NEW DELHI, NOV 10: Microsoft seems to have finally come around to Chief Minister Om Prakash Chauthala's view - expressed during company chairman Bill Gates' visit to India - of Haryana being the e-state of the north. Gates, it seems, then promised to create an IT blueprint for Haryana. Microsoft now says they are delivering on their Chairman's word - by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Haryana to jointly develop and deploy technology solutions in the State.With the agreement, Haryana joins the list of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa, Rajasthan and Gujarat, all of who have signed MoUs with the global software major. As a technology partner, Microsoft will computerise all government organisations in Haryana. Which will mean, among other things, replicating Microsoft's systems in Rajasthan to put all Haryana police stations online, computerising HUDA, creating treasury applications for the finance department as well as computerising the tax departments. For Chauthala himself, a Chief Minister's Information System will be created.``With the signing of the agreement with Microsoft, the government plans to take IT implementation and education to the villages of the state,'' Chautala said after signing the agreement. This will also mean that, for the first time, the state usually type-cast as the agro-feudaldom of the country stands the chance to become ``smart'', with Microsoft piloting the project to create Smart Schools. What are dumb schools anyway? The difference is that with the Smart Schools project - similar to Microsft's Malaysian programme - the Haryana Government hopes to take IT education to the grassroots level.According to Microsoft India President Rajiv Nair, who signed on the agreement, ``The MoU covers various aspects of developing an e-state, and Microsoft will ensure that Haryana has the software, skills and support it needs to convert its vision into reality.''No figures for investment and revenue models were mentioned, but the project will certainly go some way in adding to Microsoft's revenues in India, 10 per cent of which come from government business.The agreement comes after several months of meetings between Chauthala and high-level Microsoft officials. Microsoft, earlier in August, held a seminar on e-governance in Chandigarh to showcase their products. This was followed by meetings in Singapore last month during the Asia Fusion event which was attended by the Haryana Chief Minister.As part of the agreement, the Haryana State Electronics Development Corporation (Hartron) and the software giant will set an E-Governance Application Development Centre. Hartron will play host to Microsoft's Certified Technical Education Centres at its outlets, while the MNC will lend Hartron its expertise to develop consulting skills and customised e-governance applications.Hartron will attain the status of a Microsoft Solution Provider for the Haryana Government, consulting, developing and executing systems integration projects on Microsoft technologies. The two organisations will also work together in Haryana to further Microsoft's pet cause - create a piracy-free state. e-Way to go.
