“IT”
DOES MATTER
Future
of Information Technology in India
Tapasya Patki Namarta Agarwal
Swati Khurana Anushree
Sharma Neha Dhanuka
B.Tech (IT), MSIT
GGSIP University, New Delhi
- All forms of technology used to create, store, exchange, and use information in its various forms (business data, voice conversations, still images, motion pictures, multimedia presentations,
- A convenient term for including both telephony and computer technology in the same word
How did it Start
?
- In early 1980s, Government encouraged IT by way of providing incentives in the form of reduced or concession import duty for the computer hardware / software imported in the country for export of software
- More Interest by Private companies in the form of Software Exports
- Providing the on site services of Computer Professionals from India
- Improve the foreign exchange reserves
- Government initiatives in the form of establishing Software Technology Parks (STPs) in the country
(i) Creating infrastructure set up to boost industry efforts in the form of Software Technology Parks
(ii) E-Governance i.e. providing support for citizens for Government Interface
(iii) Setting up of Community Information Centers on experimental basis
(iv) Enhancing the trained manpower strength to support IT revolution
(v) Enacting legislation to support the conducive environment for E-Commerce growth and curtailing the cyber crimes
(vi) Supporting technological advancements through Government funded activities in the country
Opportunitites for Private Enterprises:
(i) Improving the earnings through global opportunities in the field of IT.
(ii) Productivity Improvement for the industrial sectors
(iii) Industry association related activities
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)
- Scheme to establish activities to undertake “off-site” assignments for software exports i.e. changeover from on-site to off-shore software development work
- Provided High Speed Data Communication facility at STP location to undertake activities of software export
- Income Tax benefits / rebates to software export establishment
- Almost every State has a STP
IT for Masses:
-
E-Governance initiative
(i)
Any-where any
time services to citizens
(ii) Improved accountability, responsiveness & transparency in Government functioning
(iii) Higher efficient Government machinery and system
-
Communications Information Centers
(i)
Promoting local
entrepreneurs development
(ii)
Improving &
enhancing economic participation
(iii)
Opening up new avenues
for raising the economic status of deprived sections of the society.
(iv)
Virtual
Internet communities, permitting older people as well as youngsters
Education Up gradation Programme:
o University of Roorkee upgraded as IIT
o Regional Engineering colleges upgraded as National Institutes of Technology
o Increases seats in Engineering colleges
o IIT Guwahatti
o Indian Institutes of Information Technologies (Triple ITs)
Enactment of Cyber Legislation:
- Information Technology (IT) Act 2000
-
Promotes E-commerce, E-Governance, e-Business
-
Caters for cyber crimes
Establishing
Institutes of National Importance
- CDAC for R&D in Supercomputing, Multilingual Computing
- DOEACC for Non-formal sector IT education
- Motivation for Private Companies
- Twelve hour time zone difference with the US
- Huge pool of English Speaking and computer literate graduate manpower
- Lesser cost for educated IT professionals
- Government support and incentives for IT led industries
- Proliferation of ITES
- IT Outsourcing
- IT Outsourcing i to gain immediate economic advantages
- Outsourcing thus unlocks organizational structures
- Inner conflict and management problems
- NASSCOM, MAIT, ISPA and other associations playing the role of catalyst
Digital Divide & Related Issues:
Potential
Dangers of Digital Divide
- Information Technology revolution affects the way people live, learn and work and how governments interact with civil society
- Digital divide leads to information and knowledge poverty and limits the opportunities for economic growth and wealth distribution
What
needs to be done for overcoming Digital Divide?
-
Government as well as State Government should
encourage development policies
- Develop and strengthen national, regional and international broadband network infrastructure
-
Develop affordable technologies and non-text based
computer interfaces to facilitate people’s access to ICT
- Capacity Building in the form of IT literacy, Educational Programmes, It Infrastructure
- Remove Gender biases in IT sector
- Empower local communities for usage of IT
- Distance learning activities
Future Challenges and Potentials:
- Prepare for smooth recovery from the adverse impact of IT slowdown post Sept 11 incident
- Provide impetus to IT education to restore the rush to IT education
- Cater for IT Security to strengthen the trust among citizens
- Address Open Source Software eg LINUX issues in professional ways and enact on the Indian strength
- Focus on technological developments like grid and utility computing. The maintenance expenditure of an underutilized infrastructure directly impacts a company's bottom line. And today, management costs are averaging three times that of technology acquisition costs. As a result, many IT professionals are adopting on-demand computing to extract ROI from existing IT investments and align business goals to technology expenditure.