 Bangalore:
In a significant achievement, which is likely to give
much more value to India’s Silicon Valley, the Karnataka
state government has said it has become a ‘zero piracy’
organisation.
In
June 2001, the state government had taken up a bold initiative
to use only original software in all its departments and
state-run public sector units in order to encourage development
of the domestic software market.
Curiously,
the government’s announcement of zero piracy came
coinciding the visit of Microsoft Corporation chairman
Bill Gates to Bangalore and amid signing a memorandum
of understanding (MoU) for ‘BangaloreOne,’ a
state-of-the-art online portal project.
 Chief
Minister S M Krishna said all the services being rendered
by the government and semi-government organisations will
be under one roof and under one dispensation, be it paying
water or electricity bill (all utility bills). “It
is an urban answer to taking technology to the doors of
the citizens of Bangalore.”
Karnataka
has been the pioneer state in India to announce an IT
Policy and it had also set up a committee headed by its
home minister and issued a government order urging all
of its departments to use original software, making the
state a more attractive destination for the IT industry.
The
Krishna had shared this information with Gates stating
that the government’s intention was to become a zero
piracy organisation and added that a survey of government
organisations and public sector units had shown that it
has been achieved.
Gates,
reciprocating positively, complimented the Karnataka government
on becoming a zero piracy organisation and noted that
respect for intellectual property is an important element
in driving the software sector in India — not only
in services but also in software products.
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