IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The report highlights how much work the government will need to do in order to drive genuine change in ICT across government.

The new strategy was established in a bid to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ICT across government after a string of expensive IT disasters.

The Royal Bank of Scotland meltdown this weekend should raise three obvious lessons for government. First, relax – it’s not only government that experiences IT problems and, indeed, the fact that government keeps big, complex, legacy systems running in areas such as taxes and benefits is in itself quite an achievement.

It's been a while since Scotland had something resembling a national strategy for public sector ICT. In the early 2000s it had the 21st Century Government Unit and the Modernising Government Fund provided money for workstreams such as data standards, smartcards, a national land and property database, e-procurement and various customer contact initiatives. More recently, although there have been fresh initiatives, there has been no one office to co-ordinate the effort and no national framework for progress.

The government is keen to shake up the way ICT is taught in schools and introduce more programming skills into the curriculum - with education secretary Michael Gove branding the current setup a "roadblock".

However, according to the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA), not all schools agree on the direction in which the government is taking ICT.

The one-day meeting witnessed participation by directors of e-Government programs and authorities in GCC countries. They reviewed a GCC e-Government strategic draft, which was prepared by a work team via a two-day workshop in the Qatari capital.

The meeting, convened upon instructions from the GCC E-Governments' Ministerial Committee meeting held last March, discusses a paperwork presented from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding developing upcoming functions, conferences and e-government award.

In a country where textbooks are routinely not delivered to thousands of schools, public hospitals are struggling to keep running and millions live in poverty, information and communications technology (ICT) might not seem like a priority. But the department of communications, which oversees ICT, is doing incalculable long-term damage to our economy.

In a recent presentation to Parliament, Communications Minister Dina Pule listed the ministry's top five priorities for ICT as "broadband, broadcasting digital migration, e-skills, the successful launch of Postbank, and an information and communications technology (ICT) policy review".

In a country where textbooks are routinely not delivered to thousands of schools, public hospitals are struggling to keep running and millions live in poverty, information and communications technology (ICT) might not seem like a priority. But the department of communications, which oversees ICT, is doing incalculable long-term damage to our economy.

In a recent presentation to Parliament, Communications Minister Dina Pule listed the ministry’s top five priorities for ICT as “broadband, broadcasting digital migration, e-skills, the successful launch of Postbank, and an information and communications technology (ICT) policy review”.

In November, the lack of sufficient human resources was identified by the Prime Minister’s Committee on the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of India as the biggest constraint in the adoption of e-governance. The government currently employs only 5000 IT professionals, 50 per cent of whom work in a single agency.

That was the message from the head of the Wits School of Education, Professor Frances Faller, at the graduation ceremony for 27 educators from across Africa who successfully completed the Certificate in ICT in Education for Policy Implementers.

The Government have suggested 45 ways of improving efficiency, avoiding duplication, saving money, and making online services more attractive.

The eGovernment strategy, which covers 2012 to 2015, encourages greater sharing of data between Government public bodies, electronic delivery of services where appropriate and an increased level of automation to free-up staff currently engaged in front-line work.

The plan also envisages the use of emerging technologies to deliver these services across a range of digital platforms, including mobile apps.

A National Digital Strategy that aims to assist members of the public and businesses to “do more online”, will be published today by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte.

Mr Rabbitte said the digital part of the economy is growing 16 per cent per year, more than 10 times the rate of growth of the economy as a whole. Furthermore, digital contributes 4.4 per cent, or €7.1 billion, of Ireland’s GDP. So technology should be exploited to assist with economic recovery.

The growth of ICT in the last two decades has been spectacular and historic in the world. The industry has changed the entire set-up and altered thought processes. I believe in the mantra of ‘IT+IT=IT' (Information Technology+ Indian Talent= India Tomorrow). My vision for the IT sector is that it develops the capacity and capability to become the engine of innovation and the driver of growth in the years to come. I see the IT industry as an engine for making India the knowledge superpower and an agent of change that touches lives of the poorest of the poor, for their empowerment.

The Cabinet has recently approved the National Policy on Information Technology 2012. The Policy aims to leverage Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to address the ountry’s economic and developmental challenges. The policy is rooted in the conviction that ICT has the power to transform the lives of people.

ICT and Electronics are contributing significantly to the Indian economy, society and governance. IT is a key driver of the knowledge based global economy. The right policies and investment in infrastructure can strengthen and enhance India’s position as a global IT power-house. Use of IT can transform our economy, enhance equity and lead to improvement in development indices. The Policy envisages the growth of the IT market to USD 300 Billion and creation of additional 10 million employments by 2020.

“The IT policy addresses number of issues regarding the development of the ICT sector and using it for the growth of the country, not only from the point of exports, but equal emphasis on domestic sector as well,” he added.

"We will firm up timeline for various initiatives in the policy (NPIT) alongwith cost estimates by December," DEITy Secretary J Satyanarayana told reporters here.

The Draft National Policy on Electronics, 2011 (NPE 2011) was released on 3.10.2011. The draft Policy envisions creating a globally competitive Electronics Systems and Design Manufacturing (ESDM) industry including nano-electronics to meet the country`s needs and serve the international market. One of the important objectives of the Policy is to achieve a turnover of about USD 400bn by 2020 involving investment of about USD 100bn and employment to around 28 million by 2020. This includes achieving a turnover of USD 55bn of chip design and embedded software industry and USD 80bn of exports in the sector. Another important objective of the Policy is to significantly upscale high-end human resource creation to 2500 PhDs annually by 2020. The Policy also proposes setting up of over 200 Electronic Manufacturing clusters in the country.

The previous information technology (IT) policy of Gujarat was launched in 2006 and was to be in operation till 2011. It has been extended till the new policy is announced.

According to a source close to the development, the policy was scheduled to be launched this year itself. But due to elections and the implementation of the model code of conduct, the policy has been on hold for the past two months.