What a thrust area!

Governments, both BNP and Awami League, termed Information Technology as a thrust sector on their assumption of office, but to this day the proclamation of priority remains a declaration of intent at best and a hollow promise at worst. They cried hoarse over the high degree of importance deserved by this sector, but results speak otherwise. We wonder, what happens to sectors not anointed by the prefix 'thrust'! The failure to live up to our IT potential is more a governmental debacle than a private sector one. And, what could have been a more convincing testimony to this than our delay in having the submarine cable connectivity. Look at the IT revolution in neighbouring India, albeit with the government's assistance bolstering private initiative!

We seem to confuse announcement with implementation. We are adept in issuing policy statements with the notion that all that was needed was to make proclamations to move things ahead; never mind the lack of follow-up! The next best thing to announcement is reiteration. It is like continually feeding on verbal diet, while results remain elusive. Let's hope, the EU's assessment of our outsourcing potential will be an eye-opener, as though we didn't ourselves realise we have a great promise in that high-profile domain.

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