Information Technology in Andhra Pradesh - ICT policy 2005-2010 - Andhra Economy

1.      The Government of Andhra Pradesh aspire to transform the state into a knowledge society and make available the benefits of information technology to all citizens, especially those in rural areas and living in poverty. The State wishes to become a leading destination for investments in Information & Communications Technology (ICT) and a major player in  theinformation economy. The State will leverage ICT for achieving an Info-age  (inclusive,networked, fast, open, accountable, globally benchmarked and e fficient) government.

2.      The Government had announced the first ICT policy in May 1999 followed by the secondpolicy in June 2002 for attracting investments into the State. The NASSCOM-KPMG reportof 2004 projects India's software exports in IT&ITES/BPO sector at $49 Billion (Rs.2,30,300 crores) by 2009 with direct employment opportunity for 20 lakh graduates.Andhra Pradesh aims to achieve Rs.69,000 crores in software export turnover and seeks to

create employment for 3 lakh employees directly. It is estimated NASSCOM that every direct job creates four indirect jobs hence it is expected to create indirect employment for 12lakhs in the State by 2009. In December 2004, Gartner in its report "IT Outsourcing to India– Analysis of Cities" has mentioned that Hyderabad would be the IT Hotspot by 2010 and

has rated it high on account of Infrastructure and Human Resources. 

 

3.      McKinsey report projects India's electronics manufacturing opportunities to be $47 billion (Rs.2,20,900 crores) industry by 2009. Andhra Pradesh wishes to attain a leading position by building a $12 billion (Rs.56,400 crores) IT hardware and Electronics manufacturing industry. 

 

4.      The Government involved all stake holders-IT Industry, Government departments & institutions and Academia in formulating the new ICT Policy by constituting Think Tanks. The inputs from these Think Tanks to make Andhra Pradesh the most attractive destination and the projections of a large market size have led to the evolution of this policy 2005-2010.

 

5.      The policy is segmented into two sections: section I is on eGovernance and section II on investment promotion.

 

 

The Government of Andhra Pradesh is committed to build a people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and people to achievetheir full potential in promoting sustainable development and improving their quality of life.The Government intends bridging the digital divide and creating an inclusive Information Society.

 

6.  e-Gov. Agency (eGovernment Agency)

AP Technology Services Ltd., (APTS Ltd.) will function as a specialized agency for all e-Government initiatives in the state and will work in close coordination with the Directorate of Electronic Delivery of Services (EDS) and the Institute for Electronic Governance (IEG). APTS will set up specialized cells dealing with Information Security, Outsourcing, Technology tracking, use of open source and providing legal services pertaining to ICT, in addition to its existing focus on IT procurement and application software development.

 

7.  Embedding IT in departments

The Government will take steps to develop skills of existing staff to deal with matters pertaining to deployment of technology within the departments. 

 

8.  Chief Information Officers (CIOs)

The Government will expand the existing programme of training of CIOs and will develop linkages with leading institutes like the 'JF Kennedy School of Government' in Harvard University and the 'Civil Services College' in Singapore for offering specialized programmes in e-government and other related institutions. 

 

9.   Electronic Advisory Panel (eAP) 

In order to develop globally benchmarked competencies in ICT, the Government will establish a high level advisory panel  -  e-AP (Advisory Panel) for accessing advice from eminent professionals in ICT.  The panel will consist of about 20 members drawn from academia, business, civil society and government. 

 

10. IT Architecture

The Government of Andhra Pradesh will require all Departments to refer their

applications to IEG for compliance with the IT architecture for the State. 

 

11. e-Government Interoperability Framework

The Government of Andhra Pradesh will develop an interoperability framework taking into account developments that have taken place in evolving similar frameworks elsewhere in the world.

 

12. Geographical Information Infrastructure 

The Government of Andhra Pradesh will commission a study to come out with a uniform architecture for geo-spatial databases.

 

 

 

 

 

13. Digital Certificates

The Government of Andhra Pradesh recognizes the importance of using digital

certificates for ensuring the legal validity of e-transactions. APTS Ltd., will be

designated as a certifying agency.

 

14. Open Source

The Government of Andhra Pradesh will encourage the use of Open Source and special

competencies for this purpose will be built up in IEG to guide and advise government

departments on its use.

