Bengal plans to speed up district IT network

In a bid to promote IT education and provide employment to the large pool of IT graduates now facing job cuts owing to the ongoing global financial crisis, the West Bengal state information technology department was planning to set up directorates in each districts to involve freshers in the implementation of the government’s e-governance projects.

Speaking on the sidelines of an interactive seminar on the impact of the global financial crisis on IT, Siddharth, principal secretary of the department of information technology of West Bengal, said, “The economic recession has proved to be a blessing in disguise because now many IT graduates are taking up higher studies to specialise in areas in IT which will help us in future because talent is the strength in IT industry.”

He claimed, “With the IT boom, there had been a large talent drainage, with students choosing jobs disregarding the importance of going in for higher studies.”

The state IT department had a proposal under which each district would have a IT directorate connected with the main secretariat which would work on government's e-governance projects.

“We will place the proposal in the next state budget,” said Siddharth.

The scope for further education in IT was limited in the state. There were 60 private engineering colleges in the state, but most of them did not offer opportunities for higher studies in IT.

Only two government universities, Jadavpur University and Bengal Engineering and Science University, offered higher education in IT and provided degrees like Masters in Technology or ME in IT, speakers pointed out at a seminar on the 'Impact of global financial crisis on IT', organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI).

Economists, IT professionals and government officials discussed the impact of the global meltdown on the IT industry, with the sector facing a financial crunch and loss of clients led by financial sector companies.