Wipro

Aizawl, July 2: Global IT giants such as Wipro and PriceWorth Cooper are eyeing Mizoram, heaving a pollution free environment, for setting up their software bases.

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

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

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.

''While more than eighty per cent of the population here 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 per cent 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.

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

''PriceWorth Cooper is also very much interested in investing in the state, which is currently the supplier of all the hardware items for our e-governance project,'' according to Deputy Secretary state IT wing. He added that the company has also signed a contract with M/s Comnet and ORG Informatics Ltd for installation of e-governance machineries in the state.

Earlier, Mizoram had only two computer institutes under the state and central government. But currently, private institutes have mushroomed and are luring students by lowering their fees drastically.

According to the Additional Director Industries Malsawmdawngliana, government would be setting up State Level Information Technology Co-ordination Committee (SLITCC) under the chairmanship of Mizoram Chief Secretary.

''The committee would constitute a task force with members and experts from various organisations that would conceive and oversee the implementation of the programmes envisaged under the new IT policy.'' Apart from this, with the help of the Centre ERNET India, the Ministry of communication and Information Technology has also set up point-to-point high speed links in the universities of Mizoram.

These links help students and faculty of these universities to acccess internet, hosting web servers and access E-Journals, distance learning and digital library.

Officials from the state IT wing also mentioned that they have already received many enquiries from different software companies across the country to setup their software business in Mizoram.

In a bid to nurture the talent of young kids, the Mizoram government has already provided computer systems to all middle schools in the state.

UNI