'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.