Author interacts with students at Osmania University

Sharma, an alumnus of the Department of Journalism & Mass Communication at OU, interacted with students at his alma mater here on Tuesday.

Hyderabad: Early creation of knowledge institutions like Osmania University (OU) and continuity in government policy through decades were the two factors that underpinned the growth of Hyderabad into a globalised city, said Dinesh Chandra Sharma, author of a recent book, ‘Beyond Biryani: The Making of a Globalised Hyderabad’.

Sharma, an alumnus of the Department of Journalism & Mass Communication at OU, interacted with students at his alma mater here on Tuesday.

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According to Sharma, the present status of Hyderabad was not just a product of liberalisation. “Its foundations had been laid in the form of knowledge institutions like OU and industrial research institutions like the Regional Research Lab, which later became the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology,” Sharma said.

Stating that modernisation of the city after the 1908 floods was the starting point, he said the post-1948 period saw public sector undertakings such as IDPL serve as a launch pad for new sectors.

Referring to Hyderabad’s IT growth, Sharma said Madhapur area was selected for IT hubs in 1992 by the then Chief Minister N Janardhan Reddy. “Chandrababu Naidu modelled the Vision 2020 policy and the Cyberabad enclave on the lines of similar projects in Malaysia. There has been continuity in government policy since the early 1990s. This policy stability is what led to investments.”

He also mentioned the Telugu diaspora as a major factor in the continued growth of Hyderabad as a technology hub.

Advising students to develop a specialisation, he said, “I developed an interest in science and technology when I joined PTI because they had a science service.” He asked them to put themselves in a global context.