Goa IT Professionals (GITP) is an apolitical and voluntary registered association of IT professionals of Goan origin working in the Indian and global IT industry and relentlessly pursuing a locally sustainable IT industry for the past many years. VIKANT SAHAY finds out what the Vice President of GITP, Vincent Toscano who is also an ex-Infosys Delivery Manager has to say on Goa’s present IT scenario.
HERALD: Why is the IT industry in Goa going at a snail’s pace?
VINCENT TOSCANO: There are multiple reasons for our sorry state of affairs. However, the keys ones are: (a) All round miss-understanding on how IT industry would have transformed Goa into an intelligent and progressive State strengthening our local culture and identity by minimizing our brain drain of the past two decades, (b) Utter lack of political vision and will to go beyond the convenient tourism and mining industries, (c) An illusion that Goa does not have qualified workforce for IT which is a result of 10,000+ such qualified Goans having had to leave Goa over past two decades due to lack of employment options locally in Goa. The workforce demand and supply goes hand in hand and educated Goans cannot be expected to just sit around for years waiting for jobs to arrive in Goa. However amidst all this there are a few Goan bravehearts who chose to either stay back after graduation or came back with experience from the global IT industry to create their own IT related businesses.
HERALD: What are the lacunae in this industry and what is the government’s role in it?
VT: The mega-campus IT template that has largely propelled the Indian IT industry is unsuitable for Goa, it being the smallest of Indian states with constrained land reserves. However, the IT industry globally has since evolved to enable IT work to be done from any place where a trained human mind has access to the Internet. It could be the hilltop of my village, Chorao, like I myself have done over the years during my holidays or it could be the thick forests of interior Goa. Goans have to increasingly exploit this fact which many of the 200+ Goan IT startups are already doing. On the other hand, any general IT company coming into Goa needs to adapt their infrastructure from centralized to the cluster model to integrate into the Goan environment and avoid damaging it which would have undesirable local repercussions. Government’s only role, in which it is found severely lacking, is to provide an effective policy-based framework for ease of doing business in Goa to the local startups and general IT companies and just get out of their way.
HERALD: What are your major demands?
VT: Very simple. Define an IT Policy for a locally sustainable IT industry with focus on Goans prospering in Goa, establish an effective framework for its implementation and get busy chasing relevant national and global businesses and institutions to come and set up shop in Goa. Nothing much remains to be invented here as so many Indian States have successfully gone down the IT road and we simply have to learn from their best practices and experiences, and adapt these things to the Goan context. Wake up and start walking is all we plead as there are enough people like GITP who are willing to do everything that’s required to establish a successful IT industry in Goa.
HERALD: You are demanding the resignation of IT director of Goa. Why?
VT: It probably is not her fault as it could be a result of incorrect appointment. Goa needs a full-time, efficient, competent and self-driven officer with proven track record as the Director of IT if Goa is to go anywhere with its IT industry.
HERALD: Do you think that Goa government is serious in their effort to encourage IT industry? If not, then why?
VT: From our direct discussions with the Chief Minister and few other senior Goan political leaders there is intent to promote IT industry. However, it is not translating into any concrete plans leave alone any actions for the past four and a half years. Even the poorly thought out and articulated draft IT Policy’s finalization is now four months behind the government’s self-declared deadline of June-end. Besides, they have been shying away from some of the best global opportunities to showcase Goa like the recent Global Business Forum and the upcoming Gartner CIO Conference (2nd year in a row) happening right here in Goa. So if a government is just not getting its act together despite our open offers of full support and us demonstrating it in so many ways including at the recent GBF then we cannot help but have serious doubts about their efforts to truly encourage IT industry in Goa.
HERALD: Lava, the smartphone manufacturer, has decided not to set up shop in Goa. Why so?
VT: That can be clarified only by the Goa government. GITP does not have any first-hand information in this regard and hence cannot make a firm statement. However, based on our own experience with the Goa government machinery and its disorganized and indifferent approach to the two dozen investment leads that GITP fed it this year, we would not be surprised even if the bare minimum was not done by Goa while Andhra Pradesh would have laid out the red carpet to win Lava over. It could be similar to how Maharashtra earlier won over Foxconn while our Goan leaders simply wait and watch.
HERALD: What is your next step?
VT: Our strictly apolitical and actively enabler-cum-pressuriser approach forms the bedrock of all of our plans and actions which evolve as new opportunities and situations arise. While continuing to provide our full support and inputs as usual, GITP will also maintain and increase pressure on the Goa government to publish at the earliest an effective and practical IT Policy focused on a locally sustainable IT industry for Goa. And also its time bound implementation to show results before Goa hits the next assembly elections. The educated youth of Goa can no longer be taken for a ride from one election to another on empty promises and meaningless paper policies. The IT Policy that Goa deserves is overall 20 years late, and specifically the current government is responsible for four years of delay since they had promised it within six months of coming to power. Its beyond high time for action and results for this government.
