A news report has it that the government has prepared a master plan for e-governance in order to make the government's service more effective and quick. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, the e-governance master plan aims at creating a paperless bureaucracy, which would be hurdle-free, quicker and effective for both the service providers as well as the recipients. At a time when new inventions in the field of information and technology and their use are changing the face of the world, Nepal is making serious efforts at taking maximum benefit from the information and communication technology in transforming its social and economic status. The government has accorded due priority to the development of information and communication technology and adopted a very liberal policy in the sector. Necessary policies and legal mechanisms have been formulated in order to give a boost to information and communication technology and other related services.
The government has been encouraging the private sector in the field of information and communication, which has, indeed, yielded good results. The long monopoly of the state-owned Nepal Telecom in the telecom sector has ended, which has encouraged the private sector to invest in this. This is an important step towards liberalising and developing the telecommunication sector. However, the country still needs to reap optimum benefit from information technology, which is still in the infant stage. Several other factors play a key role in the development of information technology and utilising it to the optimum. In Nepal, less than 15 per cent of the people have access to electricity. People having access to telephone service is even less than that. Even those who have access to electricity and telephone services cannot afford to use information technology as it is expensive given the economic status of the people. Thus, a digital divide has been created in Nepal. Under such circumstances, it is important to raise the economic level of the people so that they can afford information technology. Poverty is the main problem of Nepal, which affects every sector of the country. Information technology needs to be developed in a way that would help eradicate poverty and benefit the disadvantaged sections of the society. For this, a joint initiative of the government and the private sector is highly needed to tap the opportunities in the information and technology sector and utilise them for the development Nepal.
Quelle/Source: Gorkhapatra, 14.12.2006
