IT promotion need of the hour

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that promotion of information technology is vital for the rapid development of the province as well as to improve the efficiency of the government departments.
He said that positive changes can be brought about in law and order, security, agriculture, livestock, industries and trade sectors through utilization of information technology. He said that after completion of IT labs project in 4,286 schools of the province in a record period of time, the next target is to extend its scope to primary level. He said that a fully-equipped IT park will also be set up.
He was addressing a high level meeting held with regard to promotion of information technology in the province, here Tuesday. Additional Chief Secretary, Secretaries of Information Technology and Agriculture departments and a livestock and IT expert Dr. Javed Ghani as well as representatives of Microsoft were present. The Chief Minister said that government has laid foundation of a revolution in education sector by setting up IT labs in educational institutions and now measures are being taken for the promotion of this technology in other sectors as well. He said that in the first phase, information technology will be utilized in law and order, security, education, agriculture, livestock and health sectors. He said that agriculture is the backbone of national economy while livestock has a key importance for elimination of poverty and unemployment. He said that utilization of IT would result in promotion of modern technology in these sectors which will go a long way in improving socio-economic condition of farmers. Similarly, he said, use of IT in health sector can help people in the purchase of medicines and obtaining information about hospitals whereas it can be of great help in law and order sector regarding registration of FIRs and security arrangements. He said that IT can save time as well as check wastage of resources. He said that steps are being taken for providing online facility for admission to medical, engineering and other colleges next year and the pilot project in this regard will be started from Lahore. He said that this project will save students from standing in long queues for obtaining and depositing admission forms. He said that an IT Park will also be constructed under public-private partnership for which land will be provided free of cost. He said that while promoting IT, it should be ensured that farmers and those associated with other sectors should also be able to benefit from it and for this purpose besides Urdu and English, preparation of Punjabi version should also be considered for its website. He said that he desires comprehensive and long-term partnership with Microsoft for promotion of IT but Microsoft should keep in view the limited resources of the province.
The Chief Minister further said that agreement will be signed with Microsoft for the promotion of IT and it will be implemented speedily in a transparent manner. Earlier, Additional Chief Secretary gave details of the talks with Microsoft. Representatives of Microsoft in their briefing informed that IT can help improve efficiency of various sectors. He said that negotiations are also being held with TEVTA with regard to IT and lakhs of people will benefit if TEVTA adopted this technology.