Kerala to get centre's help to push e-governance

By Sanu George, Indo-Asian News Service

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 16 (IANS) The centre will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) this week with the Kerala government, offering it all assistance in promoting e-governance.

The state is viewing this as a reward for its consistency in networking government affairs and putting them online.

State IT minister P.K. Kunjalikutty said federal Communication and IT Minister Pramod Mahajan would be here Sunday to sign the MoU that would facilitate technical and financial help from the centre.

"We are really proud because this is the first time any state government has been asked to sign an MoU with the centre in this field. This is going to boost our efforts to promote private investment in the IT sector," Kunjalikutty said.

Mahajan will during his visit also inaugurate a 600,000 square foot building at Thiruvananthapuram's Technopark, which currently houses 60 companies.

The major push for e-governance in Kerala had come during a crippling 32-day strike by government employees from February. Apart from providing Rs.1.2 billion for projects to improve efficiency in various departments, the budget earmarked Rs.150 million to set up a single point access for those seeking services like welfare benefits and revenue certificates.

Plans for the MoU came in the wake of a study by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) ranking Kochi as the second most preferred destination in the country for the setting up of business process outsourcing or IT-enabled companies (ITES).

The government is currently working on a state-of-the-art 400,000 square-foot building in Kochi to house such companies. "The building would be ready for occupation by the end of next year," said IT Secretary Aruna Sunderarajan.

Another encouraging development for the IT industry in Kerala has been the rare political consensus on pushing the sector and ironing out the creases.

"We had a problem in one of the Technopark companies here. Because of the wholehearted support of the opposition, the issue has been sorted out without any problems. This is a good sign for all potential investors," said Kunjalikutty.

--Indo-Asian News Service