In what can be termed as a significant first for Assam and the whole of North East in general, Tata Consultancy Services, leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organisation , has undertook a major new initiative to harness and develop the intellectual capital available in this  region of the  country.                                         

TCS signed a MOU at Guwahati with IIT- Guwahati for setting up a TCS learning centre on the IIT-Guwahati campus and to develop collaboration in Research and Development based on mutual interests. This is the first time that TCS has entered into a collaboration with any IIT. As part of this pioneering initiative, TCS signed a Lease agreement on the same day with the Govt of Assam for leasing 50 flats in the National Games village for a period of three years.The MOU's were signed in the presence of Union Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, Assam CM, Tarun Gogoi , CEO and MD of TCS, S.Ramadorai  and the Director of IIT , Gautam Baruah. This is the first entry of an IT giant into NE India.When the actual force behind the deal becoming instrumental, Jairam Ramesh, the ever-energetic Union Minister of State for Commerce ,took a snide at the media on the occasion ,ridiculing its over-projection of the 'other IT( Insurgency and Terrorism)' that the NE has over the years become famous for, one felt that he was actually trying to highlight the paradigm shift that  this development has brought with a clear message that now IT as in base Information Technology and Assam and NE's development in this front may well be headline materials for the coming future.

It is a development worth rejoicing but definitely not to go  ga-ga over. It is a very significant beginning that can open the floodgates for another of Ramesh's vision--that of Guwahati and Shillong becoming the hub of IT activities in this region to be counted in near future as a force to reckon with in this sector. Ramesh also disclosed that a similar big investment in the BPO sector was shortly coming Shillong's way but stopped short of giving further details citing EC guidelines , given the ongoing Assembly Election process in Meghalaya.What has counted in favour of Guwahati and Shillong is basically the presence of quality educational institutions over and above the positive attitude showed by the sitting Govt,s of these states. The TCS Chairman, Mr. Ramadorai minced no words in speaking out about this. '' Two fundamental reasons for taking such a hallmark decision has been----the availability of young graduates who can be trained and the attitude and welcoming nature of your Govt.'', said the TCS front man in Guwahati . But that  taking this decision was also one of undertaking huge risk was underlined clearly by Ramesh. ''It is a visionary approach and one which is very progressive if you take into account the risk that is involved. This has clearly been a risk investment for TCS. These companies act on instinct. The right kind of environment is so very important for them.'', said the never-say -die Union Minister. And exactly due to this reason there is no room to fall over oneself in triumph over the coming of TCS. More than the coming part the holding on to is more important to reap long term benefits. The State Govt's attitude should continue to remain positive and the ''other IT''  should be kept in check, both in terms of its proliferation as well as glorification in the media.It was heartening to hear from the horse's mouth of Ramadorai that the TCS has entered Assam and the North East with ''sustained long term interest in mind''  but the onus is definitely on the region and its people now to return the compliment by keeping up the conducive atmosphere.

Questions like why did TCS or any other company didn't enter this region earlier and what actually swayed the IT giant( Ramadorai may have given his overt reasons to the media but still there would be talk around the covert clinching factor) to take this leap are very trash and insignificant at the moment and almost an insult to the ''historic occasion''. But still trying to figure them out may not be an arduous task after all . Starting with the latter, given all the ground situation and positivity  that may have come into play to sway the TCS,one cannot deny that the ''charming arm twisting'' by Jairam Ramesh and his continuous pushing made the deal actually possible.  Six months back in the latter half of 2007, he brought Ramadorai and experts from TCS for first time to Guwahati and convinced them that they can show long term interest in this region .Ever since he has pushed both the state govt and  the company  to match efforts and mind strings  that is so important for something of this magnitude to develop. He can easily sit back and not let the ''skewed geographic  division as in the the  monopoly of a countful states of the country  as far as the IT industry and market isconcerned'' to disturb or concern him ( acording to Ramesh, the whole IT development in the country is just spread over 7 cities namely Bangalore, Delhi/ Gurgaon , Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, New Bombay and Kolkata. ''These 7 cities account for 95% of the 40 billion IT export from our country. This to my understanding,  is a very skewed division. However, some second rung cities are coming up like Mysore,Mohali,Bhubaneshwar,Jaipur, Nagpur and Coimbatore.'' informed Ramesh). But he is always a man ready to deliver and his commitment shows clearly towards his mission to see a  developed and strong NE  in his tireless efforts  to draw names like TCS and  NASSCOM  to this region.''Guwahati and Shillong have the potential to emerge as big IT powers from the NE region.'', felt the Minister , talking on the occasion. How many  actually sitting here,  say in Guwahati ,would be proud that  more that 2000 boys and girls  took the NASSCOM  competence test last year from Tripura ,second only to a figure of around 2600 of Assam? The states and the people of the region are more engaged fighting over petty border squabbles  and   games of one-upmanship. And here is a Union Minister from Southern India in Jairam Ramesh,who has a glow in his eyes  to visualise Tripura becoming another probable IT hub in this region. The whole of NE must feel proud and lucky to have someone like Ramesh for them. Coming to the former question, it was again made clear by Jairam Ramesh that the youth and human resource of this region have found favour with IT companies in mainland India for quite some time now. So the scope and space was always there for this development to happen. The proper marketing of the region was never done before seriously.But the coming of TCS signals that the NE is slowly but surely making the transition from being just a preferred sorce of recruitment for IT / BPO companies to a major centre for investment in this sector. TCS also hasn't come in a flash . It was revealed that they took a year to contemplate, gauge the ground situation and do their explicit homework before setting foot last year. After working out the finer modalities for another six months , now  they have arrived formally . This augurs well for the region. If the region can hold on to the good work then  with the advent of a company of TCS 's magnitude , repute and stature, more such big and medium companies might come calling in near future.

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