The Umagine Podcast

E2 Umagine - IT Minister Thiru Mano Thangaraj
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Joseph: Hi, good afternoon. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Uh, so we are from U Imagine and we are [00:01:00] excited to look and look forward to the amazing conference in the summit that's gonna happen, and we see that the IT department is at the center of all of this and spearheading this, right? So we wanted to talk to you about, Um, the vision and you know, what you are trying to accomplish through you imagine, as an IT minister and as a person, right?
Uh, what are you looking forward to? So, I have few questions and we are going to ask you those questions. So the first question, sir, is that, uh, Tamil Nadu is poised to become a trillion dollar economy and, um, it is going to be, you know, contributing up to 10 percentage of that, which is about a hundred billion, right?
So, uh, can you share a little bit about this vision, sir?
Minister: Uh, as you all know that our Hon'ble CM set a goal of, uh, 1 trillion economy by 2030. and for that IT department has planned to contribute at least 10% of that. That is a hundred billion. uh, we all know that, uh, [00:02:00] now Tamil Nadu is the preferred destination for many investors because we have a very friendly atmosphere over here.
Mm-hmm. , we a very good, uh, IT ecosystem here, a stable government and regional leader, and we. things like good infrastructure roads. Sure. Uh, port airport and everything we have. And, uh, another major thing we can talk about is the talent pool. A terminal is known for its talents. Mm-hmm. because every year half a million people are coming out of colleges, passing out.
And, uh, we have an ICT academy through that also, we are training so many students to capacitate them in the emerging. technologies and deep technologies kind of thing.
So that is one of the strength. And as I told you earlier, we have set a target of a hundred billion as the share of the IT department.
Mm-hmm. . And for that we have identified six growth [00:03:00] areas. One is being a SaaS capital of the country, Tamil Nadu
and we are focusing on SaaS. Mm-hmm. and the creative services data centers gcc IT and ITES. and tech startups. So these six growth areas we have identified and we are going to put lot of efforts into this.
And of course with regard to startups, we have to increase the number and we can see enormous potential with the student community coming up with the deep technologies, innovations kind of things. And we are trying to synergize all these things that is the academy. Students as well as the IT department.
Nice. We're bringing in better coordinations. Mm-hmm. to bring better ourselves
Joseph: Awesome, sir. I also know that you are talking about creating a new IT and BPM policy as well, right? So, um, how are [00:04:00] things moving in that direction, sir?
Minister: With regard to policies, also, we are very open. Say for example, we have brought in so many, uh, policies in the. past one year. Thanks. Like data center policy. Data policy. Mm-hmm. Tower policy. And uh, now the industry has come up with so many policies, right? Uh, like r and d and GCC policy. We have worked out, we have existing policies also.
Mm-hmm. , like IT policy and, uh, the cybersecurity policy. Last week I attended a function where, insisted me that there should be some changes to be made in the cyber security policy. Mm-hmm. , and I said, we are open. Awesome. What is stopping us? And if we can suggest some areas where there is a concern, and we will of course we'll be ready to do that.
And, uh, people are working on that. Mm-hmm. . So this kind of approach, what I can tell you, a very open approach and our aim is that should [00:05:00] benefit the people of Tamil Nadu. That is the prime focus. Got it, got it. That's the one thing. Now we need to be friendly with the, um, industry also. Mm-hmm. . So both these things we are taking cautiously
mm-hmm. and accordingly we are ready to, uh, come up with new policies, to supplement with the existing policies, uh, to correct the existing what.
Joseph: Awesome, sir. Great. So I also see that, um, you know, in line with this amazing vision, you also set up a new council. Right to help you and to guide the department and to give direction and, and consult with. Right. So what is this, um, objective for the digital, uh, this future council that you've built, sir?
Minister: that's a very good, uh, thing because I'm, um, become the minister, but I don't have any, Vast idea. I've got what is IT
Joseph: Right,
Minister: I come from some other background. Right. And it's all about management, minister's party, all about management. Yes. But, uh, what [00:06:00] I thought I will, uh, request the honourable minister to, have a advisory council for me, and he gave the positive solution answer for
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Minister: And we have appointed very imminent people who are in the.
