Our Bureau

New Delhi , May 27

HAS the political setback of the tech-savvy state governments in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka impacted the psyche of the present government?

On the face of it seems so with the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) appearing to have downplayed the normally hyped-up technology sectors including information technology (IT) and telecom.

The words software, information technology-enabled services (ITES) and telecommunications are found only once in the entire 24-paged CMP document and that too, as a part of the section on "employment."

This comes across as a stark contrast to the earlier government's India Shining campaign which made it a point to show the high telecom user base in most of its television and print campaigns. Of course "IT hardware" is also mentioned once under the "industry" section. This, in the context of the Government setting up the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council to sustain growth of manufacturing industries.

However, industry observers appear optimistic. When asked if this minimal reference to the IT sector in the CMP is an indication of how (un)important the sector is to this Government, the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) president, Mr Kiran Karnik said that for the ITES sector to thrive, "education, power, transport and communications infrastructure are important."

He referred to Communications and IT Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran's ten-point agenda and added, "As long as the infrastructure issues are taken care of, we are happy."

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) director general, Mr T.V. Ramachandran also pointed out to Mr Maran's ten-point agenda.

"The minister already has a ten-point programme. CMP is more of a political thing," he said. Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO) secretary general, Mr S.C. Khanna declined to comment on the issue saying he was yet to study the programme.

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