South Asian Business news and information

Politically, Uttar Pradesh is among the top 3 most important states of India   because of its huge population and large number of seats to the National Parliament. However, when it comes to Information Technology, Uttar Pradesh is a back bencher. Soon, this position can change as Microsoft is joining hands with the state government of Uttar Pradesh to develop ICT in the state. Microsoft is going to set up a Centre of Excellence for e-governance in the state capital Lucknow . Microsoft will also work with the state government to increase use of computers in the state.

 To the outside people, Uttar Pradesh is famous for political infighting among the politicians and deteriorating law and order situation. However, the current state government is aggressively pursuing to make the State more IT oriented. Under the Uttar Pradesh government’s ‘Gyan Jyoti’ Program, first time PC users will be able to buy a PC with a monthly installment of just Rs (Indian Rupee) 425. Microsoft, Intel, Sahara and HCL are partners of the state government in this project. The operating system of these PCs will be ‘Windows XP Starter Edition for ’ and will support Hindi language totally. This will surely increase the number of PC users in the country.

 The strong political will of the state Government of Uttar Pradesh should encourage other provincial governments in India.