Joseph: Amazing.
Minister: Uh, there is academic people like director of i, IT
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Minister: and bureaucrats, like the former, uh, principal, secretary of IT, of ministry, of Government of India,
Joseph: Right.
Minister: and a few other people from the industry. Mm-hmm. . So all these things, how really contributed much
and we are getting a lot of feedbacks from them, A lot of suggestions.
All these things are helping me in such a way to strategize the future.
It, uh, to bring a very good ecosystem.
Joseph: Nice. So this new think tank, I'm very sure will help in also this, uh, you know, in the areas of robotics, gaming, artificial intelligence, blockchain, genetic engineering. So it's, it's really nice to [00:07:00] know that, uh, switching over to the, uh, talent side. So Tamanu has an amazing ecosystem of 450, uh, universities and colleges, um, with half a million students as we just mentioned.
Uh, What is the IT ministry doing to equip them, uh, for, you know, for future, um, related jobs, uh, to help them to be future proof?
Minister: Actually there are, uh, two, uh, things we are focusing.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Minister: One is the existing ICT Academy that you may be aware.
Joseph: Yes.
Minister: Through ICT Academy, we are providing lot of training programs and, uh, moreover, all the educational institutions in Tamil Nadu are partners of ICT Academy, right. They have membership with us.
Mm-hmm. , so we have lot of, uh, programs, being conducted uh, according to the needs mm-hmm. and, uh, the one thing that the new government has done, we are identifying the future skills
and also the demand of the IT [00:08:00] sector. And accordingly, we are, preparing curriculums and we are providing training.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Minister: Say for example, as you rightly told, in the robotics field drone or whatever it
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Minister: the deep technologie, AI, IOT.
So we are identifying the need of the industry and we are preparing these people, and we all know that's a skill gap even now. Mm-hmm. . So that skill gap is being addressed properly by ICT Academy,
Joseph: right?
Minister: so that is not very good.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Minister: In the last one. The second thing is about the establishment of the IT and Hub. And we all know that there are so many startups who are in your deep technology kind of thing, and it plays a very crucial role because now even the mechanical engineering are some other thing. You see the field of finance fintech is coming, everything is now related to it.[00:09:00]
So we have to give a clear thrust, uh, with the proper understanding of the market need in the future. And as far as I am concerned personally,
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Minister: we have to answer a big question whether after all these technological things that are coming in, whether the common man living in a. village Have access to all these things.
You, take for example, of a agrarian
crisis.
Joseph: Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Minister: That is, they meet with lot of laws because they may not be having good idea about the soil. They may not be aware of how to utilize the water in the best, uh, possible way. How to learn and what to do.
Joseph: Mm.
Minister: For all these things, technologies come and it has contributed like, like anything.
Joseph: True.
Minister: So the, the common man has no access to all these kinds of things. So each and every department, we need to take this to the doorsteps of [00:10:00] the common man and this is the vision of our hon'ble cm. and similarly, as earlier we discussed, you know, yeah. But the connections we need to establish. So for example, startup is, , how we are going to support him, how we are going to connect him with the international community, how he can, um, we can give some exposure to him, uh, with regard to his own, uh, field.
So all these things are a big question that need to be addressed. They have to be connected with the investors.
Joseph: Hmm.
Minister: Uh, they have to be connected with the research institutes.
Joseph: Right.
Minister: So all these things, you know, we need to cover. So with this holistic approach, We are come out, we are coming out with the IT and T hub and that will also contribute a lot because we are going to collaborate with so many countries who have ex excelled in the field of It.
Joseph: Awesome, sir. This looks like an amazing initiative like this. Both these initiatives, I c T and [00:11:00] IT and T Hub now, um, changing focus to. , you know, you creating transparency through and it, right. So I also want talk a little bit about those portals, because that helps you to get investment in and also provides a space for people to know what is really happening.
So, um, can you share a little more on
Minister: what I thought out of experience,
because even though we have lot of, uh, people who are in the field of it, lot of sorts coming in, lot of, uh, middle level companies, high level companies, there is, we don't have a proper data of all those
things. And many of these people, you know, they want, they are not properly connected. So what we thought that should be a proper connecting point as far. They should get some kind of, uh, support from the government to know about their area. Say for [00:12:00] example, if a startup wants to get connected with something, he needs to interact with the government. If he want to think know about the policies of the
government, there may be some GO government orders.
