Open Government Policy In India Is Required

The need of “public initiatives” to fill the policy vacuum in India was long felt. Policies making and their implementation is a governmental task. There is always a big gap between the desired policies and actual policies that are in existence. This, naturally, affects the Nation at large but its consequences are mostly borne by the citizens of that Nation. Although there are many policy lapses in India but the most glaring among them are those pertaining to Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Last week, the White House launched an unprecedented online process for public engagement in policymaking. It began with a week of brainstorming in which the public shared almost 900 submissions and 33,000 votes on various ideas ranging from strategies for making government data more accessible to legal and policy impediments to transparency.

While this is the first of its kind in America, India has been benefited by “public policy making” for long. This is more so regarding the “techno-legal ICT regulations” in India where Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing partner of Perry4Law, has contributed significantly. The latest policy suggested by him is “National ICT Policy of India” that mentions some of the parameters that should be included in the national policy of India.

It seems America has taken a cue from the activities happening in India but Indian government is not interested in taking the external help. There is no doubt that India lack critical policies in the sphere of ICT and it is high time that the “Public Initiatives Model” of Perry4Law must be adopted by it in the larger interest of India.

AUTHOR: PRITESH N MUNJAL

SOURCE: TLNAV