NATIONAL 3 -(Spotlight Weekly)

Time to Act

By A CORRESPONDENT

Though lagging behind in resources to invest in research and development to acquire new technology, South Asia no longer lags behind in Information Technology (IT). With India establishing itself as a major player in global software market, other countries in the region, too, are positioning themselves to be part of the knowledge economy.

The three-day SummIT 2000 (Sept. 9-11), an information technology (IT) conference and exhibition, sub titled as world's premiere communication event, brought together IT officials and entrepreneurs from SAARC member countries, except Maldives, and Malaysia and Singapore. The Conference concluded on Monday calling for closer cooperation in the region to promote and develop IT in the region.

'Latecomers in this sector have many advantages,' said P. V. Jayakrishnan, IT Secretary, Government of India. Agreed Surendra Prasad Chaudhary, Minister for Science and Technology, ìthe summit was expected to be a gateway to IT revolution in Nepal. The government is effortful in expediting the growth of IT for which the ministry, in cooperation with national planning commission, has drafted an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) policy and strategy.î A cyber law is also ready to be tabled in the parliament, he said.

While IT and Internet have opened a whole new range of opportunities for the people in the region, it is still inaccessible to majority of them. Even then countries in the region are moving ahead steadily along the growth path. 'The size of the IT industry in Bangladesh is estimated at around US$ 150 million and is growing at more than 20 percent each year,î said Dr. M. Abdus Sobhan, executive director, Bangladesh Computer Council. 'Human Resources for the industry has been growing rapidly since the government declared it as a thrust sector.' The Bangladesh government is also adopting a National Software Development Plan, he said.

With the number of IT professionals standing at around 250,000 and nearly 68,000 adding to this pool every year, India has emerged as a major human resources country in IT. For Nepal, with nearly 1000 professionals and 150 graduates a year, there is a long way to go. Even then, she could earn as much as half a billion US dollars by exporting software and IT enabled services by the year 2010 (that is, approximately 40 percent of the GDP), say Nepali IT visionaries. Both the government and private sector have come together in Nepal to draft a blue print to develop this sector in the country.

Another Himalayan kingdom, Bhutan, has been connected to the Internet since June 1999. In November last year, Royal Government of Bhutan set up the Division of Information and Technology under the Ministry of Communications to promote this sector. "The Government of Bhutan has realized that as we enter the Information Age, factors like IT, human resource development, knowledge development and IT infrastructure become crucial in meeting the countryís development objectives,î said Tasho D. Tenzing, Secretary, Ministry of Communications, Bhutan.

Visitors at Summit 2000 : Exploring potentials

Nepali software companies, though few in numbers, have been able to develop sizeable and successful software like banking and airlines system. Reputed companies like Toshiba have hired their development services from Nepali companies. A few companies are carrying out Mission critical projects like on-line medical transcription in Kathmandu. A company is even developing e-commerce portals for companies in the US and Europe.

'Because of world class infrastructure, manpower, lowest tax on IT and working atmosphere, among others, Nepal can emerge as a nation where IT can happen,î said Minister Chaudhary. ìThe country in the region must work together to keep the ball of IT rolling down to the masses.'

The SummIT 2000 also called for joint initiative to develop multi-language computers so that more and more peoples from the region could have access to computers. It also called upon collaborative works in the areas of software development and exports. An institution like SAARC Secretariat could play a leading role in furthering cooperation in this all-important sector, delegates said.

Now that the vision is clear and strategies being developed, perhaps the time has come to act.