TASKS
The various
tasks of the National Task Force on Information
Technology and Software Development are as
follows :
- This
Task Force 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 ten years. It will submit the
draft policy to the Prime Minister in
three months.
- The
Task Force will recommend an appropriate
empowered institutional mechanism to
implement this policy as a national
mission with the participation of the
Central and State Governments, industry,
academic institutions, and the society at
large.
- This
Task Force will recommend, within one
month, immediate steps that the
Government needs to take to remove
bottlenecks and give a big boost to
India's Information Technology industry.
- This
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.
- This
Task Force will prepare a blue print for
making the adoption of Information
Technology 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 :
1) Recommend a strategy for the
extensive use of Information Technology in all
areas of national economy - agriculture,
industry, trade and services - as a critical
input in making India a global economic power.
2) Prepare the design for building a
world-class physical, institutional and
regulatory IT infrastructure, which is
appropriate for India. This design will embrace
the growing convergence of telecommunications,
computers, consumer electronics and the media
infrastructure (minus its content).
3) Towards this end, determine the
means for creating a National Informatics
Infrastructure (NII) backbone, bridging it to the
Local Informatics Infrastructure (LII) and the
Global Informatics Infrastructure (GII). The
design of the NII will be dynamic, taking into
account the rapidly changing nature of
Information Technology.
4) Recommend how NII can be created at
an optimal cost by using the existing resources
of the various wings of Government such as the
Department of Telecommunications, Prasar Bharati,
Railways, Power Grid Corporation of India, etc.
5) Suggest measures for achieving a
massive expansion in the use of the Internet by
all sections of society, especially in business
and education, and development of Indian content
on the Internet.
6) Recommend a strategy for boosting
the learning and use of Information Technology in
Indian languages. the policy will suggest
measures to promote the development of software,
especially educational and commercial software,
in Indian languages.
7) 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.
8) Suggest measures to catalyze the
growth of exports through the extensive use of
-Commerce and EDI(Electronic Data Interchange).
9) 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.
10) Develop a strategy for dramatically
increasing the PC density in the country and, to
that end, ensure that every household and
commercial establishments that has a telephone
also has a computer. The strategy will aim to
facilitate the availability of computer hardware,
software and connectivity at the lowest possible
cost.
11) Device a strategy for establishing
a strong and internationally competitive domestic
manufacturing base for computers, computer
components and peripherals.
12) 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. The Task Force will 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.
13) Develop a strategic plan to raise
the necessary financial resources to realise the
objectives of the National Informatics Policy.
This plan will rely on innovative means of
funding that minimise government outlay.
14) Suggest an appropriate legal frame
work for the creation of an IT-based society,
with due focus on intellectual property rights
(IPR), secrecy, security and safety of
information.
15) 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.
|
