Center to Assist Kerala in its Secretariat WAN project 

Union Ministry of Information Technology has announced to provide financial
and technical support to the Rs 8 crore Kerala Government Secretariat Wide Area
Network (WAN) project, a prestigious project of the State Government. The
assurance to provide 50 percent financial and technical assistance was made by
Pramod Mahajan, Union Minister for IT while inaugurating the new building
Bhavani at Technopark.

Mahajan said that the Secretariat WAN project is meant to link the
Secretariat in the state capital with the district headquarters. In future, the
state has plans to extend the facility to the taluk level. When the project is
extended the Union Government would continue to assist in its implementation, he
assured.

He expressed hope that Kerala which had missed the IT bus in the late 1980's
and 1990's would catch up with the other states in promoting IT investment.
"By 2005 Kerala should be able to compete with any other state in the IT
sector," Mahajan said. In terms of turnover from IT exports, the other
southern states were far ahead of Kerala and he wondered why the state is not
catching up with the rest. The state should make itself visible in the national
IT map through vigorous public relations exercises, he added. "Despite
having the best infrastructural facilities Kerala has not so far become part of
the national IT revolution," Mahajan said. Technopark has attained
international standards and it is time the state leveraged its strengths to
become a leading IT player not only nationally but also at the international
levels, Mahajan said. Mahajan said that the nation now has international
recognition because of its highly talented IT professionals and entrepreneurs.
"If Indian passports are now easily recognized in international airports,
it is because of our IT professionals," he said. It is now quite natural
for people to say Chandrababu Naidu is the father of Indian IT revolution when
in reality it was Rajiv Gandhi, our former Prime Minister who took the
initiatives to promote computers in the country.