NEWS-INDIA: Long wait yet for Convergence Bill
Long wait yet for Convergence Bill
by Deepshikha Ghosh, India Abroad News Service
New Delhi, Dec. 6 - The enactment of the Convergence Bill is likely to be
postponed to the next session of Parliament, Information Technology Minister
Pramod Mahajan has indicated.
The bill, once cleared by the Union cabinet, will be posted on the Internet
for public comments, Mahajan said at the inaugural function of IT World
2000/Comdex India here. "I don't know what the act will finally be called,"
he added.
This is the second time that important legislation is being posted on the
Internet - the first being the information technology (IT) bill.
Mahajan said the draft, which would be placed before Parliament in the next
session, proposed a Convergence Commission of India which would look into
all three kinds of delivery systems -- communication, information technology
(IT) and information and broadcasting.
"If this act is in place in the next 6-8 months, India will be the second
country in Asia -- after Malaysia -- to have such a system," the minister
said.
Mahajan outlined the government's plans to leverage its advantage of an
English-speaking workforce and create a "world reservoir" for IT
professionals by the year 2005 through "Operation Knowledge". The World Bank
has committed $1 billion for the project, he added.
According to him, inadequacy of power and telecom infrastructure was the
main stumbling block in India's march. He also expressed concern over the
gap between India's performance in the software and hardware sectors, saying
if the "mismatch" continued, Indian IT professionals would be treated as
mere raw material for more advanced countries.
"We plan to have 10,000 community information centers all over India,
equipped with computers and trained professionals, as part of our program to
take IT to the masses," Mahajan said.
M.S. Banga, chairman of consumer giant Hindustan Lever, proposed a central
national telecom mission on the lines of the rural literacy mission in the
country to champion the formulation of a master blueprint for taking IT to
Indian villages.
He stressed on the "four Cs" - connectivity, content, community and
commerce - to aid India in leveraging IT so it could have a more profound
effect on the agricultural sector, which is the heart of its economy.
India needed very low cost connectivity through no-frills Net access
devices, well-packaged information, Net-based community cooperatives and
e-commerce, which could be implemented through strategic alliances between
the Central government, state governments and industry, he said.
"Together, they must put together a master blueprint of a click and brick
model," Banga said. "Equal distribution of income is not only a social
objective but an economic imperative. IT can be used to imagine and create
innovative solutions to improve the lives of the people of this country,"
He said Indian IT had sailed across high seas, now it must reach the rivers
and streams that percolate the country.
The three-day IT World/Comdex India exhibition will feature more than 150
Indian and international companies, with the theme "The Networked
Millennium". The exhibition will cover three major technology fields,
e-commerce, networking platforms, convergence and infrastructure and
financial services.
