KTR declared "SKOCH IT Minister of the Year"

Industries, municipal and IT minister KT Rama Rao was named `SKOCH IT Mi nister of the Year'. He will be conferred the honour at a ceremony , scheduled to take place during 49th SKOCH Summit, on 9 September in New Delhi.

Telangana has been in the forefront of attracting fresh investments in IT by launching innovative programs like T-Hub, TASK, Rural Technology Centers policy .The total software exports from the state has crossed `85,470 crore after KTR took charge of the ministry . Reacting to the announcement of the award, KTR tweeted, “Thanks for the honour Skoch team. Believe this is a recognition for the vision of Hon'ble CM and ably aided by my ICT team“. The IT department said that KTR will receive the award. In a tweet, the ministry of IT department said, “Sri @KTRTRS Hon'ble Minister of IT, Government of Telangana, will be honoured with the `SKOCH IT Minister of the Year Award' #SkochSummit“.

“I have observed Rama Rao at close quarters and



found his thinking out of the box, yet grounded in the needs of Telangana. His initiatives related to IT are bang-on what is required to build a new state for new India,“ said Sameer Kochhar, chairman, SKOCH Group. SKOCH, since 2003, has been conducting independent assessment of states and is the only time-line study compiled as ` Annual Smart Governance Map of India' available in the country . The organization has rated Telangana as the best performer overall attaining the No 1spot, last year.

“KTR's selection is based on SKOCH's own research and assessment of his innovative implementation of forward looking IT policies and laying a future IT roadmap for the state since the time he took over as the minister of IT,“ adds Kochhar. The organisation also assessed the overall improvement in state governance since its formation, year-on-year based on which, Telangana topped the list as best performer during 2016, up from 18th rank during 2015.