India is an information and communication technology (ICT) superpower. However, this status is confined to providing outsourcing and other related services alone. When it comes to indigenous capabilities and self reliance, India does not stand anywhere. Why there is a mutual disharmony and conflict in this regard?The reason is very simple. India does not have an “ICT Vision”. All Indian decisions regarding ICT are ignorant, half hearted, corruption laden, transparency lacking and retrograde in nature.
This is bound to happen when our Executive, Judiciary and Legislature(s) are simply technologically illiterate and are not paying any attentions towards bringing good ICT reforms.
Whether it is cyber law, cyber security, cyber forensics, judicial training, law enforcement training, etc there is a complete failure in India. For instance, India has cyber criminal friendly and impotent law, meager cyber security and cyber forensics capabilities, excessive e-surveillance, absence of privacy and data protection laws, rampant corruption, absence of transparency and many more vices.
We do not have an ICT Policy that can cater the requirements of these fields. All we have are thousands of unfulfilled promises by our ruling government where no action has been taken upon them since decades.
This is so because these requirements though urgent and necessary have no “vote bank” importance hence they are just ignored even if India at large is at the receiving end.
Indian ICT Policy is in deep mess and there is an urgent need to streamline the same. Is Indian government listening?
