HYDERABAD: Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao urged the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology to recommend to the Centre the need for a project akin to Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR), or to provide special incentives to the State to execute similar projects, saying newly formed States like Telangana needed special support from the Union Ministry.
Addressing MPs comprising the committee led by Shashi Tharoor, who were on a two-day visit to Hyderabad to study the State’s policies and initiatives on Wednesday, Rama Rao spoke at length about how policies like TS-iPASS had helped attract many investments to the State, resulting in major job creation and growth of IT exports.
Explaining the use of IT in digital economy/governance, he said several changes had been introduced in MeeSeva services, while mobile-based government services were being encouraged and milestones were achieved in the usage of T-Wallet. He also explained how drone projects were being developed through use of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies in the Agriculture sector.
The MPs in the committee, including Ranjith Reddy, Karti Chidambaram, G Jayadev, Tejaswi Surya and Mahua Moitra, among others, had visited T-Hub and Telangana Data Centre on Tuesday. The team interacted with people associated with some start-ups at T-Hub like Marut Drone, Gravton Motors and Skyroute Aerospace, and took to Twitter to show their appreciation of the ecosystem.
After the meeting on Wednesday chaired by Shashi Tharoor, the committee expressed its willingness to represent to the Centre on how certain initiatives being implemented in Telangana could be applied to other States. The committee praised Telangana’s efforts to establish incubators and implement digital governance services.
Committee to take a leaf out of TS’ book
Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, IT&ES, I&C, made a presentation to the MPs that highlighted the State’s various institutions like T-Works, T-Hub, RICH
