Kerala’s Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, has highlighted the need to ‘rework and renew’ the State’s IT policy to meet new demands and cater to changed circumstances. He made the statement at the ‘Kerala Looks Ahead’ global conclave organised by the State Planning Board.

The State has accorded priority to investments in human development and basic social welfare. “But we are also aware that for a sustainable and prosperous future, we must improve and modernise productive capacities in the economy,” the Chief Minister said.

Invest in tech, industry

He said that it is important to invest in technologies and industries of the future. Underscoring the prominent role of IT in shaping the future of Kerala, he said the IT revolution has been unfolding for over 30-45 years now and continues to be at the core of technological advancement.

“Like the machine of the 19th century industrial revolution, the silicon chip is the key to the new technological revolution. Unfortunately, our country lags behind in the manufacture and fabrication of a range of silicon chips that are at the heart of the hardware that powers this revolution,” Vijayan noted.

The Chief Minister said that significant progress in production of software and hardware would contribute to value addition, growth of productive assets, advanced knowledge generation and the promotion of highly skilled labour and employment.

Also read: Chief Minister to open ‘Kerala Looks Ahead’ global conclave

A common refrain of speakers at the conclave was the need to launch robust policy interventions, provide best-in-class infrastructure, encourage ease of doing business, hand-hold start-ups and develop a system for continual skilling of the workforce.

Saji Gopinath, Vice-Chancellor, Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology, said that the market for software and hardware would reach $350 billion and $400 billion, respectively in India by 2025. In the next five years, as many as 10 million jobs will be created.

Cyber security policy

SD Shibulal, co-founder, Infosys, said that digitisation would continue at an unprecedented pace. “We never thought that education will be an area where digitisation will come in at such a fast pace. Healthcare is another area where we wanted digitisation.”

Srikanth Srinivasan, Head, Membership and Outreach, Nasscom, advised Kerala to look at an effective cyber security policy that will encourage organisations to build security operation centres here.

Also read: Kerala witnesses most cyber-attacks during Covid-19

Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India and Vice-President, Data Center Group, and Prahlad Vadakkepat of the National University of Singapore, spoke at the conclave about opportunities in the hardware sector and how Kerala should leverage it through appropriate policy interventions.

Santhosh Kurup, CEO, ICT Academy, Kerala, moderated the discussions.

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