With Akhilesh Yadav at the helm of the Samajwadi Party, which witnessed a thumping victory in the just concluded Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, the new government is expected to show leniency in its approach to computerisation and e-governance.
Industry watchers say the role of Akhilesh has helped the party soften its stance on the issue. So much so, one of the SP’s poll promises is to gift a computer to all students passing class X and XII, said to be a brainchild of Akhilesh.
“Being an engineer by training and a younger person, he will have a clear buy in into the transformational powers of information technology to the key developmental indices of the state,” said Subho Ray, president, Internet and Mobile Association of India. Akhilesh studied engineering at the Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering in Mysore before proceeding to Australia for a master’s degree in environmental engineering. He is known to be computer savvy. The chhote netaji is also a known user of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
The SP is known for its opposition to use of computers in governance. In fact, the manifesto it released before the 2009 Lok Sabha elections clearly said the party’s intent to ban English education and computers in new projects. However, this stance was softened during the just-concluded Assembly elections.
UP is not considered an aggressive state on e-governance initiatives. Besides, excepting Noida, not many cities in the state have succeeded in attracting IT investments. Tata Consultancy Services is perhaps the only big Indian IT company with a big software delivery centre, a 1,200-seater, in Lucknow.
Industry bodies expect things to change under the new government, under the influence of Akhilesh Yadav.
“There is a tremendous opportunity for building a progressive state. As an industry body, we see a few growth drivers. First, the election manifesto talked about distribution of laptops to college-going students. This is similar to the Tamil Nadu government’s laptop scheme. It’s a good start and good news for the industry. Second, there are a large number of government projects in UP. They can now start leveraging IT for all such projects,” said Alok Bharadwaj, president of the Manufacturer’s Association for Information and Technology.
The SP’s poll promise to give free laptops/tablets to students passing class X and XII looks ambitious, with about 5.6 million students having done so in government schools in the state last year. Still, this reflects progressive thinking.
“Today, every political party clearly understands that if it performs well and gives open, transparent and efficient services to the citizen, they can come back to power. IT is one thing which will transform the state and increase the openness and transparency to make sure they deliver services to the citizen effectively,” said V Balakrishnan, CFO and member of the board, Infosys.
However, some sections of the industry are sceptical. Says Supriyo Gupta, managing director of Digilogue Communications, it will take more than computerisation and e-governance to set Uttar Pradesh right. “Indeed, not much of the country has really become IT-governed. Even the IT hub of Karnataka has miserable IT infrastructure in government offices. Central government offices are woefully short on computerisation and there is little to suggest that the other parties are any better off on e-governance initiatives,” he says.
(With inputs from Virendra Singh Rawat in Lucknow)
