Monday, August 4, 2014
IT Policy suggestions
The IT policy laid out by the State of Andhra Pradesh is very exhaustive and encouraging and covers a lot of good points. I humbly submit suggestions for adding a couple more:
The Industrial or IT policy of the newly formed state should be encouraging to employ local Andhra Pradesh students/professionals. For a very long time, the cream of the crop from Visakhapatnam , Vijaywada, Tirupathi, Ananthapur and other big towns of A.P have been going to Hyderabad or may be Bangalore and Chennai for jobs. It is very important that we provide employment opportunities for people to stay back in these big towns and be a part of the growth. . Therefore, the IT Policy should address that ‘local’ employment for both short and long term. I suggest –
a. The policy should request at least 50% employment from ‘local’ professionals graduated from local colleges or professionals that belong to that area. ‘Locals’ are defined by graduates who have done their college in the region or part of their schooling in the region or parents worked or lived there for at least 2 years in the region. This may be cumbersome to provide the data, but it helps the local people quite a bit. The idea is that local people get a fair chance in the development. This should apply for new companies to start in the region who are expecting Govt.subsidies.
b. Practical Training program: Govt. should do a matching grant for fresh local hires. As an example: If WIPRO is going to hire 2,000 fresh graduates in the region – The policy should say that any hire from local colleges in Vizag, Vijayawada, Tirupati or Anantapur regions; Govt pays Rs.5000 per month (as matching grant) and WIPRO pays Rs.5,000 to make monthly salary of Rs.10,000 for the first one year. The contract is only for one year and trainees will be confirmed at the end of one year based on their performance. This matching grant is only for local college graduates. After one year of confirmation, there is NO Govt.match. This will help local people get their first job, we will have more trained resources available in the region. This can also to be tied to your ‘One job per house’ electoral promise that you made. As a part of this PT (Practical training) program, if the program is able to employ 50,000 fresh graduates every year, the Govt.spends only Rs.300 crores a year. Long term this will create a huge ‘employable’ talent pool.
c. It is imperative that Govt. focuses on ‘upgrading’ human talent continuously and showcase it for Corporations. Corporations look for skilled Human Resource availability in the region to start their operations not just Govt.Subsidies. The Govt. should start a portal (example: Http://www.apgovonline.com/itresumes ) for logging resumes . The Govt. can also take one step forward and make these resumes tested over a period of time. Govt. can have testing centers across big towns similar to –eseva centers. Professionals working in other regions can also log in their resumes on that portal. The resumes should be tested for basic skills and rated. Govt. college programs should focus on improving the skills that are lagging behind. The database also should consist of support skilled persons like receptionists, security professionals, drivers, maids, garden services, cooks, etc. Existing Govt. sponsored programs (if any) can be clubbed or modified to roll into this. One STOP to showcase skilled resources of Andhrapradesh.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Social Responsibility
A doting father
Friday, August 1, 2014
How far is Singapore from Andhrapradesh?
How far is Singapore from Andhrapradesh is a obvious question! Mark the location you want either Vijayawada or Visakhapatnam on Google maps and get the distance. What is the question then?
The Cheif Minister of Andhrapradesh and his esteemed ministers keep talking about building another Singapore either as a capital city or a stand alone city in the newly formed state of Andhrapradesh. The obvious of Singapore that people visualize and get excited about is the tall buildings, neat and clean roads, technology infrastructure, tourist destinations, etc. It is very important for any leader to have a vision and paint pictures of future for its citizens.
What we all need to understand is what lies behind Singapore, its growth and what made the city/country one of the best countries to live in the world? For beginners, the population of Singapore and A.P is not comparable. We cannot build one singapore in an island with 50 lakhs population and let other cities dwell away in dirt and non-growth? For the land size and population, Singapore has very diverse occupations including manufacturing and financial services but very little agriculture.
To reach Singapore, we haave to start taking stock of our occupations, what we have and what we don't and what our underlying strategy for financial success of our own 'Singapore'..Singapore is not about buildings or infrastructure..even if it is, are we going to make our development one city centric again?
Cities like Singapore are built on clear cut vision and startegy and not just dreams...Strategically planning occupations based on the natural and human resources available and these resources linked to education(production) and Government. Singapore consists of more than 25% population born outside of Singapore which means they bring or take business 'from' singapore to their native country. (Import and exports). With very little dense population, it is easier to track all citizens and bring about sense of discipline.
Now, where do we start off in terms of corruption? How many decades will it take India or any small part of India to become non-corrupt with all the monies spent in elections? How can we inculcate discipline amongst our citizens? Where do we start off with the 'human' element that defines a country or a city?
It requires proper planning to develop one city into an IT hub or industrial hub. It is not enough for the Government to allocate land and invite industrialists. It requires proper policy and doing the right things first. We need to upgrade or modify/add support skills that requires an industry to run. The Government should bring the industry and education centers together to measure, estimate and develop skills required to make such IT cities or industrial hubs. New and creative programs to make the city affordable for the industrialists and employees is a must.
The list above is just a beginning -
I am not a pessimist, but an eternal optimist. I dream about great things for my country and love to improve the employablity for students comming out of colleges. However, I like to see the Government start off on our strenghts, have a practical strategy and direction to achieve what we have set out to -
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