PM may unveil ISP policy today

The delay in releasing the policy had drawn the ire of Andhra Pradesh chief minister and task force chairman Chandrababu Naidu who had met the PM over the issue last fortnight.

Naidu had impressed upon him the need for promptly declaring the policy, while expressing his disappointment over the department of telecommunications (DoT) for taking a long time in finalising the policy draft.

Soon thereafter, the PM had announced at the Ficci annual session last week that the policy will be announced within a fortnight.

When contacted by The Indian Express onSaturday, a senior government official and a member of the task force confirmed that ISP policy announcement was high on Vajpayee’s agenda, but expressed fear that he might not be able to do so since the final draft was still being given the last-minute touches.

Meanwhile, finance minister Yashwant Sinha here on Saturday assured the task force that its recommendations on hardware will receive a fast-track clearance.

The task force is slated to meet the prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Tuesday and formally present the recommendations. It will also meet Sinha the same day to suggest the Budget-related proposals that will be required to be incorporated.

The finance minister gave the assurance to the task force while presiding over a high-power meeting on Saturday which was attended by the senior ministry officials and the members of the task force, lead by its co-chairman MGK Menon.

The crucial meeting of the entire policy brass assumes significance as the FM was assisted by the finance, commerce,revenue and electronics secretaries, besides CBEC chairman, member customs and the joint secretary (tariff research unit).

Hardware panel sources expressed hope that the report will be accepted and gazetted by the government in toto, perhaps within a week, as it was keen to make up for the time lost in delay of crucial decisions on ISP policy and hardware recommendations.

Addressing the task force members, Sinha said work on a long-term vision on IT needed to be accelerated. He drew parallels with other countries who were giving due cognizance to IT and said India will have to move fast so that it did not get left behind in a competitive world. A certain level of confidence had already emerged in Indian vision, which needed to be speeded up, added finance minister Yashwant Sinha.