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Efforts on for Rs 20,000 'Vidyarthi' computers

The inaugural keynote address for the 'multitrack conference' of IT World '98 / Comdex India was delivered by Dr N Seshagiri, who pioneered computing in government administration and has managed connectivity through all districts across the country.

He is also the director general of the National Informatics Centre and the convenor of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Information Technology.

Choosing to do a random round of issues and challenges in the Indian IT industry, Dr Seshagiri talked of only what he considered to be the most important for the country.

Y2K: Dr Seshagiri deplored the attitude that the problem of date 2000 compliance does not really affect the Indian industry because there are not many legacy systems around.

He cautioned that there are several major applications that could bear the burnt of the Y2K problem. A lot of damage could be caused by this complacency, he said.

There are several systems in this country that are Y2K sensitive, Dr Seshagiri pointed out, citing the example of defence applications such as the missile programmes.

"There is also the risk that what we assume to have corrected (relating to the Y2K problem) could turn out to be not so. To tackle this problem, the government is setting up a fund Rs 700 crores (Rs 7 billion)," Dr Seshagiri said.

He exhorted the local industry to offer Y2K solutions within the country too and not concentrate just on exports. "This might mean lower margins but would represent a national sense," he appealed.

ERP: Dr Seshagiri called for development of a local base for ERP with perhaps some collaboration from outside vendors.

To accommodate ERP, there is much reengineering called for and this process is continuous. Moreover, each case could be independent in its reengineering requirement, he said, pointing out that there has to be a co-evolution of reengineering concepts along with major ERP software.

Education: The 'Vidyarthi' computer proposal is a new initiative that the government is tacking up soon, Seshagiri announced.

The target of the project, Seshagiri explained, is to bring to student a computer costing around Rs 20,000.

Much negotiation has already been done with major vendors to make this opportunity for students possible, Seshagiri said.

In this context, Microsoft has come forward to offer a software suite comprising Windows 98, Office 97, Encarta and Visual Bank for a price of just Rs 4,999.

Policy and infrastructure: Dr Seshagiri elaborated on the new pattern of transparency in government, especially related to the recent IT policy.

He mentioned that once the task force on IT put up its work on the Internet, over 10,000 suggestions were received and some 200 of them came from Silicon Valley. Some of these suggestions have been incorporated in the final policy.

Likewise, the government is intent on the right to change clauses in the ISP Policy towards the direction of greater liberalisation, Seshagiri assured.

About 75,000 route kilometres of optical fibre have been laid by the DoT in the last two and a half years which, according to Seshagiri, is a record of sorts.

But Seshagiri rued that the utilisation of the fibre resources is only 3 per cent. The reason, he explained, is poor last-lap connectivity between the backbone and the consumer.

The optical fibre connectivity would cost about a third that of satellite connectivity and therefore such infrastructure must be quickly exploited to a fuller effect, Seshagiri said.

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