23. NATIONAL POLICY ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 2012

The Policy aims to leverage Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to address the country’s economic and developmental challenges.

The thrust areas of the policy include:

♤ To increase revenues of IT and ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) Industry.

♤ To gain significant global market-share in emerging technologies and Services.

♤ To promote innovation and R&D in cutting edge technologies and development of applications and solutions in areas like localization, location based services, mobile value added services, Cloud Computing, Social Media and Utility models.

♤ To encourage adoption of ICTs in key economic and strategic sectors to improve their competitiveness and productivity.

♤ To provide fiscal benefits to SMEs and Startups for adoption of IT in value creation

♤ To create a pool of 10 million additional skilled manpower in ICT.

♤ To make at least one individual in every household e-literate.

♤ To provide for mandatory delivery of and affordable access to all public services in electronic mode.

♤ To enhance transparency, accountability, efficiency, reliability and decentralization in Government and in particular, in delivery of public services.

♤ To leverage ICT for key Social Sector initiatives like Education, Health, Rural Development and Financial Services to promote equity and quality.

♤ To make India the global hub for development of language technologies, to encourage and facilitate development of content accessible in all Indian languages and thereby help bridge the digital divide.

♤ To enable access of content and ICT applications by differently-abled people to foster inclusive development.

♤ To leverage ICT for expanding the workforce and enabling life-long learning.

♤ To strengthen the Regulatory and Security Framework for ensuring a Secure and legally compliant Cyberspace ecosystem.

♤ To adopt Open standards and promote open source and open technologies.

The policy attempts to optimally leverage India’s global edge in ICT to advance national competitiveness in other sectors, particularly those of strategic and economic importance. The Policy will promote an inclusive and equitable society. The Policy is oriented towards use of ICT to consciously promote decentralization and empowerment of citizens.