Can there be progress with non IT people steering IT ?

J&K may be one of the most disputed states in the World, but nevertheless the world goes on and technology has to keep going and the companies and the entrepreneurs who have staked thier lives and everything to go on with their IT businesses are in a dark well with no rope giving a hope to save their lives.

With a distrurbed condition in Kashmir that is already prevailing here since more than a decade, the Government is not interested to help the IT industry grow. All that they have done till today is nothing more than making promises, which are never kept, like other things. The IT Expo that was organized by ICTA in the october of 2009 was attended by several government decision makers including the Chief Minister of J&K, Omar Abdullah. He made promises to help the IT sector grow and some of his fake promises included the creation of an IT Task force which would include members of the local ICT companies in J&K and the task force would look for opportunites for IT implementation in the State cand accordingly create projects which can then be implemented by the local ICT companies. This would have enhanced the implementation of projects and ensured local participation of the IT players. But as the Promises of the Politicians are made to be broken or just to build castles in the air, he remained true to the spirit of the Politicians.

Even though, I never expected anything to come out of his promises, but the other members of ICTA were quite positive since they thought that Omar is young and energetic and understands technology. Understanding technology for using internet/email does not make you a technocrat. For implementing technology one needs to have a vision and a strong heart to take the jump into the unknown. Being able to receive and send email while on the move or organizing meetings and reminders on the palm top cannot be depective of one's being an IT revolutionary.

The so called IT department of the State, made with a sole purpose to provide employment to near dear ones and nothing else, has people steering it who cannot differentiate a Linux from Windows. They are happy to type letters and send emails from 10 to 4 and beyond that thier mind does not move because they are happy with their job and think that they have put in thier best efforts from 10 to 4, so why worry more.

With States like Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh, where technology has been implemented to create government to citizen interfaces for effective monitoring and creating responsibility among the government servants, in J&K the top most reason for implementing technology projects would not be to create government to citizen interfaces, but to help the growth of Local ICT sector. Those interfaces would be a result of this exercise and more.

But with the kind of people in the Government we have who are steering the IT in J&K , it is not possible.