Karna CM sees some kind of "elitism" in IT

Noting that there is some kind of "elitism" in information technology, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today asked the industry to look at innovative approaches to solve the language barrier faced by those not exposed to English education.
"In the presence of the doyens of Indian industry assembled here, I venture to place before them a suggestion. There is some kind of elitism in information technology," he said at the inauguration of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) Conclave: "Vision 2020" here.
The agenda of the conclave, that was attended by Industry veterans like Infosys cofounder N R Narayana Murthy, Founder and Chairman of Datamatics Group Lalit Kanodia among others, is to evolve a vision for taking Indo-US Trade to USD 500 billion by 2020.

Siddaramaiah said knowledge of English is definitely an advantage for understanding both hardware and software part of it and importantly for communicating with overseas clients who are mostly in the US and Europe.
"Yet, we have a large number of people in India, because of historical reason, who are not exposed to English education the way in which the affluent children from metros and large towns are."
"Could we think of innovative approaches or so to say disruptive technologies, as you call, that can automatically translate what they speak in their mother tongue to English and vice versa," he added.

Stating that such customised applications can enhance outsourcing from India considerably, Siddaramaiah said it will also help vast number of artisans, traditional designers and many others who are hamstrung by language barriers to market their skills.