Orissa will produce at least 25,000 information technology professonals in the next three years by introducing computer courses in 1300 colleges with very little investment on the part of the state government. From the next academic session, 100 selected colleges will start the courses with little investment and money collected from the students. He, however, said that the colleges would collect much less than what the private institutes were charging. “The state will produce lakhs of IT professionals in next five years after implementing the courses in all the colleges,” Mr Nanda said. Talking about ''Vision-2025 programme on higher education'' recently passed by the state cabinet, Mr Nanda said, ''If orissa did not take drastic steps in introducing IT courses, the state would lag behind other states in development.'' Bureau Report