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What the IT fraternity says about how to take Belgaum forward

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Numerous people in Belgaum always complain that Belgaum has a great talent pool but there is nothing that attracts the talent pool to be retained.

AllAboutBelgaum.com since its inception has been raising issues as to why Belgaum is not coming up as a industrial friendly town.

We have now decided to take this forward with BELGAUM FORWARD, a new series in which the people who have worked in Belgaum and also those who are from Belgaum but work else-where feel the drawbacks and advantages are of Belgaum from their experiences.

To being with lest start with IT, information technology.

We asked the members of IT Belgaum,(a group is cluster of companies engaged in Information technology (IT) and IT enabled services (ITeS) which are based in Belgaum)

We asked all the members the below two questions:

Name 3 most important factors holding Belgaum back  from achieving a stature befitting its potential?

Name 3 things that need to be done to make Belgaum achieve spectacular growth/prosperity?bgmfowd1

 All individuals have tried to analyse the current situation and made their points. Here we are not discussing on a language or a state but we are keeping forth the ideas of the entrepreneurs who are working in Belgaum  and what they feel will make this city a better place to work and grow.

Dr.Ameet Patil of Spundhan Labs

Name 3 most important factors holding Belgaum back  from achieving a stature befitting its potential?

Dr.Ameet Patil ———>
1. Bangalore sprang to success due the Govt. introducing several schemes to promote growth especially in IT sector. In Belgaum the Govt. does the opposite: in the name of IT promotion they try to sell expensive land with ZERO benefits to the buyers. If the Govt. sees the stagnant situation in Bangalore, applies its mind and introduces some great schemes in Belgaum, then I don’t see why Belgaum can’t get there?

2. Lack of belief in the local people that Belgaum also can be in the top league. More and more people migrate to Bangalore and else where. Why not make it big in Belgaum itself?

3. ZERO Infrastructure: pathetic service, there is IT park but no Internet facility. Ever heard of such a thing? No proper regular electricity supply. No good roads.

Name 3 things that need to be done to make Belgaum achieve spectacular growth/prosperity?

Dr.Ameet Patil ———>

1. IT is the driver and has been the driver for growth in other industrial sectors. A good resourceful in-city or close to city IT park building (not simply land) with all the facilities: un-interrupted power, internet, telephone, etc. where companies get some subsidies to setup offices there is of great essence. Make the offer attractive and growth will happen.

2. People of Belgaum, the youth should plan on staying on in Belgaum and get things right. Its a struggle yes. But you do it now, later people will talk about you for what you did.

3. Industry and University/Colleges should have close tie-ups in Belgaum. Conduct conferences, seminars, encourage internships and give local companies priority for campus recruitment.

 

R K Patil, CEO Vayavyalabs

Name 3 most important factors holding Belgaum back from achieving a stature befitting its potential?

R K Patil ————->
1. Lack of a leadership team/members ( both at political level and business level) who can influence a spectrum of populace from this region

2. Local government body (Municipal council) which is always busy in fighting the language related problem

Name 3 things that need to be done to make Belgaum achieve spectacular growth/prosperity?

R K Patil ————-> 1. Let the elected members for once take a resolve to work in unity for bringing up Belgaum ( at least for one term of their duty!)

2. Local business leaders coming together to promote Belgaum as destination

3. A sincere effort by every Belgaumite to take pride in talking about Belgaum in any forum and doing their bit in promoting Belgaum in whatever way they can

 

Rajendra Pai, Freelance Consultant

Name 3 most important factors holding Belgaum back  from achieving a stature befitting its potential?

Rajendra Pai ———>Lack of support from State Govt for Industrial Development outside Bangalore

Name 3 things that need to be done to make Belgaum achieve spectacular growth/prosperity?

Rajendra Pai ———>Create awareness amongst laymen regarding the negative image created about the City due to language issues.

Lobby with State Govt/Central Govt to increase support for Industrial Development. Central Govt can help by setting up some big Public Sector units near Belgaum.

Building up Brand Belgaum by offering incentives to Investors (Who will do this? Corporation? They may not have the resources. State Govt? Goes back to point 2)

 

Kedar Betgeri, AavishkaarNeoteric Communications India Pvt Ltd

Name 3 most important factors holding Belgaum back  from achieving a stature befitting its potential?

Kedar Betgeri ————> Lack of long term futuristic planning, lack of planned initiatives, huge migration of talent to cities like Bangalore and Mumbai.

