Chief Minister, Mr Pratapsingh Rane is seen discussing with Mr Aziz Premji, Chairman, WIPRO (Herald/28th Aug. 2005)
Hi All:
I am pleased to inform you that I have been nominated as one of the directors on the board of Infotech Corporation of Goa, a Govt. of Goa undertaking.
This firm has the mandate of pushing IT in Goa. There are 6 other directors with the Chairman being the IT minister Mr. Dayanand Narvekar.
Your advice/criticism/feedback welcome.
Thanks,
Samir Kelekar
=====
After a long time, some good news.
It is definitely a step in the right direction.
You are, first and foremost, a no nonsense upright individual with superlative knowledge of the subject, and more importantly - with unquestionable desire to see Goa succeed.
Whoever has made the decision, has made the right decision.
I surely hope that more Goa Govt undertakings take similar decisions. Goa needs the direction of those who know both the landscape and the subject along with the pre-requisite of wanting Goa to succeed.
It was strange that the Parrikar Govt had sought to bring in outside Consultants when there was a wealth of expertise available right there in individuals like yourself.
As I offer you my heartiest Congratulations and Good Wishes, I also add the following bits of advice based on expeience (;-)
1. We Goans need to be focused on the ultimate goal, and not let minor dysfunctions frustrate us.
2. Politicians and Civil Servants will try to ram their agenda. Professionals have to quietly, but firmly and consistently resist cooperating with that which is unethical or unwise.
3. Those of us who have a "foot in the door" need to stay the course and try achieve the changes albeit over 3-4 years. The intervening period might be frustrating - and so be it.
4. Remember always ... Directors of companies and corporations can be sued for misadventures. It is the business of those among us who reach those positions, to take every single step with careful consideration.
This is particularly challenging in the first few months. We might know the Technical and Business stuff, but we might not really know the Political and Civil Service landscape. That landscape is fraught
with land mines. A few weeks of careful study will assist in taking care of those pesky 'insects'.
Shabbash Samirbab. You have made us all proud. All the best.
jc
(Jose Colaco)
Premji shows interest to put Goa on Wipro map
BY HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, AUG 27, 2005 The IT sector in Goa received a shot in the arm on Saturday when IT giant and Wipro chief Azim Premji visited Goa and expressed his interest to put Goa on the Wipro map.
Premji had a 45-minute meeting with Chief Minister Pratapsing Rane at Altinho on Saturday evening during which several aspects were discussed. The Information Technology (IT) Minister, Dayanand Narvekar was also present.
It was a courtesy call, the chief minister told waiting press persons at his official residence. There was a general discussion on IT, he said, adding that no specific project was discussed.
To a pointed question, he said Wipro is interested in coming to Goa.
Head of Wipro one of the topmost companies in IT and IT-related services visiting Goa itself speaks about the IT climate in Goa, Narvekar said.
It was nice on the part of Mr Premji to visit Goa, he said, adding that the
interaction was fruitful. Lot of new ideas came up and the government would work on them, he said.
Narvekar said it is now very clear that after the change in government, industrialists are showing interest in IT sector where, he said, hardly any progress was achieved during the BJP rule.
This also gives credence to this government, he said. Lot of the initiatives, taken when Ramakant Khalap who was then IT minister in the first BJP government (November 2000-March 2002) fizzled out later, Narvekar opined.
The IT minister said that many IT firms in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai are leaving those cities because of congestion and they find Goa an ideal location for their units. Right type of signal has gone out, he claimed.
Replying to queries on the issues before the government in the IT sector, he said a single-window system is required as they have commitments and time-bound programme to achieve.
He said the government can help the entrepreneurs by
offering them land, he informed. However, what is more important is IT policy. He disclosed that no IT policy has so far been vetted by the Cabinet despite tall claims in the past. He said the IT policy would be ready by September 15. Once, the policy is in place, the government will go aggressively in the field, he said.
On September 5, top players in the IT field will have an interaction with Goa government at a day-long programme organised by CII in New Delhi, he said.
Narvekar who will represent Goa there, said he would like to know what their requirements are and accordingly create the necessary infrastructure.
He stressed that the State government would try hard to get IT firms to Goa and develop it into a big knowledge industry. He said Goa has the potential to have IT units and more importantly has the skilled manpower for it.
Meanwhile, he said, the government has plans to start e-governance in 40 departments in a phased manner. Ten departments will be covered
in each phase, he said.
