Ibm Plan To Computerise Ktaka Govt Operations

The IBM Corporation has drawn up a strategy to computerise the Karnataka government's operations and will make a formal presentation of its project in Bangalore next month, according to the state's Chief Minister J H Patel.

"Karnataka has been a frontrunner in information technology and we think the time is ripe for such an effort to be examined," Patel said.

Patel, who is leading a delegation of top state officials on an investment promotion trip, met senior IBM executives here.

"We have various strategies ready but it is up to the government to list its priorities," said Ravi Marwaha, managing director and chief executive officer of Tata Information Systems Ltd, a joint venture of IBM and Tata industries Ltd. It is proposed to computerise government functions like tax collection so that the amount of paperwork is reduced and information retrieval becomes more efficient. This will also make government working more transparent.

 

According to Marwaha, the project has been mainly prepared by IBM's Washington-based Institute of Electronic government.

"The Institute has assisted several governments the world over in changing over to an electronic system," he said, adding that it also worked closely with the Kennedy School of Public policy at Harvard University in several of these projects.

The Karnataka government delegation is scheduled to visit Boston before leaving for Britain.