need to urgently redefine Cyberage scheme - IMPORTANT To: *<recipient list removed...addressed to CM, Min of IT, ITG leadership and other leaders>* Dear members of Goa Govt., We understand that the government intends to clear the backlog of laptop distribution for XI and XII students under the Cyberage scheme. We are also aware that close to Rs.86cr has been earmarked for this distribution of about 45000 laptops. Though government’s intent in enabling the Goan youth on ICT (Information and Communication Technology) through this scheme is commendable and while this scheme has had scattered positive impact in the past, it has also had its lion’s share of allegations and issues of sub-standard hardware being procured at higher than market prices, misuse/selloff by recipients, etc. More importantly, GITP requests the Goa government to consider the following important points: 1. Cyberage has suffered poor end-user utilization due to unsuitability of supplied laptops for diverse and specialized high-processing power usage. One common laptop configuration cannot cater to varied student requirements considering their education streams and interests. Also, not every student needs a laptop if they already have one and it would help them to have add-on computer hardware for experimentation and research on IoT, robotics etc. 2. The computer hardware industry as well as its marketplace has significantly evolved to offer widely competitive products for a variety of end user applications. 3. Governmental bodies, in general, are ill-equipped to decide on technological matters. 4. A single vendor bagging such large state-level orders for commoditized items like laptops is adversely affecting the local technology small vendors and related economy in Goa. 5. With industry-grade Free Open Source Software (FOSS) options available today, most generic traditional software (viz. Microsoft Windows, Office etc.) needs of students can be catered for free today without spending precious public funds. 6. Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has also sought re-evaluation and fine-tuning of the Cyberage scheme on the basis of its observations and feedback on several occasions since 2006. Hence GITP strongly recommends the following to Goa government for immediate action on this scheme: 1. Promote a culture of widespread technological innovation in Goa by allowing students to purchase required ICT hardware from the open market and avail a govt. subsidy against it capped at the amount which the govt. is about to spend per laptop through the ITG tender in question. 2. Goa govt. nor any of its bodies should get into procurement of commoditized hardware on such largescale for public distribution but rather use such opportunities to boost the wider local technology supplies economy which forms the bedrock of any technological innovation hub and is a major known weakness for Goa so far. GITP looks forward to decisive action from the Goa government in scrapping the ongoing blatantly inefficient ITG tender, and taking a new approach as recommended above. Regards, *Goa IT Professionals – GITP *| www.goaitpro.org | [email protected] *Important links: About GITP <http://www.goaitpro.org/gitp> | GITP on Social Network <http://www.goaitpro.org/follow-us/> | GITP Core Team <http://www.goaitpro.org/our-team> | *Goa Skills Registry - GSR <http://skills.goaitpro.org/> | Project GEIT <https://www.facebook.com/GoansEmpoweredWithIT/>
