Right to Information
IT Task Force Recommendations, that can make the GIS really HAPPEN in the country
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on 22nd May 98 appointed a National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development to formulate the draft of a National Informatics Policy. The Task Force is chaired by Shri Jaswant Singh, Deputy Chairperson, Planning Commission and co-chaired by Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and Dr. M. G. K. Menon, Former Union Minister of State, Science & Technology. The committee submitted its first report on 6th July ’98. And just 20 days after the report came out, the president of India ordered that all the 108 recommendations of the IT Action Plan, submitted by the Task Force, be notified by all the Ministries and Departments of the Government and necessary instructions and amendments to the laws be issued expeditiously fully reflecting the spirit of the recommendations.
Out of the recommendations, which broadly touch nearly all segments of the IT sector, there are some recommendations, if implemented in their spirit, can lead tremendous growth of the GIS application in the country. Here are the recommendations which directly relate to GIS. The complete text of the Task Force recommendations is available on Internet at http://it-taskforce-nic.in/ .
IT in Government
Computerisation in Government to viable limits should be systematically completed in the next five years.
Information Technology plans to be intrinsic to the planning process.
The objective of government Information Technology applications should be to deliver services as close to citizens as possible, with minimum intermediation and at affordable cost.
Each department/agency in government should be required to prepare an Information Technology Plan with a time perspective of three to five years. This is necessary for planning out applicaions systematically while keeping in view the fact.
We can not have massive use of computers, and IT unless Government also uses extensively computer technology. This is possible only at least 2% of the budget of every ministry or deptt. is earmarked to apply IT in that deptt. This will include not only investment in the machines but also training.
Frameworks contracts
Institutional arrangements will have to be made to guide the process of change in individual government ministries, departments and agencies. The Process of securing expert advice from outside government given existing procedures and guidelines, coupled with lack of inhouse capability to evaluate, is found to be a tedious and difficult one.
We would therefore, recommend that the National Informatics Centre at the national level and the Technology Service organisations at the state level and the Technology Service organisations at the state level should, on the lines of the CCTA in the UK, immediately establish ‘Framework Contracts’ with reputed suppliers to provide a wide range of IT consultancy, specialist services and IT products to government agencies. The evaluation of private sector firms could take into account factors such as financial stability, track record and experience, available resources, quality systems, fee rates, discount structures and administration and management systems.
To illustrate, in the case of CCTA in UK, ‘Framework Contracts’, currently cover the following service categories:
- IS strategy development.
- Programme and project management
- IT architecture design, including networking and communications
- Requirements specification, system acceptanceand implementation
- Contractor support services, i.e. body shop supply of IT specialist personnel
- Advice in electronic commerce, EDI, mutimedia and Internet/ Intranet service.