India has no future without IT: Naidu

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 8. Internet is no longer a luxury for the rich, but was fast becoming a necessity of life, bringing about a profound change in the global economy. These changes were however accompanied by concerns about a widening digital divide, said the Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, while launching a website of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry Ladies Organisation in New Delhi today through videoconferencing from Hyderabad.

The Chief Minister said that technology allowed him to be virtually telepresent in their midst. ``We have to take proactive steps to ensure that India does not remain on the wrong side of the digital divide.'' He said in 1990 China had less than 10 million telephones, but it now has 125 million telephones with more than two million phones being added every month. In contrast, India has only 30 million telephones.

The Chief Minister said that in Andhra Pradesh, the target is to provide Internet access to all villages in the next 18 months. Unless the interface between the Government and the common citizen is reduced, it would be difficult to do away with corruption.

The President of the FICCI Ladies Organisation, Ms Renuka Shah, described the Chief Minister as ``E-Naidu'' and complimented the Andhra Pradesh Government in empowering women. In reply to a question from Ms Manju Mehta about how computerisation and lap top culture could help rural women when basic necessities like potable water and health care were neglected, the Chief Minister said lot of welfare programmes were being taken up in the State. The 3,50,000 DWCRA groups have pooled up a revolving fund of Rs 800 crores, he asserted, according to a press note issued by the CM's office here.

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