Name 3 things that need to be done to make Belgaum achieve spectacular growth/prosperity?

Kedar Betgeri ————> Consistent electricity, more flights to Belgaum, and clear the border issue so either Maharashtra or Karnataka will support growth.

I wonder how to retain the culture, flavour of Belgaum intact and still make it … what do we want it to be like? Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune or California? because all these cities in the name of growth are losing their identity completely.

 

Rajesh Patil, dotCord USA.

Name 3 most important factors holding Belgaum back  from achieving a stature befitting its potential?

Rajesh Patil ———–> 1. Vision-less and Passionless leaders is the top most factor that’s holding Belgaum back. – We here fancy goals, but never seen achievable objectives that were defined.

2. Old Education System- The world has moved miles ahead, but our local schools and colleges that are run by people who are not exposed to the outside world.

3. No Good Infrastructure for Roads , Lights, communication etc- Another key factor is cleanliness if everybody keeps their community clean Belgaum will shine.

 

Name 3 things that need to be done to make Belgaum achieve spectacular growth/prosperity?

Rajesh Patil ———–> 1. Young and Dynamic Entrepreneurs should enter local politics like Belgaum Mayor and other posts

2. More training institutes that can compete or compliment current education system  to educate students in latest trends in Management, Leadership, Technology, Politics etc

3. Build a “Clean Committee” who will help clean the community and also enforce cleanliness to maintain it- Remove street pigs and dogs forever. Do not encourage sudden slums and work in groups to make it happen.

Madhav Karekar, Conqcore Solutions

Name 3 most important factors holding Belgaum back  from achieving a stature befitting its potential?

Madhav Karekar ———–> First , On going border dispute , linguistic problems created among people  by state as well as local public, No strong leadership to take up any issue to state govt or central govt. due to which Belgaum is losing projects to neighboring cities like Hubli, Dharwad,

Need People participation in development work,

Name 3 things that need to be done to make Belgaum achieve spectacular growth/prosperity?

Madhav Karekar ———–> – Need good leader who can take up priority basis pending projects like, IT park, Textile Park, SEZ, Transposrtation Infrastructure like Airport expansion , Train connectivity, Road development, Basic amenities in the CITY Road, Water & Electricity,  Setting up of IIT.

Belgaum has potential to be known as  Industrial HUb, Educational Hub now IT Hub .

I personally feel that if State govt take up the pending projects in priority basis, then Belgaum could become another metro city of INDIA.

 

Sandeep Hegde, dotCORD

Name 3 most important factors holding Belgaum back from achieving a stature befitting its potential? Sandeep Hegde ———- > Media coverage more on the border/language dispute which throughs a bad impression to a outside world about doing business in belgaum

Lack of political leadership

Lack of infrastructure, right from power to internet connection, roads to flights.

Name 3 things that need to be done to make Belgaum achieve spectacular growth/prosperity?

Sandeep Hegde ———- > Development of basic infrastructure and uninterrupted power supply

Better Leadership

Building Brand Belgaum so people could consider a being in Belgaum, working in Belgaum or may be starting up a business in Belgaum

 

Vinayak K. Talukar, Founder Ideaflask

Name 3 most important factors holding Belgaum back from achieving a stature befitting its potential?

Vinayak K. Talukar ———-> 1. Skilled labour: Majority of Belgaumites quit education after 10th or even earlier. Awareness has to be created amongst all communities about the importance of education.

2. Perspective about career: Majority of us Belgaumites do not venture into alternative careers. People either follow herd mentality or stick to the traditional business of the family. While that is not entirely harmful but that limits the amount of growth. People need to venture into more modern ways of doing business.How ever, this is the mentality of the people and it is very difficult to change. This will only evolve over a longer period of time, with the influence of the environment.

3. Ignore Politics and Government: Lets stop talking about our bad politicians and how the government is ignorant. Well, as a matter of fact, those are issues of concern, but they fall out of our influence.

Name 3 things that need to be done to make Belgaum achieve spectacular growth/prosperity?

Vinayak K. Talukar ———-> 1. Give it time: We should not hurry into creating a METRO. In-organic growth creates cities like Bangalore. We should make sure the development happens across all communities and not on a subset.

2. Training Institutes: Training institutes should be established that would cater to a wider variety of audience. Institutes should cater to diverse fields like Carpentry, Agriculture, Construction, etc… [ I am talking about private institutes here ]

3. Career Guidance Programs: There is a need to setup career guidance programs that would guide youth about the careers they can choose. After all Medical and Engineering are not the end of the world !!! 🙂

Purushottam Deshpande, HutGeeks

Name 3 most important factors holding Belgaum back from achieving a stature befitting its potential?

