Development gets a boost

Prevailing peace in the region helps to initiate host of developmental activities for the speedy economic growth on the North-East. 

NASSCOM unveils plans for NE youths in IT race

 Unveiling plans for the youth of North-Eastern region and Kashmir, NASSCOM President, Kiran Karnik said it proposed to reach out to these areas in a big way since youth of these areas had been left out of the IT-race due to lack of training opportunities. Though there was a considerable chunk of bright and educated population in the North East region, several of the youth could not participate in the IT growth due to lack of opportunities in these regions, Karnik said on the sidelines of launching a new web-learning product, rRapid Suite.

If these youth were exposed to just three to four months of training programme, they could imbibe industry specific skills that could turn them employable, he said.

As part of its initiative to reach this sector, NASSCOM would launch its BPO related NASSCOM Assessment Competency Tool for the North East region in the next three months. The assessment tool would cover nearly 20,000 youth, he said.

Once these students were equipped with training certificates, they automatically would be picked up by IT industry since the certifications were common benchmark.

Revealing his ambitious plans for the youth of Kashmir, he said he hoped to reach the strife-stricken area one day and offer the youth training opportunities to enable them to participate in the IT-boom in the country.

Refusing to set any time-frame for the Kashmir training project, Karnik said once the students received training, they could be provided with jobs. The next phase of development would see companies coming out with specific packages for these youths and subsequently the trained Kashmiri youth could themselves turn entrepreneurs in the region.

Such a training initiative would also help in instilling a sense of ‘belongingness’ and hope in this area which has been rocked by violence for a considerable period, Karnik said.

Far-flung areas of North East could also be reached by leveraging technology in a major way. Initiatives like online learning, web-curriculum could help in this direction. The shortage of nearly half million personnel which the industry predicts in the coming years could be bridged by using a multiplier effect of technology.

“Technology could help reaching people who have been out of the IT growth,” he said.

Using a common benchmark certification, it could help companies in hiring people from far-flung places like Kohima and interior regions because their employability factor has been assessed and validated through certifications.

Addressing another urgent issue, he said as the industry was evolving rapidly, there was need to ensure that the current crop of personnel did not end up with obsolete skills and knowledge and were updated from time to time.

Training on the bench, or between projects, was imperative to prepare the personnel with a new set of customised skills demanded by the new project. Each project and each new customer demanded a fresh set of skills and therefore ongoing training programmes were a must, he said.

As the industry moves up the value chain, these current crop of IT professionals who had the basic knowledge, needed to be trained for the new demands of the industry.

Finer join hands for economic development

The North East MPs Forum (NEMPF) and Federation of Industry and Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) have joined hands to launch a joint coordination group (JCG) for the overall economic development of the region.

A formal declaration was exchanged at a joint meeting presided over by Union Tribal Affairs Minister, P. R. Kyndiah. Members of the Forum and senior office bearers of FINER attended the meeting. The six-member JCG would comprise three members each from either side.

Chairman of the NEMPF P. R. Kyndiah said that the JCG has been formed to fulfill five main objectives including accelerated investments and industrial developments, identify developmental issues, to pursue various central government ministries and policy making bodies, coordinate on various socio-economic issues and conduct studies on various issues pertaining to the region. General Secretary of NEMPF Arun Kumar Sarma said the JCG would help in giving feedback, which is essential to remove bottlenecks. “In future, we will make joint coordination on border trade and put pressure on Government of India,” he said.

President of FINER, S. K. Jain, lauding the initiatives to promote industrialisation of the North East, pointed out that delay in implementation of policies leads to its dilution. He underlined the need to avoid delays in implementation of Central policies.

Vice president of FINER, R. S. Joshi said the MPs would benefit from the various studies their organisations conduct from time to time. He said the Centre has proposed to invest nineteen lakh crore rupees for development of the country’s infrastructure in coming years.

Ten percent of this amount comes to mind boggling Rs 1.90 lakh crore, which could change the face of the NE, he said.

BSNL draws up schemes to woo NE customers

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) NE-1 Circle has drawn up a number of promotional schemes in the concerned North-east States where it is operating. These include broadband services in all 19 district HQs of NE-1 Circle (all seven district HQs of Meghalaya) having facilities like IPTV, video-on-demand, gaming, etc. Secondly, there will be expansion of MLLN network and high speed internet on WLL, while SMS on WLL will be introduced shortly. BSNL has planned a capacity addition of 1688 landline services, 6000 WLL, 56250 cell and 5000 broadband services during 2007-08 .

A. K. Gupta, CGMT, NE-1 Circle, Shillong, while addressing the media here today, said that the BSNL has also drawn up a number of services to attract the customers such as free SMS offer, free SIM activation, to existing landline customers and free EPABX scheme. The revised commission will go up to 42 per cent to the new segment of FLPP PCOs. Conversion of selected PCOs as BSNL one stop shop and sales through direct selling agents are the other schemes. Some of the schemes will be valid from September 1 to October 31, 2007.

The scheme of direct selling agents will give employment opportunities to the local youths with 21 DSAs already appointed in Meghalaya. The free EPABX will benefit government offices, PSUs and banks, hotels, corporate hospitals, education institutions, residential complexes and housing societies. The BSNL one stop shop will help customers to get all BSNL products and services from the nearest PCOs, as well as attractive commission.

Gupta said that other schemes which are to be introduced shortly are Net One (instant dial-up internet) with simplified registration, life-long SIM with reduced tariff and EPIN distributors. Some developmental activities under progress are the Triple play on landline connection having a voice telephone, broadband, video on demand and IPTV. Customers can also avail of unlimited and concessional talk time between BSNL landline and cell state-wide or nation-wide.

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