•       Most information tenchnology (IT) firms are of the view that the IT vision of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is a good omen for the domestic IT industry which is buckling under the pressure of global meltdown for the past couple of quarters.
•       Venkatesh Hariharan, corporate affairs director, Red Hat India says, “BJP’s IT Vision is a comprehensive document and addresses many key issues – creation of IT related jobs, Indian language computing, telecom and broadband penetration, ICT in education and others. It’s for the first time that any party has unveiled such a detailed IT Vision.”  Hariharan comments that BJP has been making extensive use of open source for computerizing the party’s activities over the last 18 months.
•       Vivek Kulkarni, former IT secretary of Karnataka, who is now the chairman and CEO of  BrickWork India, said, “The IT vision of BJP will really come handy for creation of new job opportunities in the IT and ITeS sector in India where we still have a large percentage of
unemployed graduates struggling to provide their services for the growth of the country.”
•       Sudhindra Mokhasi, founder & CEO of e-Sutra, sees the document as overall a comprehensive and ambitious statement of intent, especially the open source preference, e-governance thrust, wider last-mile internet access, 100 million low-cost computers, education and financing.
•       Terming the document a positive intent, Ramakrishna Voruganti, managing director of Barracuda Networks (India), said, MNIC will help traceability of transactions and will result in better tax collections
•       Ajay Dhir, CIO of Jindal Steel, said the multipurpose national identity card (MNIC) with unique citizen identification number for every Indian citizen is a good initiative. “Besides, the other schemes
like IT-enabled jobs in rural areas, 1 crore students to get laptop computers at Rs 10,000 are all good schemes. Overall, one can say that it is a progressive vision.” “The linking of PHCs, schools and
colleges, use of IT in agriculture, rural development, SMEs, retail trade, informal and unorganised will greatly impact at the grassroots, will improve the off-farm employment in the villages, and prevent labour migration,” he said.
•       VoIP service provider fraternity has welcomed BJP’s IT Vision Document promise if it came to power.
•       Vinnie Mehta, executive director of MAIT, the body that represents the hardware industry in India, said: “We are glad that somebody has defined their IT agenda very clearly. It’s more gladdening to see that they have touched on the hardware sector, which has untapped potential
to create lot more job opportunities. The announcement is very timely and pertinent, as the IT industry needs some succour due to the current economic situation.”
•       “The potential of IT in the creation of job opportunities in India is still enormous and I am delighted that the BJP has come out with a strong vision statement for the IT industry. I won’t be able to comment on how it will help them in capturing votes,” said Ganesh Natarajan, chairman, Nasscom.

Explaining the reason for the endorsement, Rajeev Chandrasekhar said “Ananthkumar is the strongest hope that we have as Bangaloreans to restore and re-build a Bangalore of our dreams. He has been a former Union Urban Development Minister, had the vision and foresight then to bring new investments like the Metro to our city. As Vice Chairman of Abide, he has demonstrated to me, exciting new ideas and a determination to implement those ideas – for a new Bangalore including new Governance legislation to make our governance more citizen centric and agencies more citizen oriented, New transportation investments for the future, A comprehensive framework to address the needs of the Urban poor,  restoring the Heritage of Bangalore etc. He was the architect of the phrase  that describes Abides efforts – Bringing back a Bangalore of Kempegowdas dreams. He is someone who speaks less and works more and It has been exciting and a pleasure to work with him over the last few months as we have set out to rebuild Bangalore and address the urban chaos that has developed over the last many years of poor planning and governance.

“The challenges of Bangalore arising from many years of mal-governance are many. What needs to be done is clear and obvious – we need new legislation and a form of City Government that gets Citizens involved at Ward level and neighbor-hood level for development and establishes more transparency and exposes corruption, We need new investments in Infrastructure for better transportation, water, sanitation, schools, hospitals, We need a comprehensive new policy for Urban poor of our city, We need to put the focus back on our heritage and environment “

“These challenges have never been addressed in a comprehensive manner in the last many years since the MP and Government have been from different parties. Having him as an MP and BJP in government in Karnataka will mean that Bangalore can make significant progress in its development over the coming years.”

“In addition to his commitment and his efforts for Bangalore, Ananthkumar is also a man of clear values, principles and high integrity. He is an energetic, hardworking and accessible politician and therefore cut from a different cloth as compared to most other politicians.  In the recent pub attack incidents, he was one of the few politicians who condemned the attacks on women immediately and encouraged strong government action against those who violate the law. He is a committed Indian and feels for our city and country as passionately as I do, if not more.”

It is for all these reasons, that I have chosen to endorse and support his candidature. Lets use this vote to establish a real future for our city and not get swayed by rheoteric and slogans wherever these cine from. I am sure all South Bangaloreans who have an interest in a better Bangalore and a stronger India will do just that.!

www.rajeev.in