1. Belgaum is not yet prepared to take up that high stature

– Ask people and they would not want Belgaum to become like Bangalore or any other metro city
– To be in a high status, behave like one that includes how we deal social/political/economical affairs
– It will happen even if you don’t want it to. But we do not want to be called ourselves developed with no human values(linguistic, communal.. anything that disturbs the city’s peace).

2. Lack of genuine Mentors

– We lack mentors at colleges & schools. Mentors who know what is invention, talk about innovations and himself/herself getting involved.

– Mentors motivating students to go places is fine but also seed a thought of coming back to Belgaum to give back to the “roots”.

3. Lack of Vision by people towards success of Belgaum

How will Belgaum be recognized? What needs to be done? By when should we make this happen?

– The roadmap to success isn’t planned

4. Everyone wants to come back to Belgaum but everybody is waiting for the magic

– Even successful people are not ready to take the risks and not willing to move back to Belgaum

Name 3 things that need to be done to make Belgaum achieve spectacular growth/prosperity?

We need time, but we definitely need catalysts to fasten this process. Else we will have to wait for long-long period. Those catalysts can be-

1. Colleges & Schools can play a vital role in building the city’s pride

– Colleges need to promote internship activities & research programmes
– Engage students in Open-Source projects, the first lesson of giving back to the society
–  Avail infrastructure to students

2. Govt/Local leaders taking keen interest in city development by

– Working in close association with interest groups to have common vision and success roadmap
– Introducing schemes that motivate entrepreneurs to invest in Belgaum
OR

if that doesn’t happen

Interest Groups meet local leaders to requesting to take interest in city development

3. Preserve the thought of growth. Believe and act responsibly.

To be continued…..

4 thoughts on “What the IT fraternity says about how to take Belgaum forward”

  1. Two most important factors which affect IT investment

    a) Enhanced tax breaks /easy land availablity to companies who setup show in Belgaum.

    b) Strong will among large services companies to setup show in belgaum.

    Look @ Hubli IT park it been there since 7-9 years atleast,now almost defunct.

    Creating IT parks wont help much but enhanced Tax breaks will help.

    There is also a flip side to IT investment :

    Cost of living in BGM will shoot up , poor people may be affected.

    Reply
  2. I don't understand why Belgaumites in here want service companies set up shop in Belgaum. The only reason I chose Belgaum for my electronic startup is because I wanted to be away from the airheads in the bangalore IT industry. btw, I'm a telugu from Chennai :). I hope that Belgaum doesn't get a functioning IT industry, but somehow gets some private investor who's willing to help create an entrepreneurial environment for small software/hardware businesses to thrive, like the silicon valley. Becoming bangalore must be the last thing anyone should want.

    btw, my prototype is about a couple of months away. Any suggestions on which area is best to take a house so I can calmly work towards it? The lesser power cuts would be better, of course 🙂

    This blog is awesome. Gave me a lot of info on Belgaum. Even without visiting the place, I'm already in love with the place.

    Reply
  3. Uday, I did mail you something, you should have posted the news, 🙂 anyways, your website, your news :)…
    @ Subhash, any area is fine as all belgaumites are loafing in and around always, If u'd ask my choice, Tilakwadi, Rc Nagar, bhagyanagar, camp, angol.. the south side of the city is the best place! the north side of city is amazing too,
    [To add Belgaum has least power off's compared to all in the state]
    Dude you are most welcomed here! 🙂

    Reply
  4. Guys, I wonder why you wish to make Belgaum Bangalore? Do you want anxieties, tensions, fast paced life, a life where values, love, family, spirituality, in short life, takes 50th place in your priority list? I know people earn more here, but even the expenditure is more… and what about stress related ailments? Is it worth that extra 10/20K? I am in Bangalore because I don't have any other choice as of now. I want to return to Belgaum as soon as possible. Of course employment opportunities should grow, but let it happen as Belgaum needs it. Just because Blore has IT, its not necessary that Belgaum too should have it. Life in Belgaum, Dharwad etc is humane. You get fresh vegetables, fresh fruits here. In Bangalore, please come and see. people in Belgaum are happy with whatever they have… in Blore there is no limit to greed. Belgaum should be as it is… let it grow in its own way and pace.

    Reply

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