IT dept draws roadmap for e-development

The department of information technology has decided to 'e-develop' six core areas -- e-governance, e-industry, e-innovation, e-learning, e-security and e-inclusion -- over the next five years.

The draft proposal of the five-year plan focuses on a multi-pronged strategy to achieve e-development: creation of e-infrastructure to facilitate and promote e-governance, promotion of electronics and information technology industry, promotion of e-inclusion, providing support for creating innovation, building knowledge networks and securing India's cyber space.

"Though the policy for the plan period had been done before, it is for the first time that we are doing a self evaluation of the activities and setting the targets.

"We expect the recommendations from the industry and public to be incorporated and everything to be finalised by the end of November," said a DIT official.

The draft said six working groups have been constituted to look into each core area and develop strategic documents. Each working group comprises 10 members, including representatives of the academia and the industry.

To achieve an inclusive growth in healthcare, the draft has suggested a tax rebate of Rs 50,000 to consumers in a block of three years, for buying computers. It also suggests a tax rebate of Rs 1,000 per month for internet and broadband access.

In case of e-governance, the draft said, the strategy will be to identify non-technology related areas where DIT can intervene and conceptualise the next version of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP 2.0).

The DIT has decided to reposition the Common Services Centres as Bharat Nirman Common Services Centres for delivery of public services to the rural populace.

The department has also decided to have at least one CSC in every gram panchayat across the country, by increasing its numbers from 100,000 to 250,000.

Moreover, with state governments keeping aside 2-3 per cent of their annual budgets for IT, the draft said that this can be an opportunity for increasing private sector participation in NeGP.

The DIT, according to the draft, aspires to increase the electronics hardware sector's contribution towards GDP to 3.5 per cent from the present 1.86 per cent.

On the human development front, the government has listed DIT as part of the skill development initiative and has been given a target to train 10 million people by 2022. 

For providing cyber security, the draft mentions setting up of 'Cyber Security Assurance' framework to assist national level efforts in protecting critical information infrastructure.

It aims to cater to the security assurance needs of the government and critical infrastructure organisations by enabling and endorsing actions.

"The implementations are still being worked out and it is only by the end of the year that we will be able to work out the resources and investments involved," the official added.