All these things should be brought to his notice, so we thought there should be some kind of interacting. platform and because of that we have brought the IT Nanban portal and we are working on that to increase, to cover all the people who are in the IT sector. And the water portal is all about again, the MSMEs , they are, uh, stranded most of the time. doing some work in the village. If I need some technology intervention will help me. I want to. If you want to connect it with the banker, who I'm going to be connected, if I want to improve my technology, with whom, who is researching on that, is the research helping on that, that I want to know if you want to get my products to be [00:13:00] marketed, I need some kind of connections to answer all these things. Develop portal has been introduced and I think it'll contribute a lot to the msm.
Joseph: Got it, sir. Awesome. And now coming to the main question about Umagine, so what is your vision for you, imagine, and uh, what are you looking forward to say? Yes.
Minister: uh, really it's a, a thing that we are planning in a big way, the best possible way.
Joseph: right?
Minister: And, uh, to make it a grand success. I went to JX to see how it was happening, right. And I went to slash in Finland. How it is happening. So those kind of things, experiences has given good insights and I hope we'll be able to, um, bring it in the best possible way. So, for example, certain areas we are, uh, looking for, we need lot of participation for the startups and we need the investors to come. Then not only these [00:14:00] startups will get an avenue to market their product.
Joseph: Absolutely.
Minister: To get the, get some investments in the right way. Investments, including venture capitalist, angel, investor, whatever. It's, and another thing is the Academy Connect. So that is also required because so many research organizations, so many institutes are working on various, technology, uh, things. So the, there should be some kind of, uh, what I say, uh,
Joseph: A connect and a bridge.
Minister: Cannot there. So that, uh, part we are looking into. So we are beginning very reputed, uh, academic institutions. Policy makers are also coming because we have invited so many people and, uh, government officials who be there. We are trying to bring in certain ministers from abroad also. So those kind of things. And we are thinking of global partners. Say for example, France has, come down.
um, as a partner to, for you. [00:15:00] Imagine this thing.
Mm-hmm. and we are trying to collaborate with so many countries too, how we can, uh, mutually work together and synergize, what best we can do. Mm-hmm. . So there is one thing and, uh, what I expect is, The people who come and, uh, participate the thing, you know, the it, uh, especially the startups. Mm-hmm. , those guys should get a clear idea of what it is, what the field is, what their future will be, and how to move towards it. That's the main idea that I
Joseph: I think we have a, what do you say, A statement that we're making saying Leave the future behind. Right? So it's more about embrace the future ahead and leave this present, you know, that you have and, uh, go into a, in a whole new paradigm altogether. So in the same line, um, what are you as a person, right? As, uh, you know, not as a minister, but as a person, what are you looking forward to learn from the conference here?
Minister: Yes, of course. Normally [00:16:00] me participate in a function. Mm-hmm. , I even do Jex. I went to slash. I just wanted to know what is happening. What is the future of these people who are coming in large numbers as startups, how they will sustain, where they will go, how they will market their products, how they will get exposed to the technology already existing in the country. They have to bring the technology into products. The only they be able to market. So I said we're start person coming in like, you know, I will look into all these things, whether I will get answers for all these questions, at least few questions. Nice. And we are trying to, our level best to provide solutions for all these things through this platform.
Joseph: Amazing. So really nice interacting with you. I have one last question, which is I see you have an iPhone. What's your favorite app on the iPhone?
Minister: To be frank, I'm not really using it properly. Yeah, no, I, i, you know, we [00:17:00] don't get time and done. Yes. And, uh, I'm using my phone to just what we say to to, to, not communicate, not really through phone calls. But, uh, through WhatsApp and uh, uh, other media like emails. and things like that, it's a great thing for me. And I have active in social media also. Yes. That part is also being covered. so true. So these kind of things are missing .
Joseph: Nice.
Minister: for me.
Joseph: Absolutely.
Great. So it was really nice interacting with you. Thank you so much for your time and we look forward and we hope that you imagine will become a great, great success. Thank you.
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