Who Thinks of NE?
IT eludes Seven Sisters:
The 1980s belonged to Japan, when the world experienced an electronic revolution and the 1990s to India when it underwent a software revolution. North-eastern India has, so far, not been part of the revolution.
India excels in the filed of information technology and there are obvious reasons for it. Indians’ proficiency in English has helped them communicate well with the rest of the world, without any additional effort of learning English.
This has been a significant advantage since such countries as China do not have this advantage. The “British Influence” in India has, for obvious reasons, had a positive impact.
Software programming is closely associated with logic and mathematics and India has been in the forefront in the latter, from the Vedic era. The strong base has helped Indians analyse and model problems and consequently provide effective solutions.
The cost factor has had a huge impact on the Western world’s decision to delegate software development to India. So far, things have worked just right from an Indian point of view.
How long will the party continue is the question. IT centres in India are becoming expensive and companies are exploring other emerging IT destinations. Some companies are eyeing Vietnam, the Philippines and China. These countries are cost-effective as well, and English is fast becoming a medium of instruction in these countries. It is a matter of time, they will catch up with India.
When India “glittered” in the IT horizon, the North-east remains dormant and has not played any role in the Info-tech party. The lacklustre penetration of IT in the region can be attributed to hard realities.
Companies haven’t set up base in the North-east, despite the fact that the region has a good amount of human resources available at a low cost compared to the rest of the IT hubs. A critic would shoo away the North-east, saying since it is not already in mainstream IT, it doesn’t make sense in exploring opportunities there. But the potential remains.
The North-east is like a sleeping giant, waiting to be woken up, with ample talent and good engineering institutions to be proud of. The fact that the people of the region have done very well in their areas in IT when they have gone to IT destinations, speaks volumes.
There is always a gap between the industry’s expectations and the freshers’ abilities.
College students in places close to IT hubs are normally more aware of the industry trends and adapt to the expectations by joining crash courses.
Whereas in the North-east, the IT industry hardly has a presence and the students cannot get the right exposure locally. So, the region is suffering from the familiar brain-drain” syndrome.
One of the ways of bridging the gap can be by linking the academics to the needs of the industry. Guest lectures, training programmes, projects assisted by industry from eminent personalities can help.
Better still would be the involvement of software architects to give short bursts of training in specific areas like business intelligence software, databases, GIS, embedded systems or other areas of interest and pursue projects in those areas during their courses.
Students could also benefit from having “mentors” from the industry. Skillful use of the Internet can enhance the knowledge level. The Internet can play a crucial role in the development of future IT professionals.
Lastly, the government has to play a pivotal role in encouraging IT and get the region on the country’s IT map. Good IT policies should attract the attention of IT companies. Incubation centres are always welcome for any aspiring entrepreneur. The north-eastern states can emulate favourable IT policies of other states, if not improve on them.
The IT eco-system needs to be created. The talent in the region has to be translated to IT expertise, which in turn would fulfil IT requirements and make the North-east a favourable IT destination.
Author: Joydeep Roy Chaudhury
Posted On: The Statesman
The 1980s belonged to Japan, when the world experienced an electronic revolution and the 1990s to India when it underwent a software revolution. North-eastern India has, so far, not been part of the revolution.
India excels in the filed of information technology and there are obvious reasons for it. Indians’ proficiency in English has helped them communicate well with the rest of the world, without any additional effort of learning English.
This has been a significant advantage since such countries as China do not have this advantage. The “British Influence” in India has, for obvious reasons, had a positive impact.
Software programming is closely associated with logic and mathematics and India has been in the forefront in the latter, from the Vedic era. The strong base has helped Indians analyse and model problems and consequently provide effective solutions.
The cost factor has had a huge impact on the Western world’s decision to delegate software development to India. So far, things have worked just right from an Indian point of view.
How long will the party continue is the question. IT centres in India are becoming expensive and companies are exploring other emerging IT destinations. Some companies are eyeing Vietnam, the Philippines and China. These countries are cost-effective as well, and English is fast becoming a medium of instruction in these countries. It is a matter of time, they will catch up with India.
When India “glittered” in the IT horizon, the North-east remains dormant and has not played any role in the Info-tech party. The lacklustre penetration of IT in the region can be attributed to hard realities.
Companies haven’t set up base in the North-east, despite the fact that the region has a good amount of human resources available at a low cost compared to the rest of the IT hubs. A critic would shoo away the North-east, saying since it is not already in mainstream IT, it doesn’t make sense in exploring opportunities there. But the potential remains.
The North-east is like a sleeping giant, waiting to be woken up, with ample talent and good engineering institutions to be proud of. The fact that the people of the region have done very well in their areas in IT when they have gone to IT destinations, speaks volumes.
There is always a gap between the industry’s expectations and the freshers’ abilities.
College students in places close to IT hubs are normally more aware of the industry trends and adapt to the expectations by joining crash courses.
Whereas in the North-east, the IT industry hardly has a presence and the students cannot get the right exposure locally. So, the region is suffering from the familiar brain-drain” syndrome.
One of the ways of bridging the gap can be by linking the academics to the needs of the industry. Guest lectures, training programmes, projects assisted by industry from eminent personalities can help.
Better still would be the involvement of software architects to give short bursts of training in specific areas like business intelligence software, databases, GIS, embedded systems or other areas of interest and pursue projects in those areas during their courses.
Students could also benefit from having “mentors” from the industry. Skillful use of the Internet can enhance the knowledge level. The Internet can play a crucial role in the development of future IT professionals.
Lastly, the government has to play a pivotal role in encouraging IT and get the region on the country’s IT map. Good IT policies should attract the attention of IT companies. Incubation centres are always welcome for any aspiring entrepreneur. The north-eastern states can emulate favourable IT policies of other states, if not improve on them.
The IT eco-system needs to be created. The talent in the region has to be translated to IT expertise, which in turn would fulfil IT requirements and make the North-east a favourable IT destination.
Author: Joydeep Roy Chaudhury
Posted On: The Statesman