R Satyanarayana

Aizawl Jul 02 (UNI) Endowed with blessings of nature, Mizoram, having a pollution free environment along with an air-conditioned climate, has eyed by the global IT giants such as Wipro and PriceWorth Cooper to invest for setting up its software base.

Officials from state's IT wing and industries department are also preparing a comprehensive blue-print on the line with the government IT policy to lure multi national IT companies for setting up a big software hub in the region.

The project aims to promot IT Industry, IT software, IT Products, and IT Services within the state, providing IT for the masses setting up a goal of achieving total computer literacy.

The government also announced that the IT industries in the region would be exempted from state sales tax for a period of seven years.

Various subsidies would be granted to the local IT industry which includes power, investment, infrastructure, lease line connection and manpower development.

Though the state stands second in literacy rate, it has a lot more to do to woo investors.

''Mizoram is a pollution free state with a cool climate, which is an ideal place for software development'', Wipro's Senior principal Muralidhara Honnur told UNI.

Mr Muralidhara, who was here for monitoring the state's e-governance project, indicated that Wipro was already looking for possible areas in this region to invest.

''While more than eighty percent of the population still depends on shifting cultivation for a livelihood, the youth are very much aware of what is happening in the developing world. More than seventy percent of the youth in the capital city are computer literate and English-understanding, the chances for the software developers is very positive'', said Rodingi, an IT official in the industries department.

''The western lifestyle that has much to do with information technology has had an enormous impact in the Mizo youth'', she said, adding that the state government is initiating steps to pronounce Mizoram as a special economic zone.

MORE UNI SNR BA RD 1022