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Pramod Mahajan
Minister for IT
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IT, not a passion
but a mission
A chat with
Pramod
Mahajan, union minister for Information Technology
Chat conducted on Thursday, July 13,
2000, between 1700 hours and 1800 hours IST.
Pramod
Mahajan:
Welcome to the chat and I thank everybody who could find time to participate
today.
Sumit:
Why is the government delaying bringing IT into the class room? It is
only being taken care of by the private sector. In USA, even a nursery
student has exposure to computers.
Pramod Mahajan: It is not true that the government is delaying bringing IT to the classroom.
On the contrary we are going to have an operation IT very soon. India's
IT strength comes from its human resource. We are the second largest English-knowing
IT professional's pool next to the US. We could create more than 100 thousand
IT professionals per year but looking at the global demands and domestic
constraints, this is becoming inadequate. We have a plan of rejuvenating
43 regional engineering colleges, double the current number, so that we
can meet this requirement. I would love to give computer exposure to a
nursery student in India also. But where operation blackboard was a key
word, operation computer cannot be brought overnight.
B N Puri: Dear Mr Pramod Mahajan, as a minister of Information
& Techology what is your individual contribution to the IT world?
Do you think you have left an impact of your important portfolio on the
Indian IT professionals? Many feel that you are only a blue-eyed boy of
the Prime Minister. What is your reaction to this statement? Thanks.
Pramod Mahajan: When the IT ministry was created,
the reaction of the industry was no dufferent from yours. Many thought
that India is doing better in only in IT and Beauty, the main reason being
that these industries don't have many strengths. But now the opinion of
the industry has changed. My ministry is working as a facilitator giving
red-carpet instead of red-tape. We have joined the club of the digital
dozens by passing the IT act. I am sure this has created an impact on
the IT industry.
Sanjay Sharma: Why is All India Radio/Doordarshan News not
available on the Internet. As I am an NRI, Doordarshan News on the web
would keep me in touch with my homeland.
Pramod Mahajan: When I was Information and Broadcasting
minister, we had decided to put up All India Radio and Doordarshan News
on the Internet. If it is not done yet, I promise you, to do it very soon.
Subramanian: IT has grown -- not due to government initiative,
is that a fact? Does this not imply that other areas of industry are also
left to manage on their own and the goverment only plays the role of initatior
and mediator.
Pramod Mahajan: I totally agree with you that the
basic role of the government should be of a initiator and facilitor. This
is not true only for the IT industry but this is true for all industries.
The Vajpayee goverment is also slowly but surely coming out from the sectors
that the goverment has not needed.
Manjul Tilak: What is the time frame, that you see, that'll
be required by the Internet in our country to reach the levels prevalent
in the US? How are you thinking of making that possible?
Pramod Mahajan: I don't want to compare ourselves
to any other country. So I can't have any timeframe for reaching upto
the US level. But I am sure that within this decade only, India will lead
and make a mark in the world by acquiring a status of a global IT player.
Malathi Thiagarajah: What is India doing about the brain-drain
of IT professionals to the West?
Pramod Mahajan: Brain-drain is always discussed in our country. But today the brain-drain
of the 60's or the 70's is paying us back by giving a reverse brain-drain.
These are the same people who were cursed to the level of calling them
traitors, they have created a name not only for themselves but for India
in the IT sector today. IT has almost become a brand name for India and
we will have to thank the same brain-drain for that. We are a democratic
country and we have no intention to regulate the outward immigration,
though legally we can. By the way, IT is a locationless industry. It's
not important where you work, it's more important where you pay. And even
if we get a portion of their earnings, I don't know where they are.
Rekha Mehra: Mr Pramod Mahajan, the allocation of a portfolio,
of course, is the prerogative of the Prime Minister. How would you feel
if the portfolio of Information & Technology would have been allotted
to an eminent IT professional?
Pramod Mahajan: You want my portfolio to be allotted
to an eminent IT professional? I personally don't mind if you give me
another one. But allotting any portfolio to a professional will always
be there as an option. By this logic, politicians will be left only with
the portfolio of the PM. I dont agree with this perception. Like IAS officers
we can have politicians, who with strong logic and efforts can deal with
any portfolio and train for that. Give me a year and then judge it.
