The role of India’s IT industry in the socio-economic development of the nation has caught the attention of one and all.The IT industry today is the toast of the nation. Accolades have come from all corners for the manner in which IT Industry in India has leveraged the large endowment of Human Capital available and built a huge IT skill base.The growth of IT industry has also resulted in a new crop of young entrepreuners heading small and medium enterprises who are leading the industry from strength to strength.

The industry has also been aware of its social responsibilities and come forward with various CSR initiatives. In an attempt to formally measure the impact of IT industry on the socio-economic development of the country, Nasscom Foundation, in association with Deloitte and Touche conducted a research for annual research publication ‘Catalysing Change’ which focusses on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the IT/ITES industry.The research attempts to bring forth the impact that the industry creates in the society at large, beyond the immediate stakeholders.

Nobel Laureate Dr. Amartya Sen, once expressed

“My point is not that the IT industry should do something for the country at large, for that it does anyway. It makes enormous contributions: it generates significant incomes for manyIndians; it has encouraged attention to technical excellenceas a general requirement across the board; it has established exacting standards of economic success in the country; it has encouraged many bright students to go technical rather than merely contemplative; and it has inspired Indian industrialists to face the world economy as a potentially big participant, not a tiny little bit-player. My point, rather, is that it can do even more, indeed in some ways, much more. This is partly because the reach of information is so wide and all-inclusive, butalso because the prosperity and commanding stature of the IT leaders and activists give them voice, power and ability to help the direction of Indian economic and social development.”

The findings of the research indicate that the industry has indeed taken his words very seriously. iridium Interactive has also found a place in this report for its outstanding work towards the cause of disability and Web Accessibility.Thefollowing excerpts are taken from the report:

Encouraging employment of differently abled

• Iridium Interactive Limited has a work force of about 100 people, 5% of which are differently abled. iridium Interactive has recruited people who are visually challenged for high end technology jobs from various tier 2 cities. These people are then put into a “Finishing School” where the company puts them through a custom hands on training program for 6 months and then on the job training before they are absorbed into the company thereby getting every one at an equal platform. iridium is also planning to recruit about 25 visually impaired people in three of its testing centres in Noida, Mumbai and Hyderabad, who would test all their disable-friendly products before launching.

iridium Interactive Ltd. – E-powerment of people with disabilities

• iridium Interactive Ltd. has been instrumental in promoting ‘web accessibility’ to visually impaired and motor disabled people, thereby enabling them to access technology and information related products through the use of Internet.
• The company is involved in creating awareness generation amongst website owners (Government and private)on the need to make sites accessible to disabled users and also promoting internet usage within the disabled sections of the society.
• It has helped almost 5,000 disabled people to get certificates issued by Government as recognition of a disabled person, by co-ordinating with State Governments, Local Governments, Transport Authorities, Medical personnel,etc.
• The company has also helped in making various websites (dealing in employment, transport and travel, education and e-banking) user friendly for people with disabilities, thereby promoting equal opportunities for disabled people.
• This makes iridium Interactive Ltd. the first Indian company to have endeavored an end to end approach to empower the differently abled through web accessibility and to have been included in NASSCOM’s Top IT Innovators for 2007.

The full report is available at www.nasscomfoundation.org

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