When a minister speaks, it is considered a promise. A commitment, which has to be followed without any reminders. However, over time, people have to doubt whether the promises made by the ministers, will see the light of day. Hence, to restore this faith, specially before the young IT crowd at cyber-city Hyderabad, K T Rama Rao, IT Minister, Telangana, speaking before Tim Cook, CEO, Apple Inc, took up a unique challenge to self-impose a deadline. Can Goa emulate this ‘best practice’?
“If we are unable to give certifications within 15 days, it shall be deemed approved. Also, we will be liable for penal action as it has already been passed by the Telangana legislature,” said the Telangana IT minister K T Rama Rao before Tim Cook and his K Chandrashekhar Rao, Chief Minister, Telangana. This five and a half minute speech by K T Rama Rao has been uploaded on Youtube and has been going viral. Since May 19, over 24000 people have viewed his speech.
Twenty three months ago Hyderabad was named capital of the newest State of India, Telangana and today it already boasts of having offices of Google, Amazon and now Apple. Yes, it is working for job creation at lightning speed. Apple office alone which is being established in Hyderdabad to develop Maps will help create 4000 jobs.
Vincent Toscano, vice president, Goa IT Professionals (GITP) while taking a dig at the Goa government said, “Goa slumbers on pipe dreams of being an IT hub and an IT revolution while the world is moving ahead by leaps and bounds. India’s youngest state, Telangana, commits a 15-day all clearances assured timeframe to investors. Can our Goa government claim to have put in even a 15 day’s worth of solid effort towards promotion of IT Industry in Goa since the release of Goa’s draft IT Policy on May 23, 2015? With no tangible results seen on the ground so far this government is fast losing its credibility unless it springs up a miracle ASAP and produces sustained results on IT in the few months now left to the next assembly elections.”
Lucio Mesquita, CEO and Co Founder of Homdroid Home Automation Systems in Goa is of the opinion that “In a short span of five minutes, the IT minister of Telangana managed to highlight all the important points in his eloquent speech about the State and what makes it attractive for businesses. He even managed to add a bit of humor in the speech. It was clear that he understands the power of the IT industry when he asks Tim Cook to make Telangana a partner in Apple’s growth story.”
Lucio added that Goa really needs to work on how it can be an attractive business destination rather than just a holiday destination. A step in the right direction would be to reduce the red tape by formulating policies like the self certification policy of Telangana which was highlighted by the minister. It is high time we reduce red tape and the time required to get things moving.
Mangirish Salelkar, CEO and Co-Founder of Umang Software Technologies said, “I am sure the current IT policy of Goa is an output of efforts put in by the present Director of IT. However, to an extent some pointers are a copy paste of IT policies of neighboring States. What’s good for them, may not be good for us. Looking at the state of IT in this State, the drafting committee should have taken into consideration the best practices for effective administration of the department, ease of registrations with DOIT, and simplicity of business running an IT business in Goa. Now that the IT Policy stands ready to implement, I see no sign of any movement happening since last so many months of its release.”
Mangirish suggested that the DOIT is a specialist position and its director should be allowed to concentrate on one job that is DOIT. Secondly, “Forget about attracting giant companies in Goa as it is a waste of time and energy. Goa is still not equipped with the needful infrastructure, Internet, 2G, 3G, and public transport facilities,” he added. He also suggested that the Goa government should encourage existing Tech entrepreneurs to create more employment in the State.
Milind Prabhu, chief executive officer, GenoraInfotech believes that, “Tim Cook visited Telangana and it looks like a proactive effort from the State government. IT minister, KTR, made his intentions clear to make it an IT destination. Such representation from Goa will make those big brands set shops in Goa and not otherwise.”
Milind added that Goa as a global tourist destination can rise as an IT innovation hub when we get big brands such as Apple, Twitter etc to set shop here. Let the visitors take those blue prints of giants sitting in Goa and relate to Goa as an IT destination. What we will need is a proactive approach to get these anchor players and the rest will follow. And when the expert engineers start making their way to Goa, more companies will follow suit as well. Our every talented Goan engineer can get a well deserved job in these companies.
