Premji pushes for creation of CIO structure in govt

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji today urged upon the government to make education, innovation and information technology communication part of their economic policy agenda.

Speaking at the inauguration of BangaloreIT.Biz 2009, Karnataka's annual premier ICT (Information Technology, Communication,telecom) event here, he stressed the role of ICT in government.

The chairman of the Bangalore-headquartered IT firm said it would increase the reach and efficiency of government agencies in delivering citizen services.

He expressed the view that such deliveries are "too fragmented" in the country today and best practices "don't come to the surface", while there is a lot of duplication between different organisations in the government resulting in higher costs.

States should share their expertise in ICT, he said. States lagging behind "need not reinvent the wheel; they can learn from leading ICT states, do some minimum customisation and implement in their States", Premji added.