One of the biggest Propaganda relates with Indian Information Technology sector. Check out few facts about Indian Information technology sector
- Indian Statistical Institute.
Got India’s first computer(HEC-2M ) in 1956. And at least 20 such computers made way in Govt institutes in the following two decades.
2. Department of Electronics
Established way back in 1963
3. Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL)
Established in 1967
4. Tata Consultancy services
Established in 1968
5. HCL technologies
Established in 1976
6. Wipro
Established in 1980
7. Infosys
Established in 1981
8. Centre for Development of Telematics(C-DOT)
Established in August,1984
All these events and establishment of IT companies happened way before 31 October 1984 when this person, Rajiv Gandhi
assumed charge as Prime minister of India.
And somehow this person is projected as “Father of Indian Information Technology”. After 1984 because of his economic policies Indian economy reached to the point of collapsing. Most of us know the story of flying 30 tonnes of Gold overnight in plane to salvage our economy. Don’t we? But the propaganda machine named IT parks after him to give an illusion that this guy conjured IT sector in India as if it never existed before 1984.
Real Hero of Indian Information Technology sector:
The person who brought ACTUAL CHANGE to Indian IT sector was Atal Bihari Vajpayee[1].
- In 1998 when the new government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared “IT as India’s tomorrow” .
- In May 1998, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s PMO notified the appointment of a National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development headed by Jaswant Singh, and took a number of proactive measures to promote software companies.
- An IT task force was appointed to recommend changes in the policies of the government. Measures were taken to give a tax holiday on the export earnings of the Indian software services companies for ten years and import duty was exempted on computers and software packages imported for exporting software.
- Multinational companies were welcomed to set up software development and Research and Development (R&D) centres. Software and services exports grew rapidly from USD 2 Billion in 1998 to USD 50 Billion in 2010. Information Technology was 5 contributing 6.4% of GDP in 2010 and was providing employment to 2.4 million software professionals.
- Most of the jobs in IT sector if you remember happened only after 2002, when effect of Vajpayee’s policies came into being. Vajpayee may not be father of Indian IT but he was the one who brought the paradigm shift in Indian IT sector.
ABV must be thanked for paving way for millions of job in IT sector and changes their lives.
Footnotes
[1] http://www.cbi.umn.edu/hostedpub…