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Modi sees IT sector as face of India

While addressing the Nasscom’s India Leadership Forum 2014 held in Mumbai, Modi, by video-conference from Ahmedabad on Friday, said, ‘The IT-BPM has the potential to improve millions of lives. We can help poor people in earning their daily bread through IT. That is why I keep saying IT plus IT is equal to IT i.e. India Talent plus Information Technology is equal to India Tomorrow.’

 While claiming that the IT sector could be the shining light of brand India,’ he said, ‘e-governance is the most easy, effective and economical governance. It’s one of the most useful fields of information technology. It has the potential to become the greatest problem solver of the people (and) in doing so (will provide) empowerment, equity, efficiency.’

He said, ‘I would like to urge India’s IT sector to help bridge the digital divide in the country, which has the third-highest number of Internet users in the world after China and the US at 150 million, but where penetration accounts for just 12.58 per cent of the country’s population of about 1.2 billion. If you have to develop backward regions in the country, developing infrastructure should be based on an inclusive model.’

‘If there is a road, school or electricity in remote areas, life will change drastically. It’s collective responsibility of IT firms and professionals that we will reduce the digital divide to solve problems. India needs to focus more on developing software and that the power of the social media needed to be used more effectively,’ he said.

While stressing more focus on technology in sectors such as defence, Modi said, ‘Electronics imports are a big share in import basket. In a few years from now, (electronics) import bill will be bigger than oil imports. You can understand the challenge. Also, I would like to stress that cyber security needs to be addressed by the IT sector.’

Before concluding his speech, Modi had requested people in the IT sector to concentrate more on corporate social responsibility to reduce the drop out level.
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