KOLKATA: For instance, West Bengal's leftist government, ever critical of the Andhra Pradesh government's policies, is perhaps for the first time appreciating the southern state's achievements in the IT sector. The host government also admitted that it has learnt from Andhra Pradesh's approach to certain IT projects. The Andhra Pradesh government, in turn, is appreciating Karnataka's online land records project. A few other states, yet to walk the path of IT, are learning from the experiences of the states that are now considered "IT veterans". "Infocom 2002", organised with the help of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), has drawn big names in IT like Oracle, Wipro, Tata Infotech, Sun Microsystems, PriceWaterhouse Coopers and Infosys. Said D.P. Patra, West Bengal's IT secretary: "There is no alternative to e-governance for an efficient administration. As for us, we studied the models followed by Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. They helped us a lot in putting in place the info-kiosk project." Technocrats participating in the four-day "Infocom 2002", concluding Wednesday, said they were surprised by the "non-political interaction between states". "Politics doesn't seem to have affected IT relations between rival states. This is a positive development," said a senior official of PriceWaterhouseCoopers. It is surprising that West Bengal's leftists, who are at most times critical of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu because of his support to the central ruling coalition, can praise Naidu. Likewise, "IT rivals" Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, both claiming to be India's Silicon Valley, are lauding each other's efforts in IT. "Karnataka's 'Bhoomi' project is worth some praise. It has helped the government raise 95 million through user charges for its online land records retrieval/inquiry facility," said an IT professional from Hyderabad. States like Assam, which are yet to make their mark in the IT sector, are attending the conference to "gain experience". Said Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi: "The importance of IT can hardly be overemphasised today. We understand that e-governance is a must. We are learning about sustaining e-governance initiatives here."
Source: IANS