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GTech (Group of Technology Companies), the industry body of software companies in the State, has put forward a ‘Kerala Model' of IT development with a view to widening the industry base within the State.
The approach has been explained in detail to the Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, and the Minister for IT, Mr P. K. Kunhalikkutty, when a GTech delegation met them earlier this week.
UNIQUE DEMOGRAPHY
Mr V. K. Mathews, President, GTech, told newspersons here on Thursday that the unique demography of rural Kerala is the basic foundation on which the ‘Kerala Model' is based.
Over 1.67 lakh students enrol for non-professional degree courses like BA (45 per cent), B Sc (40 per cent), and B Com (15 per cent) every year in the State.
A stand-out feature is that the number of graduates are uniformly spread across and not concentrated in any of the larger cities of the State.
In fact, the districts of Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram that respectively house the ‘commercial' and administrative capitals, put together have only 26 per cent of the science and arts graduates passing out each year.
In other words, 74 per cent of these graduates are located in rural districts. This is unlike other States where there exists a large concentration of graduates in and around major cities.
JOB SEEKERS
A large number of graduates especially women are unable to leave their home town due to family pressures. It is estimated that there are around 1.38 lakh professional job seekers in the State.
By bringing their operations to rural Kerala, IT companies can tap this opportunity and have on board local youth who would otherwise have remained unemployed.
There are several other indicators, all vital to the IT industry, where rural Kerala is significantly ahead of the other parts of rural India.
Broadband connects 99.8 per cent of the land area and the tele-density at 88 per cent is the highest, against a national average of 56.83 per cent.
Telephone connections
There are 2.75 crore telephones in the State for a total population of 3.1 crore. The number includes 2.4 crore mobiles and 35 lakh landlines. The State also boasts the highest rural media penetration in the country.
Rural road density is 5,374 km per 1,000 sq km against the national average of 920 km and all villages are connected by road.
The rail line runs through all but two districts in the State.
Kannur airport
Once the Kannur airport becomes functional, there will be an airport every 200 km.
These unique value propositions are what make the ‘Kerala Model' of IT development a workable approach.
It entails taking IT away from the major cities to semi rural and rural areas where there is a critical mass of employable graduates.
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