Andhra techies in US come together to pay back to society

Techies from Andhra Pradesh based in the US have formed a group to pay back to the society by offering tech solutions to the government.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday launched the CodeforAP programme here. He said NRIs from the state can contribute to digital Andhra Pradesh by becoming part of this group.

CodeforAP (http://codeforap.org/) is a non-profit organization in the US that is supporting Andhra Pradesh in various technology applications in e-governance, economic and social development, delivering citizen services, health and social services, rural education and agriculture.

Set up last month, the organisation has 100 volunteers working with 30 government departments by offering them through technology-based solutions to streamline work.

Some of the projects in pipeline include "Dial an Expert", a concept where they seek to bridge the gap between government officials and citizens and "Open Directory" is a project to keep track of all the government personnel with their contact details.

Naidu urged CodeforAP to work on applications that will not only support the government but also come up with innovative ideas for delivering citizen services.

"One in four techies in the US are from India. Among them, one or two belong to Andhra Pradesh. This shows how we have been able to create a good ecosystem for engineers from Telugu state. We will now create a better ecosystem in the new state of Andhra Pradesh to promote talent and innovation," he said.

Referring to the problems faced by Andhra Pradesh post bifurcation, Naidu said he was determined to turn these challenges into opportunities. He said he would not rest till making Andhra a number one state in the country.