With a view to enhance the use of information technology in government functioning, department of IT will soon come out with broad outlines of the national e-governance plan.
"Broad outlines of the national e-governance plan have been approved and will be kicked-off soon," K K Jaswal, IT secretary, said at the WEF-CII summit in New Delhi.
Speaking on the occasion, IT and Communications Minister Arun Shourie said "The prime minister had asked for a presentation on e-governance. We have identified 7-10 areas where e-governance could be effective."
The minister cited the example of director general of foreign trade where 98 per cent of the forms were now filed and processed online.
The DIT has also set up a task force to chalk out a comprehensive report on the needs of the IT industry, particularly hardware, to enable it become competitive.
"We have tasked F C Kohli to prepare a comprehensive report on the needs of IT industry globally to meet the needs of the Indian industry to make it become competitive," Jaswal said. The report is expected in about a month.
With a view to encourage innovation in the IT sphere, he said the DIT has suggested that software sector should be excluded from the "exclusivity clause" of the Patent Act.
"We have recommended the exclusion of the innovative software from the Patent Act to facilitate innovation in software," he said.
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