'Loss of interest' stops BITA from framing crucial policies

Most of the eastern associations in India have picked up momentum both in terms of execution of projects, elections, as well as other co-operative activities with Computer Association of Eastern India (COMPASS) ruling the charts. However, Bihar IT Association (BITA) seems to have taken a backseat, missing out both on elections as well as the crucial expo last year. As a result of this, major policies in pipeline are getting withheld or having lukewarm implementation. Recently, the association thought of implementing two policies related to the distributors and vendors but had to withhold both.

In the first place, BITA office bearers decided to make registration mandatory in BITA for the national distributors and their regional counterparts. Also, concerning the vendors, BITA stated that a 'no-objection certificate' from BITA is required whenever a vendor changes its distributor in the region. This was done to ensure that financial problems do not surface when a channel shuffle occurs in the region. But, both these policies were withheld as a result of the lukewarm response from the BITA members.

"We decided these policies for the improvement of trade as well as to ensure the safety of the channel partners. But to our disappointment, we (office bearers) are very skeptical about how many members will turn up when we call for a meeting to discuss these policies," said SN Prasad, president, BITA.

The lethargy in association related activities comes from revelation by Naveen Gupta, secretary, BITA who said, "Members have lost interest in the association related activities and unites only on instances pertaining to trade and related business effects."

"There isn't much to say about the association and its members. The members don't turn up on scheduled meetings except when there is a significant issue in the trade scenario," added Gupta. The last time when some members (estimated 20 of 58) of the association came together was during the alleged 'unethical pricing of the hard drives' by the distributors. After this instance, there hasn't been any occurrence of members attending crucial meetings. The situation in the association seems to have remained the same since June 2010 when Prasad stated the same commenting, "Members have started losing interest in the association. Only four office bearers are keeping the pace with the association and there is a desperate need of having more involvement from other members."

"When we called for elections last time, few members who attended the meeting, asked us (office bearers) to continue in our present positions. It seems that nobody (members) is interested in elections or holding any portfolio," complained Gupta. This approach indeed cost the association dearly with BITA falling in ranks in the recently conducted, The DQ Week-CMR Channel Association Survey, 2011.

Further, this alleged approach from the members has resulted in the association taking a back-seat in the overall eastern channel trade with the region not registering any significant growth over the last two fiscals or thorough policies being taken up. Although the issue of motivating members for active participation has been taken up by the office bearers often, there seems to have been little effect on the organizational capabilities of the association. The obvious reason for the 'loss of interest from its members' has been the recovery of the state from financial crisis with most of the dealers across the state busy consolidating their business.

However, Gupta confirmed that the association will conduct a 'proper election' in March, 2012 as well as organize an IT expo in the same month. "We have decided to organize an expo in March and already have two meetings on the same. By January 16, the final decision and the go-ahead plan will be finalized and then we will scout for the available venue. Also, unlike the past, this time, it will be an exclusive IT expo," concluded Gupta.