Minister releases IT Policy of Union Territory of Puducherry

Puducherry, Oct 21 (UNI) With the objective of establishing Puducherry, a preferred destination for investment in IT and IT-enabled service industries and to bring in increased transparency, efficency and accountability in government operations through e-governance, the Puducherry adminsitration today released the IT Policy-2008 of the Union Territory.

Releasing the policy, Minister for Information Technology M O H F Shajahan said the administration envisaged to achieve transition of resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy by attracting investment in the sector, creating a pool of high skilled professionals, who were on par with the best in the country, extensively using IT in government and providing opportunity to its large educated people to contribute to the development of the Union Territory.

To achieve the objectives under the policy, the administration would form a UT level ''program steering council' chaired by Minister for IT and representatives from the government, industry and academia, and a state apex committee headed by Chief Secretary comprising selected representatives from the government for overseeing and to provide policy directions, he added.

He said strategies under the policy were technology-enabled governance and infrastructure and human resource development.

Under the technology-enabled governance steps would be taken to boost IT usage in agriculture and allied activities and integrated rural development, while under infrastrucutre and human resource development, Puducherry would be made a smart city by allowing wireless broadband internet connectivity access available across the city, he added.

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