Bhakti: Why have you been keeping such a low profile these
days?
Pramod Mahajan: I am not keeping any low profile.
Profiles of politicians are always decided by the press. If you talk,
they say you are talking too much, if you don't, they say you have a low
profile. It is very difficult to judge how an adequate profile can be
kept. I am in the government, I have two major departments with me, IT
and Parliamentary Affairs. These are enough to keep me busy for the whole
day.
Sushant: Sir, first let me tell you that Atalji's government
is doing a wonderful job in all spheres. His statesmanship combined with
Advaniji's political acumen and an almost super team is making us proud
of our country. My question is, it seems the government is encouraging
the software section of the IT revolution and neglecting the hardware
section totally. Hardware is dominated by USA and far Eastern countries.
Why don't you encourage the hardware industry and related peripheral industries,
which have tremendous employment scope for even for unskilled people?
Pramod Mahajan: Thanks for the compliments for
the Vajpayee government. I totally agree with you that hardware is a little
neglected sector in the Indian IT industry. It requires a large capital
and long-term investments. Now as we have acquired software supermacy
to some extent, we intend to concentrate on hardware in the future.
Srinivasa Raju: Pramodji, shall we expect smooth implementation
of the IT Bill? If yes when?
Pramod Mahajan: You are aware that we have already
passed the IT Bill on 17th of May. The Honourable President has already
signed it. We are in the process of making rules and guidelines and appointments
under the act. I have set up a deadline of August 15
from when the IT Bill will be notified and implemented.
If I am able to do this, it will be the first Bill made operational within
just
100 days of its passing in the parliament.
Deepa: Congratulations on having opened up the scene for
IT reforms. But what are your initiatives going to be to let IT reach
the grassroots in India?
Pramod Mahajan: My aim is to take IT to the masses. Presently IT in India is concentrated
in the elite English-speaking, city-oriented, southern states of the country.
I want to take IT from being classist to the masses, from south to north,
west to east, cities to villages and from English-speaking to Indian-language
speaking people. We have recently received a report of a committee that
was specially appointed for this task and we will implement it very soon.
Elangovan K: Sir, though there has been tremendrous growth
in the IT sector, still if you see the share of the software market is
very less. What are the steps you're taking to increase the software exports?
Also, do you have any plans to bring back people of Indian origin who
are working abroad? Maybe you can give some incentives to bring back all
the talented Indians (I am working in Canada) . Thank you.
Pramod Mahajan: Our software market is increasing
with tremendous speed. In the mid-1990's our software exports were to
the tune of just 50 million US Dollars. Today we have crossed 5 billion
US Dollars and by the end of this decade we will cross 50 billion US Dollars.
We would love it if the people of Indian origin, working abroad, will
come back. The situations in India have changed, the systems have changed,
there is scope for that talent today. Many have started coming back, many
are working from both the countries. If you would like to come back, we
would welcome you.
Victor: Firstly what does a person like Pramod know about
IT, that he is made the minister to look after it's ministry. I know this
question won't be forwarded to him. I just wanted to let the feeling of
the youth and the IT Industry reach you.
Pramod Mahajan: This answer is just to let you
know that question has been forwarded to me and you should judge a person
by his performance and not by the perceptions you have from third persons.
M A S Reddy: Is there any plan for the government of India
to use latest IT techniques for reducing corruption in government offices?
If so, how can the common man lodge his complaints against any corrupt
official giving trouble to the public?
Pramod Mahajan: People naturally
expect only two things from the government, one is honesty and the second
is efficiency. Though the use of IT techniques is not the only way to
reduce corruption, the use of it in government will definitely make the
government more transparent. And at all levels, we are trying e-governance,
although it is still at an infancy stage.
Pratap Prusty: Hi there, I'm from Denver. Do you seriously
believe that a developing nation like India can compete with a nation
as advanced as the US?
Pramod Mahajan: I don't have to compete with the
US. There is a difference between the old economy and the new economy.
The Old economy was capital based and the new economy is knowledge based.
Capital decreases by sharing, knowledge increases by sharing. So competition
was the keyword of the old economy and cooperation is the keyword of the
new economy. There were winners and losers in the old economy. There can
be only winners in the new economy. So India does not have to compete
with the US or China or Japan, but to cooperate, that is our intention
Vijay: What is the status of the much hyped Sankhiyavahini
project?
