India's economic future depends on Digital India, says Ram Nath Kovind

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 27: President Ram Nath Kovind said the future of the country's economy and employment creation depends heavily on the success the nation achieves with Digital India.

Speaking after launching the Kerala government's ambitious Technocity project near here, he said the jobs of tomorrow would come more and more from digital services and other opportunities that were derived from the internet. Kovind also said that Kerala, with its inherent resources and strength, was a potential powerhouse of digital India.

"It is India's most connective state with the highest level of mobile phone penetration", Kovind added. The President lavished praise on the southern state's achievements in health, education, tourism and IT sectors. Stating that Kerala's IT sector has been growing, he said the state government is taking steps to bridge the digital gap by providing free Internet. Technocity, coming up on a 400 acre campus at nearby Pallippuram, is aimed at fostering emerging and high-end technologies and research and development in this regard.

The President laid the foundation stone for the first government IT building at the campus by unveiling a plaque in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Governor P Sathasivam, state Minister Kadakampally Surendran and other top state government officials. Chief Minister Vijayan said the new government IT building was planned to be commissioned in 2019 and that it is expected to generate an additional one lakh jobs. He said the upcoming Technocity would lay thrust on cognitive analysis, artificial intelligence, mobile technology, space analysis and so on, which would differentiate the IT park from other conventional ones.

Technocity will unfold as an integrated IT township with IT/IT Enabled Services (ITeS) office spaces, commercial spaces and educational institutions. The mammoth project will also include a dedicated 'Knowledge City', envisaged as a 'Centre of Excellence' in future technologies. Once Technocity is operational, an additional 1,00,000 employment opportunities from leading and upcoming IT companies are expected to be generated in the state.

The first IT building coming up at Technocity will be a signature building with a built-up area of 2,00,000 sq.ft and it is expected to be operational by 2019. Tata Consultancy Services have began work on their campus on 97 acres land in Technocity. Other organisations such as SunTec, IIITM-K and KASE have already taken land for developing their respective campuses as well.

PTI