VOL. 17 NO. 2 APRIL-JUNE 1998 - Task Force on National Informatics Policy

In a first big step towards evolving a comprehensive national informatics policy, the government announced a 16-member task force headed by Shri Jaswant Singh, Deputy Chairperson, Planning Commission and two Cochairpersons, Shri. N Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Dr.MGKMenon, former Union Minister of State for Science and Technology.

The Government said in a statement that the National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development will "formulate the draft national policy on informatics whose aim will be to enable India to emerge as an information technology superpower within the next 10 years."

The statement said the Task Force would also recommend an institutional mechanism consisting of central and state governments and IT experts from industry and academics to implement the policy as a `national mission'. However, even before the policy is drafted, the Government wants the task force to recommend immediate steps to clear bottlenecks to give a big thrust to the country's IT industry .

The Government has entrusted the task force with a job to "excite and energise the people of India, creating the faith in them that information technology vitally aids personal growth and national growth".

The Task Force will prepare a Vision Statement that will excite and energize the people of India, creating the faith in them that Information Technology vitally aids personal growth and national growth. It will also suggest a strategy for the effective articulation and dissemination of that Vision, so as to create an ethos, an ambience, a mindset, and a work culture consistent with the needs of the emerging knowledge-driven global civilisation.

Finally, it will prepare a blueprint for integrating IT into a "national movement", with a wide network of empowered task forces at all governmental and non-governmental levels.

Terms of Reference

The terms of reference of the National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development are as follows :

  • Recommend a strategy for extensive use of IT in all areas of national economy i.e. agriculture, industry, trade and servicesas a critical input in making India a global economic power.

  • Prepare a design for building world class physical, institutional and regulatory IT infrastructure keeping in mind convergence of telecommunications, computers, consumer electronics and the media infrastructure (minus its content).

  • Towards this end, determine means for creating a national informatics infrastructure (NII) backbone, bridging it to local informatics infrastructure (LII) and the global informatics infrastructure (GII).

  • Recommend ways to create NII at optimal cost by using existing government resources of department of telecommunications, Prasar Bharti, Railways, Power Grid Corporation and the like.

  • Suggest measures for massive expansion of Internet use by all sections of society.

  • Recommend a strategy for boosting the learning and use of IT in Indian languages; suggest measures to promote development of software, especially educational and commercial softwares in Indian languages.

  • Develop a strategy for dramatically increasing personal computer density and ensuring that every home that has a phone also has a computer.

  • Suggest a legal framework for the creation of an IT-based society with focus on intellectual property rights, secrecy, security and safety of information.

  • Develop a strategy for a twenty-fold increase in India's software and other IT service exports in the next ten years. In particular, the Policy will focus on the development of world-class software products and brands that can quickly establish global dominance.

  • Suggest measures to catalyze the growth of exports through the extensive use of commerce and Electronic Data Interchange.

  •  

  • Suggest ways in which the use of IT can be maximised in the Government at all levels, so as to make its functioning people-friendly, transparent and accountable.

  • Devise a strategy for establishing a strong and internationally competitive domestic manufacturing base for computers, computer components and peripherals.

  • Design a training and manpower development plan involving Government agencies, private business, voluntary organizations, educational institutions and others to quadruple the number of IT professionals in the country in the next two years; and suggest a plan to implement the commitment made in the National Agenda for Governance to ensure universal computer literacy in all secondary schools in the country. The plan will also aim at making available IT education to all those sections of the economy where it serves as a productivity multiplier.

  • Develop a strategic plan to raise the necessary financial resources to realise the objectives of the National Information Policy. This plan will rely on innovative means of funding that minimise government outlay.

  • Recommend how India can leverage its global competitiveness in InfoTech to play a prominent role in the development of IT in other countries, especially those that are underdeveloped.

India is viewed as a major emerging IT player on the global scene. In 1997-98, the IT industry was worth $ 4.35 billion ($ 6,500 crore) software home market was $ 0.9 billion (Rs 3,500 crore): hardware industry was $ 1.50 billion (Rs 6,000 crore); and others including training was $ 0.15 billion (Rs 600 crore).

Over the next 10 years, the IT industry is projected to grow around 30 times to around $120 billion.

Source : Economics Times 25 May, 1998