Broadband connectivity to all villages a priority: Prasad

Union Minister for IT and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad today said broadband connectivity to all the villages is an agenda of greater priority for the government, and impetus will be given to software product development in the country.
"When I had joined the government I had made a statement that if Mr Vajpayee's government was known for national highway, Mr Modi's government will be known for broadband highway," Prasad told reporters here.
Speaking on the sidelines of the "IT Panchayat" held here in collaboration with IT-BPO industry body NASSCOM, he said "Broadband connectivity is an agenda of great priority for us. The Prime Minister has clearly instructed us that we must have broadband in all the villages of India."

"....I'm sure if broadband comes in villages it will help a lot in e-education, e-health, other forms of creativity and India will respond," he said.
The IT Minister's interactive meeting with Industry leaders was attended by famed industry veterans like Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, Chairman of Microsoft India Bhaskar Pramanik, CEO of Mindtree Krishnakumar Natarajan, among several others.
Stating that the industry leaders have expressed few concerns on the issue of software products and their marketing, Prasad said "I think lot of issues in India also relate to an understanding that Indian soft products need to be encouraged both by the center and the state."

He said: "we will work an ecosystem for that. I have already announced in the meeting that my Secretary will be talking to all the state Chief Secretaries. I will be writing to all the Chief Ministers. If need be, I will be calling a meeting of all the IT ministers."

"We have to work as a team so that India's startup companies in the field of software products, not only in the field of services- get due encouragement," he added.
Prasad said: "Second issue which I have highlighted is India's tier 2 and tier 3 cities must be properly exposed both for IT services and IT products growth, because there is immense employment potential...".

Highlighting that his travel to Bangalore to be part of IT Panchayat and interacting with industry leaders was his first official outing as a minister, Prasad called the move as a 'signal' and a 'mission statement' with respect to the style of functioning of the new government at the Centre.
To a question whether there was any query on the taxation front from the industry representatives, he said "yes they have raised some issues, some of them are known to me. We have already approached the Finance Ministry. I cannot say because the budget is coming, but it will be an ongoing exercise...".

"...Whatever is required to be done will be done so that Indian IT industry has a growth momentum again," he noted.