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IT days ahead

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DQW Bureau
New Update



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As voters in Tamil Nadu go to
the polling booths on May 10 to elect their representatives to the State
Assembly, they will be participating in a unique experiment in the country. For
the first time, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used in all the 234
assembly constituencies. Some 75,000 EVMs have reached the state. One thing we
can surely state is that the confusion that happened with simple voting
procedures in US Presidential elections in Florida last November will not be
repeated here.

Though there are three major
alliances in the election fray, the contest is mainly between the DMK-led and
AIADMK-led alliances. Whichever alliance comes to power the IT industry can look
forward to a season of hectic activity ahead. For both the dominant parties have
given, for the first time, a considerable importance to the IT sector. Both DMK
and AIADMK in their respective election manifestoes have highlighted their role
in the 1990s, which have made the state today a leading player in IT
sweepstakes.

DMK has vowed to carry on its
good work in making things easy for IT companies, which have made Tamil Nadu the
second largest software exporter after Karnataka in South India. From Rs 2 crore,
software exports have galloped to Rs 3,116 crore in 2000-01. The party if voted
back to power, has vowed to make Tamil Nadu the top IT state. It intends to take
'IT to all corners' in he next five years. DMK has proposed to provide special
loans to student and teachers in schools and colleges to buy PCs and improve
their IT skills. Digital libraries, Net browsing centers in villages,
computerization of police stations, free computer education for economically
backward students, imparting hardware maintenance skills and IT-enabled services
skills are among the thrust areas identified for next five years.

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Not to be left behind, AIADMK
has devoted a dozen pages to state what it intends to do if voted to power. J
Jayalalitha, Chief, AIADMK has justifiably highlighted her efforts to sanction
IT courses in over 150 courses during her stewardship of the state from 1991-96
which has laid the foundation for Tamil Nadu's ascendancy in software
development and services. AIADMK has promised to set up computer science parks,
high speed Internet access centers and high bandwidth telecom centers in all
villages. Also on the anvil are satellite STPs to provide tap software talent
from remote corners, full computerization of government machinery and emphasis
on e-governance to usher in an efficient and transparent administration. AIADMK
has coined the slogan, 'computers for everything, computers everywhere.'

If the parties deliver most of
their promises, a golden era awaits the IT sector in Tamil Nadu.

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