Stalin slams 'political forces' misusing tech to spread rumours

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday took a veiled swipe at the BJP by saying that 'some political forces' utilise technology for spreading rumours and cause deterioration of law and order.

In his address, inaugurating the 50th edition of 'Bridge (Building human capital for a trillion dollar digital economy)' conference, an initiative of the ICT Academy Stalin said all steps are being taken by the State government to take Tamil Nadu to the numero uno spot in the country in Information Technology sector.

Technology has two sides to it and the objective for which it is used decides its usefulness. "The younger generation should use technology for their growth and must not become its slaves. Crimes, involving use of technology for duping people are more," he said. "Some political forces utilise it for spreading rumours and spoil law and order," he said without naming anyone.

Recently, fake information was spread in social media that migrant workers were attacked in Tamil Nadu leading to unrest among labour force belonging to States including Bihar. The government had to reach out to workers to calm them that the claims were false and cases were registered by police including one against a Hindi daily and a BJP spokesperson as well.

The CM further said, "obscene websites are also on the rise and human lives are becoming fatalities in online card game Rummy." Hence, the youth should grow in thier lives by using technology in the right manner and work for the nation's development.

The Raj Bhavan had on Wednesday returned a Bill banning online Rummy to the Tamil Nadu Assembly for reconsideration.

Stalin said Tamil Nadu is a pioneer in successfully implementing National e-Governance Plan and State government e-Governance initiatives.

Underscoring various government initiatives during 1996-2001, when late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi was the Chief Minister, including coming up with a IT policy in 1997, he said such pioneering initiatives is behind the achievements the State has made in the field.

His government, working on the social justice-led Dravidian model of governance is continuing such work.

Due to such efforts including e-office, people could soon avail 'paperless, transparent services.' Data is the new digital era fuel and TN government has unveiled its Data centre policy fulfilling the first objective of facilitating building of related infrastructure. To address 'skills gap,' the government has ensured appropriate learning modules for 50,000 IT/computer students.

The Information Technology sector should grow and it should be nurtured to see that in Tamil Nadu it is developed better than other States in the country.

According to the ICT Academy, the Bridge conference aims at bridging the industry academia gap.

"Bridge is a platform for all the stakeholders to discuss improving the industry-institute interaction primarily on the key issues that includes the role of technology, innovation, applied research, entrepreneurship, future virtual world, curriculum change, industry expectations, skill development etc."

It is an opportunity for both industrialists and academicians to share their thoughts, ideas and ways for preparing academic campuses to "deliver high value industry relevant output."

Ministers including T Mano Thangaraj (IT), J Jeyaranjan, Vice-chairman, State Planning Commission, top officials, technologists, Hari Balachandran, CEO of ICT Academy of TN participated.