NEW YORK: Former Chief Election Commissioner and retired IAS officer T.N.
Seshan will tour
the United States this month starting from Nov 2 to mobilize support for
the Kanchi Software
Park coming up near Chennai.
Seshan is meeting with experts to exchange ideas and mobilize support for
the ambitious Kanchi
Software Park. During his tour of the US from Nov 2 to 27, he is expected
to meet people at all
levels involved in Information Technology in major cities of the US.
The Kanchi Software Park hopes to attract investments from around the world
and give the
people opportunities to use their talent and contribute to the development
of society. The
project is headed by former President of India R Venkatraman as patron
and the trustees include
prominent public figures from industry and institutions to help people
of India to gain expertise
not only spiritual sustenance but also enhance the benefits of modern science
and technology.
The ancient Kanchi Kamakoti Peeth in Kanchipuram, the religious seat of
Sankaracharyas, is
setting up the park to empower the people with opportunities to exercise
their latent talents
besides attracting investments from non-resident Indians.
Conceived, meticulously planned and executed by their holinesses Shri Jayendra
Saraswathi
Swami and Shri Shankara Vijayendra Saraswati Swami of the Kanchi Math,
the software park is
being developed by Sri Kanchi Shankara Vignana Trust in two phases near
the Kanchi Maha
Vishwavidhyalala, a deemed university approved by the central government.
About 20 acres of land would be developed adjacent to the National Highway,
about 60
kilometers from Chennai and a software development center of 160,000 square
feet is now being
built to world class specifications. It would have well-developed roads,
drains, uninterrupted
electricity, water and telecommunications network. The second phase includes
a housing
complex on a 200-acre plot adjacent to the park.
The software park provides opportunities to entrepreneurs in the areas
of IT enabled services,
call centers, medical transcription, credit card processing, data search
centers, animation, remote
education and business process outsourcing to name a few. There were will
be a digital printing
press and a training facility and the park provides an option to buy or
lease developed plots or a
constructed facility.
Besides functional areas, development includes facilities like training
centers, hostels for men and
women, cafeteria, bank, post office, shopping mall and a full-fledged medical
center. It could well
be described as a hi-tech township, self-contained and designed to give
the inmates the comforts
of total living.
The park would have quality and uninterrupted power supply, high speed
connectivity for data
and voice, skilled human resources, pollution-free environment and access
to training at the
Kanchi University.
The Math has drafted the services of experts in the field of education,
management,
administration to run the park. Dr. Bala Balachandran of the Kellogg’s
in Illinois is coordinating
the activities from the United States along with N.J.Shivagiri, Nathan
Shivakumar and Arun
Sitaraman while Seshan has been the driving force behind the success of
the park.
The trustees include J. Jayaraman, former chairman and managing director
of Cochin Refineries,
G.S. Krishnamurthy, managing director of Hexaware Infosystems, Mohan Parasaran,
leading
attorney and K.V. Ramani, managing director of Future Software, while the
advisory and
working group consists of Seshan, A.G.Sastri, managing director of Vetri
Software, S.
Mahalingam, executive vice president of Tata Consultancy Services, Kandaswamy
Bharathan,
managing director of Digital Studios.