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February 8, 2001
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Money > Business Headlines > Report February 8, 2001 |
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 Mahajan makes a case for globalisationKanchana Suggu in Bombay Candid, forthright and unbeatably witty. That in a nutshell would describe the address by Pramod Mahajan, minister of information technology and parliamentary affairs. At the Nasscom 2001inaugaral session on Wednesday, Mahajan clearly stole the show. His honest opinion of the state of affairs, particularly the IT industry, in our country left the distinguished guests and audience alike visibly impressed. "Dewang Mehta said that amongst the two portfolios that I have, the information technology one is more important to me. I disagree. If dot-com companies shut down, it makes no difference to me. But if DMK leaves the NDA, I will be having sleepless nights," were Mahajan's introductory remarks. Mahajan outlined the fact that while the advent of telephones, television sets and personal computers in India took place over a long period of time, in contrast, the Internet invasion in the country happened in a span of barely four years. He said that excessive regulation, taxation and censorship in the IT industry could be some of the stumbling blocks for the industry. Commenting on the Communications Bill, Mahajan said that it was a "futuristic bill" and that it should become an act in 2001. Expressing concern over the fact that each city in our country only competes with the other and that the nation as a whole only compares itself with the previous year's results he said, "I don't know why Bombay competes with Bhubhaneshwar and Chennai with Calcutta. We should not look at our earlier achievements. We have to compare ourselves with the world." "Globalisation should be made compulsory. It should not be a choice, but a way of life. Only then can we be called a truly digital economy," Mahajan said emphatically. Among the "side effects" of the new economy, the minister said that the problems of privacy, pornography, cyber crime and other socially related matters could be issues to tackle. Mahajan reiterated the slogan of 'IT for masses' and said that this should soon become a reality. SEE ALSO: |
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