Information Technology
Dr. Priya Ranjan Trivedi staying at A 15, Paryavaran Complex,
New Delhi 110030 (INDIA), Mobile : +91-9818097247 has designed a Masterplan Paradigm for the overall development of Housing in the
following manner :
5.1 Principles
We believe the Information Technology (IT) policy flows from the
basis that we must adopt lifestyles and development paths that
respect and work within the ecological limits. Developments in
IT need to be subject to community scrutiny and the benefits of
IT need to be shared amongst all members of the community and
not be used to increase power and privilege for a few.
We want the debate about technological choice brought out of the
back-rooms of government and industry and into the public arena.
There must be appropriate public IT planning to ensure
integration of IT into the broader social and economic
objectives and to avoid the adoption of IT products becoming
supplier-driven and piecemeal.
Full implementation of on-line services envisaged in some
“Information Superhighway” proposals will be very expensive and
the extent to which government should fund such proposals
requires further analysis. We will support sufficient government
funding to enable no- or low-cost access to e-mail, the Internet
and other electronic information resources for schools,
libraries and public sector organisations, in a context where
the provision of such services is important to full
participation in society.
We support direct measures, rather than tax incentives, which
tend to be less equitable, to help organisations convert their
systems to avoid the millennium bug.
5.2 Goals
Real opportunities exist for India, with a relatively educated
and skilled population, to make a large contribution to
developments in software, multimedia and intellectual property.
We support universal access to the fullest range of information
and communication services.
5.3 Short Term Targets
We propose:
a) the establishment of an independent Information Technology
Assessment Board (ITAB), to continually assess both new and
existing information technologies and to recommend governmental
action. Economic assessment would run alongside checks on
health, safety, environmental and cultural impact, risks, and
job satisfaction. The ITAB would have a statutory obligation to
keep the public informed of its work in a clear and accessible
way;
b) the encouragement of significant value-added operations in
IT, such as Research and Development (R&D).
c) in the practices of government departments and in private
business, the enforcement of the principles of:
• privacy - maintaining the confidentiality of personal
information; and
• freedom of information - enabling public access to statistics
and decision-making processes;
d) the encouragement of the adoption of codes of ethics or
practice for which members of practising professional bodies can
be suspended or “struck off” if the code is contravened,
preventing or restricting their ability to practise;
e) to make government set an example of open and responsible use
of IT in its own systems;
f) the promotion of the development of networking standards for
global operation in order to boost international communication,
understanding and trade;
g) support for a democratic, egalitarian operation of the
Internet with appropriate regulation based on wide public
discussion;
h) support for the growth in “telecommuting” whereby office
staff can work from home, reducing the demand for physical
commuting, whilst ensuring protection for employees’ conditions;
i) support the growth of teleconferencing in order to decrease
the dependence on air travel
j) support for the growth of remote “work centres” or “tele-
villages” in order to reduce depopulation and increase
employment opportunities in rural areas;
k) support for the growth of “tele-conferencing” in order to
decrease the need for travelling;
l) to prevent the emergence of monopoly in telecommunications,
computing or IT;
m) to identify and list sensitive applications/systems (i.e.
with safety or security implications) and restrict their design
to qualified professionals holding a valid licence to practise;
n) to achieve greater public review of the development of
government computer systems, requiring proposals for new or
amended government systems to be widely published.
o) to support universities and other research establishments in
research free of external direction by industry or government;
p) to support the full and frequent flow of information from
researchers to the professions and the media regarding research
progress and its implications;
q) support for an industry free to develop hardware, software
and services commensurate with ethical business practices;
r) the encouragement of flexible approaches in industrial
relations responses to changes in organisations, working
conditions, job definitions and skill boundaries - all affected
by IT;
s) the imposition of a rating and censorship system (similar to
film) for computer games and related leisure services;
t) the improvement of women’s access to training and education
in the use and understanding of computers and IT;
u) to ensure that the education system promotes children’s
access to, and ability to use, information and technology;
v) facilitating access to Internet and e-mail services for rural
residents by providing local call cost access through a
government-managed and/or funded rural internet provider
service.
w) enabling the trained IT professionals to get neological
training in the field of enrepreneurship for establishing more
and more training centres all over the country with a view to
having a competent cadre of young men and women having expert
knowledge in the field of different aspects and facets of
information technology for managing the third millennium.