Pramod Mahajan: Sankhiyavahini is a project cleared by the Indian govenment. The department
of telecommunications is implementing it.
Shailesh Vyas: Dear Sir, you are also minister for Parliamentary
Affairs. I would like to know that if people are the final answer in democracy
then why do you not begin live telecasts of parliament so that people
can know what their representatives are doing?
Pramod Mahajan: There is a live telecast of the
Indian parliament. But it hardly is helping in improving the standards
and I am afraid people are also not interested in viewing it.
Brijesh Dattani: Hello Sir, I am a big fan of your speech
and presence of mind. My question to you is that when are our plans to
allow B2C through internet. As you know other countries are allowing the
use of credit cards for trade, why not start that in India too?
Pramod Mahajan: From August 16, the IT Act is likely
to be operational. After that within a couple of months when the certifying
authorities will be in place and digital signatures recognised, e-commerce
will be a reality, by the end of this year.
M Manjula Reddy: I am an uneducated housewife and I depend
on my daughter to chat with my country's IT minster. So I request the
IT minister to think and do what is possible for uneducated Indian housewives
to communicate with world in their mother tongue languages. I hope the
minister will not tell the uneducated to learn a foreign language.
Pramod Mahajan: I apprecaite your problem because
I also took the help of my daughter to understand computers. The software
for providing IT software in Indian languages is already developed and
I am sure Telugu is available as well. So you can use it. But I share
your concern that unless IT goes to Indian languages, the cap of IT will
be only 50 million English-knowing people in this country. This number
is much less than Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati
knowing people, leave aside Hindi.
Sun News Network: How significant is IT in a country that
is a home to 400 million illiterates?
Pramod Mahajan: In a country where the traditional literacy is about 50 percent, and
IT literacy is not even one percent, I don't expect IT literacy becoming
100 percent. But at the same time we must not forget that everybody need
not be an IT literate, but those who are IT literate can use this literacy
for changing the lives of millions of IT illiterates, which they should
try.
Rohit Bansal: Mr Mahajan, do you ever think that one day
you will become Prime Minister of the country? After all your politics
is centered around this ambition.
Pramod Mahajan: No, I don't think I have the qualities
to become the Prime Minister of this great country.
Raghavendra: There is a tough competition going around in
India between Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai to hold the top spot in
the IT industry in India do you think this is a healthy competition or
will it lead to a disaster as this is a internal war?
Pramod Mahajan: I don't think a healthy competition
in different capitals of the southern states will lead to 'disaster'.
On the contrary, such competition will help one and all.
Kannan Munirathnam: Respected Sir, what exactly is IT? What
are the different business categories which comes under IT? Which is the
best IT business for a starter?
Pramod Mahajan: Many people think that IT is a
scientific revolution. Partially it is true. Many take it as the best
business venture. Partly it is true. But if you ask me what is IT, I can
say that IT is the fourth generation of human communication. From gestures,
spoken language, written language, we have reached to a digital language.
This being the fourth generation of human communication. It is going to
change everything in our lives. Arts, Science, Culture, Literature, Politics,
Business and what not.
Vidyasagar: Mr Pramod Mahajan, why can't we have your email-id?
Pramod Mahajan: My e-mail address is minister@mit.gov.in
Anil Sagar: Pramodji, how do you feel that our police would
be capable of dealing with cyber crimes in India?
Pramod Mahajan: At this point of time, cyber-crimes
being new types of crimes, the police are not capable of handling them.
We are planning massive training programmes for police officers who deal
with cyber-crime. On the August 5, there is a chief minister's conference,
basically called for discussing internal security. One of the items on
the agenda is cyber-security. I am sure that the chief minister's will
realise the importance of dealing with cyber-crimes, then the police training
will become fast.
Paraba: Why is the price of connectivity in Software Technology
Parks so expensive and the bandwidth so poor? In a scenario where the
STP is a protected domain of the MIT/GOI, how can you expect it to compete
with all the new ISP's that are offering better prices and service?
