Gowda’s IT role questioned

Gowda’s IT role questioned
Yes Or No? 10-Year Tax Holiday, ITPL Nod Under Scanner
The Times of India

Bangalore: JD(S) national president H D Deve Gowda’s claims to have contributed to the IT sector, especially during his tenure as chief minister of Karnataka as well as the Prime Minister of India, has come under scanner.

Sources familiar with the developments of the past appear to disagree with Gowda’s claims that he had contributed towards extending the 10-year tax holiday to the IT sector as well as clearing the ITPL project in Bangalore.

Recently, Gowda even wrote to chief minister N Dharam Singh that it was during his tenure as PM and the chief minister of Karnataka, that these two initiatives saw the light of the day, respectively.

But sources disagreed with Gowda’s claims. “The present 10-year tax holiday is the result of the recommendations made by the National Task Force on IT and Software Development, set up by the Prime Minister’s Office (Atal Behari Vajpayee) on May 22, 1998, under the chairmanship of then deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Jaswant Singh. The task force had a mandate to formulate the draft of a National Informatics Policy. It was to submit its final report to the PM in 90 days. This was done in mid-1998. Where was Mr Gowda in the picture?’’ a source asked.

Gowda held the PM’s office between June 1, 1996, and April 21, 1997, while Vajpayee was the PM between March 19, 1998, and May 22, 2004.
In a notification on May 22, 1998, the appointment of the National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development was announced. It submitted the final report of the Information Technology Action Plan to the PM on July 4, 1998. “The 10-year tax holiday came in as an amendment to the IT Act in December 1998. This was the result of the recommendations made by the National IT Task Force and had nothing to do with Deve Gowda,’’ the source added.

On Gowda’s claims to have had a big role to play in the setting up of the international technology park at Whitefield, former Karnataka chief minister M Veerappa Moily seems perplexed. Moily was the CM between October 1992 and November 1994. Gowda succeeded him.

“Singapore Economic Development Board chairman Philip Yeo led a delegation to Bangalore in July 1993. I showed them the land at Whitefield, which impressed them. When they needed an Indian partner for this venture, I put them on to Ratan Tata. After the MoU was signed, the government order was issued on December 22, 1993. The Tata Consortium and ITPL invested Rs 98 crore each for an equal share of 46.01% each. KIADB pitched in with Rs 17 crore for 7.98% stake,’’ Moily told The Times of India.

According to him, his government even impressed upon then PM P V Narasimha Rao to put the project on the fast track for all clearances. “As a result, Singapore PM Goh Chok Tong launched the project on January 13, 1994, within six months of the delegation’s visit to Bangalore. I don’t understand what Gowda means when he talks about his contribution to set up the ITPL,’’ Moily added.

Gowda, however, refused elaborate on any of the claims. “I don’t want to react to all these things. Kindly verify the records from the secretariat,’’ he said.