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Govt launches 'Operation Knowledge'

To meet the increasing global demand for Indian skilled manpower in the new economy sectors like software and Internet, the Ministry of Information Technology has launched a programme 'Operation Knowledge' to be implemented by June 2001.

The ministry has begun preparing a blueprint on finding out ways and means to meet the demand for Indian infotech professionals and a draft would be ready within a month, Minister for Information Technology Pramod Mahajan said.

The draft which would be referred to the ministries of Human Resources Development and Finance would be submitted to the Prime Minister by the end of this year after incorporating inputs from these ministries, he said.

According to ministry projections, there would be a demand for 2.2 million skilled manpower in the software sector by 2008, while there would be direct employment opportunities for 1.6 million professionals in the hardware sector.

Additionally, there would be indirect employment opportunities for 3.2 million personnel in the hardware sector by the same period, taking the total global demand for Indian IT professionals to seven million.

Mahajan said that Operation Knowledge would be incorporated in the next budget providing enough funds for implementation by June 2001.

PTI

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