Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the state has always produced great talent, but lacked opportunities, which is perhaps why the legendary Mangeshkar family had moved out.
"Goa has huge talent. You take any field, whether it is art, science, armed forces...such a small place has produced talent beyond its strength," he said during the opening function of Goa Information Technology (IT) Day here.
"Only the opportunities are required, otherwise we would have Mangeshkars staying in Goa. Might be they had to migrate because opportunities were lacking," Parrikar said referring to the Mangeshkar family of legendary singers Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and composer Hridaynath Mangeshkar.
He said if the IT talent in Goa remains in the state, it will help transform the state into an IT hub.
"We have a lot of IT talent (from Goa) in Bangalore or Pune. We need to have reverse brain drain for the state. My target is let my talent stay in the state and develop it and become an industrial as well as IT hub with positive mind-frame," he said.
"When you don't get proper opportunities you tend to go into a negative mind-frame...this is a good opportunity to reverse the negative into positive mind-frame," he said referring to the IT policy to be unveiled by Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad tomorrow.
Parrikar said he always dreamt of Goa becoming an IT power hub. "In fact, I was instrumental in starting the IT department," he said.
"I designed a scheme called Cyber Age. Now computers, giving laptops to students has become a part of political agenda for everyone. But when no one had thought of it, Goa was the first state where laptops were given to the students of 11th standard at a nominal fee of Rs 500," Parrikar stated.
"Goa has a capacity (to grow in the IT field). Though it is a small state, we have a diaspora, which is probably more than one or two crores of people," he said.
"The sate has only 15 lakh population, there would be a crore and half Goans in India and some 2 lakh around the globe," he added.
Parrikar said as per the new IT policy aims to bring down the bureaucratic red tapism.
"If someone has promised something has to be delivered to him in reasonable time, reasonable energy and with less hassles...The policy ensures many of these things," he said.
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