Yesterday, I stopped on c-span TV channel while I was jumping from one channel to other. For those who don't know C_SPAN http://www.c-span.org, let me tell you that it's a channel dedicated for airing government debates in senate,seminars etc involving public policy. Its a kind of government's interface to connect with citizens. Prasar Bharti (Indian Public Boradcaster) should take steps and transform Rajya Sabha and LokSabha channels to cover more public debates out of parliament.
The live telecast of National Governors Association (http://youinnovate21.net on subject of Innovation and technology was going on. I started listening to Mr Randell's ( AT&T CEO) speech followed by Mr Schmidt's (Google CEO ) speech.
The presence of these two CEOs glued me to channel till end of council meeting.
Randell talked about challenges in broadband penetration and competitiveness of Telecom Industry while Schmidt talked about Transformation of Govt. Services using new and latest technologies.Mr Schmidt is a glib talker while Randell seem to be regulated like his industry is.
All the governors seemed to be concerned about growing importance of new technologies and were deeply interested in learning new ways to bring innovation in government services and change in society.
I was day dreaming of this becoming a reality in India where 99% politicians and 90% IAS officers can't even define innovation.
The speeches were followed by Q & A round.I was struck by question from Mr. John Baldaccid Governor of Maine.He talked about creating IT clusters in his state and asked about Industry's role in partnering Government . His question could have been straight forward but he added chauvinistic spice by mentioning IT clusters will help bring back jobs from India.
This is another example of how India has taken centre stage in Government policy formation on Job creation and losses. Ten years back, these Governors would not have known what and where India is. But today it is a different world.
This development is significant as it highlights the achievement of Indian IT Services Industry.
It very easy to blame Indians for all job loses and but hard to evaluate the core reason behind such development.
The Senators and unaware public in large forget the hard labour that Indians apply to deliver IT Services at low cost to make American economy competitive and robust. They forget the taxes that Indians and Indian companies pay to federal and State Government without availing any Social Security benefits.
Its sad that Indians' hard work for American companies doesn't get much deserved acknowledgement and appreciation
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