FORTY THOUSAND VPTs TO BE INSTALLED IN NEXT FOUR MONTHS
ACCESSIBILITY,
AFFORDABILITY OF IT TOOLS VITAL FOR TACKLING DIGITAL DIVIDE –
SHRI MAHAJAN
FIRST
ASIAN REGIONAL NETWORK CONFERENCE ON IT FOR DEVELOPMENT INAUGURATED
Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs,
Communications and Information Technology Shri Pramod Mahajan
has said that in order to bridge and tackle the problem of ‘Digital
Divide’, it was necessary to provide value added connectivity
to the people living in the remote parts of the country. Value
added connectivity would not only ensure access, it would also
spur the masses to use Information Technology as an empowerment
tool. At the same time, it would facilitate in consolidating a
digital unite within the different parts of the country. He said
that the Government was committed in according the highest priority
to the Village Public Telephony (VPT) throughout the country.
He said that 70,000 VPTs had already been provided in the last
one year which was a record in itself and 40,000 more were expected
to be installed in the next four months. By adhering to this schedule,
the Minister said that he was optimistic that the Government would
be able to provide VPTs to all villages by the end of the year.
In this regard, he also mentioned that it was expected that the
private sector would also fulfill its obligations as far as installing
VPTs across the country. Shri Mahajan stated this while delivering
the Inaugural Address at the "First Asian Regional Conference
on IT for Development", organised by Media Lab Asia and UN
ICT Task Force here today.
Elaborating further, Shri Mahajan
said Asia had now occupied the centre-stage of IT development
and it was a brand value which was recognised globally. He called
upon the private sector industry to come forward and support the
different Government initiatives in the Asian region to promote
use of IT in social transformation. In this respect, Shri Mahajan
also stated that very little was being done in the field of consumer
oriented research in the sector. He said that all Industry Associations
should join hands to make Media Lab Asia a success by putting
together coordinated efforts. The Minister underlined the need
to make Media Lab Asia an Industry sponsored project, rather than
being merely supported by the Government. Industry supported projects
would not only bring together like minded people to achieve positive
social orientation.
Underlining the importance of technology,
Shri Mahajan said that digital technology was a principal catalyst
in bridging the gap between the digital wants and want-nots. People
should be made aware of the benefits and usefulness of a given
technology. Divide was an aspect that was inherent in every aspect
of life. Technology was only a medium and tool to facilitate the
bridging of the gap.
In this regard, Shri Mahajan focussed
very strongly on the relevance and the need to promote digital
education at every level. Tools of digital education had to be
more cheaper, accessible and affordable for the masses. By ensuring
affordability of IT tools, people’s interest could be sustained
in areas of E-governance, E-health, E-education and E-medicine.
It was in this context that the issues and projects undertaken
by Media Lab Asia were extremely relevant. For a country like
India, it was extremely important that digital education should
look after the domestic market and social groups. It was imperative
that the systems of digital education cater to the language in
which people communicated. This would ensure not only access but
also a crystal clear understanding of the benefits of pro-active
use of IT tools and technologies.
The Minister said that the Conference
was taking place at an appropriate time when the UN Task Force
on Information and Communication Technology for Asia had given
India the responsibility of promoting innovation, academia and
private sector participation in the Asian Region to tackle the
problems relating to the issue of Digital Divide. Earlier, speaking
on the occasion, Secretary, Information Technology, Shri R.R.
Shah gave an overview of the initiatives undertaken by Media Lab
Asia since its inception. He spoke at length on the various initiatives
undertaken by the organisation. He specifically mentioned the
initiatives under the Bits For All Research Projects, World Computer
Research Projects and the Digital Village Research Projects.
The day long Conference is
being organised in collaboration with United Nations ICT Task
Force which was set up at the initiative of UN Secretary General,
Kofi Annan. The objective of the Task Force is to provide overall
leadership to the United Nations role in helping to formulate
strategies for the development of information and communication
technologies and putting those technologies at the service of
development". Media Lab Asia has been appointed by the task force
as the Secretariat for Asian region for academia, industry and
not-for-profit organisations. The purpose of the meeting is to
facilitate entrepreneurial endeavours to provide rural services
focussing especially in the field of information and communication
technology. Prominent overseas delegations from the region are
expected to participate in the seminar.
Besides, the meeting will also
focus on strategising operational deliverables for tackling issues
related to digital divide. For this purpose, discussions have
been structured in such a way that panel discussions will focus
on specific themes. Panel
discussions will focus on issues
related to Digital village, Low cost telecom access and matters
related to Computation for Villages. Participants for the panel
discussions have been drawn from a variety of sectors chiefly
the voluntary sector, private sector and academia. Key speakers
at the Conference include : Shri Sugata Mitra, NIIT Ltd., Prof.
Sanjay Dhande, Director, IIT, Kanpur, Prof. Swami Manohar, Picopeta
Simputers Pvt. Ltd. , Shri Anil Kriplani, Qualcomm Inc., Shri
Ashok Khosla, Development Alternatives and Shri Subbiah Arunachalam,
MSSRF. Mr. Masongde, Hon’ble Vice-Minister of the People’s Republic
of China will share his views on the chinese experience on ICT
for Governance. On the issue related to ICT for Masses, the key
note address will be delivered by Dr. Verghese Kurien, Chairman,
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation. The Conference
will also witness an Exhibition organised to demonstrate eight
projects being developed by institutions and organisations working
closely with Media Lab Asia.
The Conference is supported
by India’s leading technology and business associations like National
Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), Manufacturer’s
Association of Information Technology (MAIT), Confederation of
Indian Industries (CII) and The IndUS Entrepreneurs(TiE). Around
150 delegates from India and other Asian countries are participating
in this Conference.
