Use technology to uplift people : CM

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, OCT. 4. The Technology Summit and Technology Platform 2001, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), got off to a start with the speakers focussing on the use of technology as a tool to eradicate poverty and achieve growth on the one hand, and the need to develop indigenous technology to suit Indian conditions on the other.

While the Chief Minister, Mr.N.Chandrababu Naidu, who inaugurated the two-day summit, emphasised the need to use technology as a tool to lift people out of poverty and on to a higher plane of income and employment, it was Dr. Jamshed J.Irani, Director of Tata Sons, who sought to drive home the point to the industrialists gathered the need to develop `indigenous' and `relevant' technology for India, rather than adapting Indian industry to suit alien technologies.

Mr. Naidu said unless developing countries focussed on technology it would not be possible to achieve growth and development. Application of new technologies of today in the areas of information and communication, biotechnology, delivery of health and education among others ``offer opportunities that earlier societies never had. Technology can help us achieve in one generation what took decades and even centuries to achieve in the past,'' he said.

Technology was a critical element in accelerating the pace of development in the State, he said. Andhra Pradesh would like to concentrate on technologies like Information Technology, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in order to emerge a major player in the knowledge economy.

The State was keen to promote applications to benefit the common man, he said, citing examples like eSeva counters which provided one-stop services to citizens. Increasing use of information technology, he felt, could also help tackle problems of corruption and inefficiency.

The State will soon be using KU and C bands for broadcasting educational content for schools and the public. The State was engaged in a telemedicine pilot project that will provide a linkage between Government hospitals and some of the corporate hospitals. These were examples of how technology can be used for the benefit of people irrespective of where they were located, he said.

Dr. Irani said it was high time India started developing its own solutions to suit its requirements instead of adapting its systems to alien technology. He pointed out that global solutions may not address Indian requirements and conditions.

Mr. S. Mahalingam, Chairman, CII, Southern Region, said the CII had realigned focus of the Technology Summit in the backdrop of the economic slowdown.

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Section  : Southern States
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