Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa IT professionals (GITP) have welcomed Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s commitment towards reforming the education system on line with international benchmarks as well as proposing to generate high-income modern employment for local youth.
“The declarations and provisions made in Budget 2017-18 (presented last week) have sparked a new hope among thousands of Goan IT professionals and their families. GITP appreciates the importance laid on the IT industry as it employs professionals from several educational streams and stands to eliminate Goa’s long standing problem of unemployment, brain drain and outward migration,” a statement issued by the GITP says.
The association has assured support to the government in its endeavor while making suggestions to achieve the goals. These include asking government departments to undertake IT projects, single window system to start a business, effective marketing, tax relief to IT and Information Technology Enabled Services for five years proportionate to the percentage of local manpower, etc.
“The budget lays stress on digitisation of government records for which many government departments will have to undertake IT projects. The startup policy should make provision for preferring companies with local presence for these projects. Similarly, all procedures and necessary forms should be available on a website and single windows that need to be approached for starting a business, should exist. Many states have enforced time-bound clearances of industrial projects. A project is deemed to be approved if there is no response from the government within 15 days. As a small state, Goa can do far better than this,” it said.
The association further suggested that a company looking to set up in Goa should be able to start on a small scale at ‘incubation centres’ and later move to IT Park. “All necessary infrastructure such as reliable power, internet, etc should be managed by the center, allowing prospective companies to immediately start their business without infrastructural hassles,” it stated, adding “Though the IT park is two years away, the government and IPB should facilitate the setting up of development units in the state in existing workspaces.”
The GITP as also sought upgradation of school labs particularly in view of ineffective IT-literacy in rural Goa.
