Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday said he decided to move the then Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan to the IT portfolio — a decision that was hotly debated since it was made after a controversial audio was released by BJP Tamil Nadu president K. Annamalai — so that he can implement changes in that Ministry too just as he did in Finance.
Speaking at Umagine 2024, a two-day technology and innovation summit in Chennai, Mr. Stalin said, “He [Dr. Thiaga Rajan] performed very well as the Finance Minister and laid the path for many changes. I changed him [to IT] to ensure that he can bring in similar changes in the IT Ministry just as he had changed the Finance Ministry. I am sure that under his leadership, Tamil Nadu’s economic growth and jobs will improve because of IT. He is performing well in his role as IT Minister. Umagine is a testament to that,” the Chief Minister said.
Crediting former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi for accurately predicting the future of the IT industry 25 years ago, Mr. Stalin said Karunanidhi had inaugurated the IT corridor between 1996-2001. “Tamil Nadu has managed to stand first in India in IT. In 1997, the Tamil Nadu government was the first to create an IT policy in India, a separate department and a task force was set up. TIDEL park, the country’s first IT park, was set up in 2000. All these achievements belong to Kalaignar. This is why we call him the sculptor of modern Tamil Nadu,” he said.
Public-Private partnership
Mr. Stalin said important policy documents and reports — Tamil Nadu Data Centre Policy for 2021 and Tamil Nadu Data policy 2022, IT policy 2022 and IT Infrastructure policy for 2022 — were created and published. The State government was taking efforts to speak to big companies to build tech cities and TIDEL parks through Public-Private partnership.
“In order to ensure that Internet and communication are not affected during natural disasters, we debated precautions in advance. Similarly, we held two rounds of talks with animation, visual effects, computer games and comics sectors. We are also taking steps to set up these industries. I have two dreams — to develop a $1 trillion economy and make Tamil Nadu into a capital of human development. Development is not just in numbers; it has to reflect in people’s lives. Growth and development of IT can be seen before our eyes,” the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Stalin said training programmes had been increased via Naan Mudhalvan schemes; around 751 schemes in 36 departments had been digitised and of the 38,292 E-seva centres, 25,726 centres were set up last year.
“Is it not a digital revolution? 1,000 wi-fi hotspots have been announced in Chennai. Last year, 11 million square feet of office space has been leased out. The percentage of employees in Chennai has increased by 40% since 2021-22. Even in Coimbatore, more number of offices have opened. In the recent Budget document, new technology companies will receive financial assistance and new IT parks with 20 lakh square feet of space will be created in Coimbatore. In Madurai, new TIDEL parks with 6.4 lakh square feet will be set up. In Tiruchi, TIDEL parks with 6.3 lakh square feet will be created. Neo-Tidel parks will be created in Thanjavur, Salem, Vellore, Tiruppur and Thoothukudi,” the Chief Minister said, adding that the IT industry would be hugely benefited and Tamil Nadu would become the foremost State for IT in India.
Tamil Nadu Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services Dr. Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said the name of the IT conference had been changed from Umagine Chennai to Umagine Tamil Nadu to signify the breadth of the State government’s approach.
Continuity, consistency
“The Chief Minister has spent 50 years in public life. His father before him led our party for 50 years. I myself come from a family that has spent more than 100 years in service of the Dravidian ideals of social justice, equity, inclusion, education and progress for all. What distinguishes us, as politicians, as leaders, I hope, as a government, is the continuity and the consistency between our values, our acts, our laws, our funding, our schemes and the execution of projects,” he said.
Dr. Thiaga Rajan added, “Given our ancient focus on education in the culture of the Tamil people and given the great legacy of 100 years of the Dravidian movement, both of these are eminently achievable goals and we follow them, we approach them in our own way. The Chief Minister has just inagurated a scheme that came about as an announcement in the Assembly, the first phase of which is free Wi-Fi across the State. We are also pushing hard to get 100% coverage to our 12,600 villages through the TANFI Net project of fiberoptic Internet access. We have always seen equitable access as the basis for our uniquely calm, peaceful, collaborative society. And, this event is intended to ensure that the dissemination of knowledge is not limited to a few people.”
Ipsita Dasguputa, SVP and MD, Hewlett Packard India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, said, “The themes of this visionary conference ‘Inform, Inspire and Innovate’ are extremely relevant at one of the most exciting times in the history of the world, of this country and the State. The topics that will be explored — AI, Cybersecurity, connected intelligence, sustainability, tech ecosystems, and SMEs — are all most pertinent issues of the moment and close to our heart at HP. As the complexity increases across the world and all aspects of the way people work, live and play, the need for information, discussion and experimentation have never been greater than they are today,” she said.
