Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology

02-November-2012 15:55 IST

Following is the text of Union Minister for Communications & IT, Sh Kapil Sibal’s speech on the occasion of the Presentation of the National Innovation Council’s  “2^nd Report to the People, 2012” to the President of India. 

“I feel honored and privileged to be present here on the occasion of the release of the “2^nd Report to the People, 2012” to the President of India by National Innovation Council

In the 21^st century, innovation is the most important determinant of economic growth and development. Innovation is the engine for national and global growth, employment, competitiveness and sharing of opportunities.

Innovation carries spin-off benefits and yields social dividends through enhanced quality of life, reduction in poverty, improved health, better education and empowerment of weaker sections of society. Innovation leads to new product development and greater technology-based productivity which ultimately results in growth of value-added industries. The higher the value added per worker, the greater the average earnings per worker and higher standards of living.

Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, laid the foundation stones of innovation led society. To Pandit Nehru, science and innovation were not only a tool for economic development but also a means for the emancipation of mankind and the qualitative transformation of a stagnant society. The 1958 science policy resolution reflected his own belief beautifully: “It is an inherent obligation of a great country like India with its tradition of scholarship and original thinking, and its great cultural heritage, to participate fully in the march of science, which is probably mankind’s greatest enterprise today”.

The Government of India has declared 2010-2020 as the 'Decade of Innovation'. To discuss, analyze and help implement strategies for inclusive innovation in India and prepare a Roadmap for Innovation in the country, the Prime Minister has constituted the National Innovation Council (NIC) in September 2010 with members from diverse fields.

Ministry of Communications and IT has taken a number of initiatives to promote an ecosystem for innovation through ICT, in various sectors of the economy. I would like to highlight two key initiatives.

Let me begin with initiative number One, The Triad of polices. Three, interdependent and synergistic policies for Telecom, IT and Electronics Manufacturing have been released after consulting all stakeholders. The three policies together drives the National agenda for ICTE. The principal objectives of this policy are:

• Optimally leverage our existing and developing ICT infrastructure and capabilities to meet our growing need for high quality social sector services like skill development, welfare programs, e-governance services as well as for banking and insurance.
• To use the ICTE capabilities to enhance competitiveness and efficiency in manufacturing across the board and in key infrastructure sectors like power, transport and aviation.
• Leveraging the mushrooming demand for ICTE products and services to foster innovation, encourage R&D through academic institutions and industry.
• To reposition the mobile phone from a mere communication devise to an instrument of empowerment which combines communication with proof of identity, full secure financial and other transaction capability, multi-lingual services and the like.

The Triad of policies has extensive programs for R&D, IPR creation and financing of innovative projects in Telecom, Information Technology and Electronics Manufacturing sectors.

In the next 18 months, the Ministry of Communications and IT will vigorously implement these policies on the ground, to empower the common man through innovation and ICT revolution.

The second initiative is the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN). To accelerate the reach of connectivity and to enhance development and innovation at the grassroots, NOFN will provide optic-fiber based Broadband connectivity to 250,000 Panchayats in the country. The aim is to leverage this connectivity so as to improve service delivery with transparency & accountability and to provide a platform for collective solution building and knowledge sharing for local populations through relevant applications and an associated ecosystem. The Government of India is committed to spend Rs 20,000 crore for implementing this project by Dec 2013.

NOFN will ensure that Panchayats are equipped with not just broadband connections, but also with computers, software and people to create, organise, distribute and deliver relevant information and provide needs-based applications which could be developed by understanding local needs, context and applicability. Services such as birth certificate, death certificate, land records, police reports, school admissions, health records, court papers, government documentation, renewal of licenses, tax submissions, etc. can be facilitated through broadband connectivity. It will thus enrich G2C (Government to Citizen) and B2C (Business to Citizen) interactions leading to greater collaborations.

Pilots in 58 Panchayat locations in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura are underway. Shortly, Mr Pitroda will connect us, live to the Kanpura Panchayat in Ajmer district, Rajasthan to demonstrate the transformational impact of rural broadband in the citizens’ lives in Kanpura.

The Ministry is also working with the Ministry of Law and Justice, the Judiciary and the Ministry of Home Affairs to develop and deploy integrated and interoperable ICT systems in courts, police stations, prisons and forensic labs, to improve access to justice and reduce pendency in the legal system.

I am delighted to be associated with the endeavors of the National Innovation Council in driving the innovation agenda for the country. I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Sam Pitroda for this opportunity.

I also like to extend my gratitude and regards to His Excellency, for taking time from his busy schedule to grace this occasion.”

Thank You

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MV/AT/RK

Innovation-led ICT policy expands digital infrastructure to enable broadband-driven public service delivery and grassroots innovation. The speech presents a coordinated government strategy to build an innovation-led digital ecosystem through a Triad of Telecom, IT and Electronics policies that promote R&D, IPR creation and financing of innovative projects, and to deploy the National Optical Fibre Network to provide broadband connectivity plus devices, software and local capacity at Panchayats to enable electronic delivery of government and citizen services, foster localized application development, and improve transparency, accountability and access to justice through interoperable ICT systems.