Pramod Mahajan: We are trying to improve the connectivity
in software technology parks. By the way, connectivity is not only a problem
for the STP's, but it is the only stumbling block between our ambition
of a global IT player and its realistaion. We in government realise that
what we need is not adequate bandwidth but excessive bandwith. Most of
the issues have been already solved but I agree few are reamining like
the voice or telephone monopoly of VSNL or some DOT issues. But I am sure
all will be taken care of before the honourable PM steps out for his US
visit in September.
P C Sahajwala: Sir, you were once the inventor of the idea
that the BJP should allign with Shiv-Sena in Maharashtra. Looking back,
how do you calculate the gains and the losses?
Pramod Mahajan: The alliance with the Shiv Sena is about 16 years old. We have fought
6 Lok Sabha and three Vidhan Sabha elections together. And one must remember
that this alliance was instrumental in bringing down the Congress regime
in Maharashtra, for the first time in the last 50 years, and I am sure
our staying together will be beneficial.
Rakesh Bhrany: Mr Pramod Mahajan, in light of the recent
developments on Kashmir, the whole of India has rejected the demand of
autonomy by the J&K government. As a very senior member of the BJP,
don't you feel this is the right time to strike out article 370, and put
Kashmir at par with all other states of India ?
Pramod Mahajan: As a BJP worker, I'm totally in
favour of deleting article 370 from the Indian Constitution. But one must
also understand the ground realities. To delete an article from a constitution
needs two thirds majority in both the houses separately. In the present
day political parties, only BJP and Shiv Sena believe in deletion of this
articole and they arec together not even one third in both the houses.
So unless you get people's support, you cannot fulfil your commitment.
The
Vajpayee goverment believes in more and more powers to the states, naturally,
within the framework of the Indian Constitution. J&K has more powers
than any other state in the country. If they still have problems, one
can discuss it, but going back to pre-1953 situation or total autonomy
is not acceptable. And frankly, leave aside the political rhetorics, it
will not help even the people of J&K. They need central help more
than anyone else.
Ramesh: Do not you think that your party's internal problems
mask the performance of Vajpayee's lead ruling alliance? I have another
question, I am really worried about recent attacks on minorities in India.
This is not a good sign. This gives an impression that the BJP goverment
doesn't have an interest in protecting the interests of minorities. Being
a minister in the government, could you please clarify the government's
stand in this matter? What steps you have taken to manage this problem?
Pramod Mahajan: We are also worried about the recent
attacks on minorities in different parts of the country. Though law and
order is a state subject, we don't want to absolve ourselves from the
responsibility. But please don't treat it as a BJP-non-BJP problem. The
attacks have taken place in states like Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka;
ruled by Congress or UP, Gujarat; ruled by BJP, or Andhra; ruled by TDP.
So its a problem if everybody makes a political capital of it and then
we will never reach the root cause. Let's all sit together and try to
find out the brain behind it and then take stern action.
Anil Verma: I am asking why in our government sectors, technical
people are so neglected on the behest of IAS officers?
Pramod Mahajan: We don't neither do we have any
intention of neglecting professionals against IAS officers. We will see
that both of them together benefit the governmet.
V N Gopal: What is the main difference between Vajpayee's
previous innings and the present one apart from the Jaya-factor?
Pramod Mahajan: Due to the Jaya-factor that you
mention, the previous Vajpayee rule was considered to be unstable right
from day one. She took a pretty long time to deliver the letters to the
President. But this time nobody remotely questions the stability of the
governmet and that's the diffrence between his earlier and present regime.
V N Gopal: As Parliamentary Affairs Minister how do you
rate the performance of the Congress in general and Sonia Gandhi in particular?
Pramod Mahajan: As a parliamentarian, I am unhappy
about the parliamentary performance of the Congress and its leader. As
a Parliamentary Affairs minister I am very happy about it. Which Parliamentary
Affairs minister would like an effective opposition leader?
Pramod Mahajan: Thank you all for your participation.
IT for me is not a fashion, nor a passion, but its a mission to make India
as a dominant global player. During this decade I am sure with cooperation
from all of you, we'll be able to achieve this goal.
Moderator: Thank you Mr
Mahajan and chat participants for taking time out for this exclusive and
insightful chat.
We hope you join us again next week for another ITGO chat session. Till
then, goodbye.
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