Pitroda shows his concern for the common people at large.

The state took its first step towards recognition in the world of information technology *atleast* with the laying of the foundation stone for infocity at the Indroda Circle on the outskirts of Gandhinagar on 2^nd February. The stone was laid by none other than telecom technocrat Sam Pitroda, who streesed the need for optimum utilisation of IT in service sectors including health, water supply, immunisation and education to meet the basic needs of common people, instead of confining itself only to the "elite of our society".

"Software in India is being developed keeping in mind the needs of Western world, with little thought given to those living in this country'’, Pitroda remarked. Describing IT as an "agent of change", the technocrat said, exhorting the political leadership and the IT community in the State to create a wide information network and utilise it for the good of the people. The government must initiate efforts to "educate and inform" people in IT and introduce it in the administration and commerce and business establishments to increase their productivity.

Besides setting up IT units, he said efforts should be made to create museums of Gujarati culture and heritage, electronic games for children, call and multi-media centres and distance learning facilities in the proposed Infocity.

Expressing the hope that the proposed Infocity would take the State into the new millenium, the Chief Minister asserted that one subject in computer learning would be introduced from the eighth standard in at least 1,000 secondary schools from the next academic year in the first phase and that each of these schools would be provided with three computers.

Devang Mehta, chairman of the National Association of Software and Computer Manufacturers (NASCOM), emphasised the need for the use of IT for the crop forecasting and generation of employment in the State. He told the gathering that his Delhi based NASCOM company would also have an office in Ahmedabad.

Others who spoke on the occasion included Industries Minister Suresh Mehta, Assembly Speaker Dhirubhai Shah, Chief Secretary L N S Mukundan and Science, Technology Advisor to the Chief Minister N V Vasani and GIDC managing director; Ravi Saxena.