| Tourist hub to harbor Wipro facility | ||
| In an attempt to uplift their sagging IT industry, Goan government offers major chunk of the 50-acre land earmarked for Hi-Tech Habitat project to Wipro. | ||
| Thursday, August 26, 2004 | ||
In what could be the turning point for Goa's sagging IT industry, software giant Wipro has shown interest in setting up a campus facility in Goa. This could be the first major IT investment in the state in the last several years. The other major IT companies operating in the state are Tata Infotech, D-Link, Zenith and ControlNet. This was disclosed by the state IT Minister Francisco D'Souza in a written reply to a question asked in the recently concluded Goa Legislative Assembly meeting. The reply further stated that the 50-acre land earmarked for Hi-Tech Habitat project at Dona Paula Plateau has been taken over by the government from Infotech Corporation of Goa in view of this development. It is learnt that the government has offered a major chunk of this land to Wipro, while a three-acre portion would be handed over to Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) to set up infrastructure facilities for IT firms. Conceived a few years ago, Hi-Tech Habitat project could not take off due to lack of takers from the private sector. Bids were invited a number of times in the past for the development of the land into an IT Park. A JV was singed between a Gujarat-based company Creative IT Inc. and the Goan government for the implementation of the Hi-Tech Habitat project. However, it was cancelled as the party "did not fulfill the terms and conditions of the Letter of Intent". In the latest move, InfoTech Corporation of Goa had initiated moves to appoint an experienced consultant to move the proposal 'in a professional manner'. The land was neglected so much that a number of encroachments have already taken place on this prime land, which is facing the Arabian Sea. Currently, this plot is being used for fabricating concrete structures for the ongoing developmental work along Mandovi River in Panaji. Meanwhile, the Minister also confirmed that the proposal of setting up Cyber City (IT Park) on Mandrem-Morjim Plateau was still on. According to him, the government plans to issue Section IV notification under the Land Acquisition Act shortly, to acquire land for the above purpose. CyberMedia News | ||
|
Goa's got IT on its agenda now (Express Computer/23-12-2002) | |||
|
When you proclaim youre 365 days on a holiday, its kind of dodgy toin the same breathask businesses to come set up serious shop in your State. Theyd assume youd been out sunbathing a tad longer than sensible. Thats perhaps one of the reasons why Goa has been late off the blocks in wooing the IT services and IT enabled services industries to set up base on its pristine shores; and been reluctant too to hold out a begging bowl, like some other states unabashedly do, each time a visiting CEO is doling out the dollars. Of course it didnt help much that while the rest of the country was going gaga over the success of the Indian software industry, Goan politicians were busying themselves in toppling each other over13 chief ministers in a decade, surely thats Guinness-world-record level material. But its been 26 months now that the BJP government, headed by IIT-Bombay alumnus Manohar Parrikar, has held its own in Goa. And over this time, albeit in its inimitably unhurried style, Goa has been working on policies and initiatives that seem set to make the tiny state a model for the rest of India to follow, in terms of utilisation of information technology to meet the needs of society. Sounds fishy? Well, for starters, Goa's draft IT Policy is refreshingly different from what most others have put out. The broad mission is to enhance the states capacity for quality decisions in every sphere, whether at the government, corporate or individual level. Theres an InfoTech Corporation that has been set up to serve as a single window for implementation of all IT initiatives by the government, and an InfoTech Council to facilitate creation, development and implementation of Indias first R&D park, co-locating several R&D laboratories on a single campus. Throughout, the emphasis of the policy is on IT for development rather than a blind leap onto the software exports bandwagon. Yes, the document does talk of investment incentives and concessions, but the difference is that everythings directed at making Goa the R&D hub of the country. The behind-the-scenes groundwork done so far culminated earlier this month in the hosting of The Goa Agendaa conference jointly organised by the Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the governmentthat brought together powerful minds from all over the country to deliberate on how the state should take the lead in utilising IT for the benefit of the common man in its society. Good intentions have already been translated into actual action in some areas. For instance, every single one of the secondary schools in Goa has at least one computer in place. Some have many more, thanks to the largesse of expatriate Goans and other well-wishers abroadalmost 400 donated computers were distributed to schools via the Goa Sudharop NGO and the Goa Schools Computers Project recently. And next year, every student in the science stream at the pre-university level will be eligible to purchase a computer from a government agency for a paltry thousand rupees. Interestingly, many of these computers in the schools run the open-source alternative operating system Linux. One local expert estimates that Goa has the highest density of Linux-based PCs and users in the country. Complementing this alternative experiment is the fact that Goa is getting wired up pretty quick, with optical fibre criss-crossing the state and high bandwidth availability already a reality. Its been suggested that Goa should go all out to provide WiFi Hotspots (802.11 access points to use with wireless LAN devices) across the state as soon as the 2.4 GHz band of the spectrum is completely delicensed for outdoor use. Goa is an ideal state in which to experiment taking IT to the masses with these alternative technologies and innovative devices, for several reasons. For one, its tinyjust about 105 km long and 35 km wide, with a population of around 1.4 million spread over only about 2,000 square kilometres of the entire area. Literacy is over 80 percent, with a high proportion of English-language fluency and a per capita income double the national average. Can Goa become Indias first intelligent state, completely IT literate and fully wired? Well, The Goa Agenda showed that quite a few intelligent and dedicated individuals are working towards this dream. But they will have to go far beyond pitching Goa's salubrious environment alone as the USP, if they are to come even close to realising it. No doubt, there are already some success storieslike that of D-Link, the networking gear manufacturer that is one of the few companies in the hardware sector doing real manufacturing; ControlNet, with successful forays into chip design and embedded computing; and Zenith, which continues to hold high the Indian PC brand banner from its factories in Goa. But if the state can add even one really big name to this roster on the R&D front, the floodgates could well be opened. Any which way, its going to be a long journey ahead. For now, Ill let Goa's Information Technology Minister, Francisco DSouza, have the last word. He sat through most of the sessions at the two-day conference and stated at the end: If we cannot make Goa a very very IT-savvy state within the next five years at the maximum, then I think were not capable of handling anything in Goa. Now nothing could be more categorical than that, could it? We wish you all the very best, Mr Minister. - Val Souza, Editor
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------------------------- Pic of Dr. Samir Kelekar, courtesy: www.goasu-raj.org ---------------------
Goa-World.Com Team joins all its affiliates and support team members to congratulate Dr. Samir Kelekar on his nomination to the Board of Directors of InfoTech Corporation of Goa.
- Ulysses Menezes & Gaspar Almeida
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