The Department of Information Technology (DIT) is all set to formalise two key policies ? National Communication Policy (ICT)-2011 and National Policy on Electronics ? which will not only help bring public utilities under the information technology (IT) net but also make India the hub of electronic manufacturing for entertainment, defence, medical and educational devices. Both these policies will be finalised within the next five months.
?We have had two round-tables on the issue and expect the draft ICT policy to come out by August 15 and the final policy by the end of this year,? said N Ravi Shanker, Additional Secretary, DIT.
On the hardware front, some components of the policy will be similar to the recommendations made by the IT task force last year, which also suggested making India the electronic manufacturing hub for various sectors.
According to the task force estimate, the exports from the IT and ITeS sector are expected to touch $82 billion by 2014 and $175 billion by 2020. The demand for electronics hardware in the country has been projected to increase from $5 billion in 2009 to $125 billion by 2014 and $400 billion by 2020.
For the ICT policy, the department is mulling the use of IT for monitoring programmes related to water wastage, value-added services and other utilities.
The draft National ICT Policy will be two pronged and based on ?connected and unified government? and ?empowerment of citizens?. The strategy on connected and unified government includes mandating e-delivery of public services, development of shared platforms, public services, payment gateway, unique identifiers for persons, property and business, mobile enablement of services and standards and interoperability. On the other hand, the strategy of empowerment of citizens includes Bharat Nirman Common Service Centres in every panchayat, optical fibre network availability to every panchayat, collaboration for and promotion of content in local languages on education, health and agriculture and use of social media.