 

15. Broadband Connectivity

a.  The A.P.Broadband project will provide affordable bandwidth to citizens, businesses and government entities in Andhra Pradesh. It is proposed  to establish the network with  threshold bandwidths of 10 Gbps at the district,

1 Gbps at the Mandal and 100 Mbps at the village level.

.

 

17. RAJiv Internet village

Innovative project of rural kiosks delivering a host of services  - G2C (Government to

Citizens) and B2C (Business to Citizens) services and will also take up computer training

for imparting e-literacy. 

 

18. Use of ICT for poverty alleviation

The Government will initiate and launch "Information Technology for Alleviating

Poverty" (IT4AP) as a mission. The focus of this initiative will be on using ICT in key

sectors like irrigation, agriculture, education, health and rural development  – that can

significantly impact the poverty eradication.

 

19. Tracking Indices and introducing schemes

Indices for e-Readiness, Poverty Index, Global Competitiveness and Human  –

Development Index (HDI), Happiness Index etc., will be initiated and bring out suitable

schemes to bridge the gaps for taking the society forward. 

 

20. Human Resources Development

In the area of ICT, Government will address the development of skills that are in

synchronisation with emerging employment opportunities. The Government will set up a

Future Skills Unit' under the A.P. State Council of Higher Education and IEG. This unit

will be required to track technology trends and identify future requirements in terms of

skills and training.

 

21. GO Places & IC

The Government will set up an electronic employment exchange integrated in the

Government Portal that will provide information to potential employers about skills

available in the state and will offer  Government Online PlacementServices (Go Places)

as part of this initiative. The Government is also keen to involve citizens in policy

formulation and giving suggestions to improve the quality of governance. Accordingly,

the Government will set this up as part of the Government portal for obtaining

Ideas from Citizens (IC) on a continuing basis.

22. m-Government (Mobile Government)

The Government of Andhra Pradesh will launch a special initiative to cater to mobile

communications for delivery of e-government applications. To begin with, the existing

applications being offered as part of e-Seva will be progressively made available for

mobile access. 

 

23. Privacy

With the increasing use of electronic networks and delivery of e-services it is necessary

that the privacy of citizens should be ensured. The Government of Andhra Pradesh will

introduce policies and procedures to safeguard privacy of citizen data.

 

24. Smart Cards & Biometrics

With the availability of better security technologies and lower costs, smart cards have the

potential for use in many applications such as the banking, retail payments, vehicle

registration, internet payments, citizen ID (Identity), eGovernance, ration cards, pensions,

driving license, health records etc. The Government will encourage use of Smart Cards

and Biometrics.

 

25. Website Policy

All Departments and Agencies of the Government will host and design websites

uniformly. The Departments will ensure placing relevant & quality content besides

ensuring constant updates on the website by a responsible officer nominated from the

department. IEG will be the nodal agency to set the guidelines. IEG with Jawahar

Knowledge Centers (JKCs) will offer Tools and Templates. All websites will be bilingual

i.e., in Telugu and English.

 

26. Local Language Development

The Government will support the standardization of representation and processing in

local language and eLiteracy programmes for effective usage of computers.

 

27. Speech processing and Synthesis

The Government will actively encourage development of speech processing and

synthesis as a drive towards encouraging increasing literacy in the state through

electronic learning. 

 

 

 

 

28. Information Security

For the security of information, the Government has evolved a Security Architecture

involving the implementation of Firewalls, Intrusion detection systems, Access controls

etc while using IT resources. The Government will also assign public IP address to the

departments and agencies  of the government for setting up their own web and mail

servers. 

 

29. Emergency response Teams

An Emergency Response Team would be set up by IT Vendors with AP Technology

Services at the State headquarters and with JKCs at the District levels for dealing with

virus & security attacks and maintenance.

 

30. Call Centre 

The existing call center will be strengthened and integrated with more departments and

mirrored with the Government Portal for handling all citizen related queries.

 

31. Software Piracy

The Government is keen on protecting Intellectual Property Rights and Copyrights of IT

Products and will encourage use of only legal or authorised products.

 

42. Special package for Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Definition of SMEs:  IT Industry units/companies with turnover less than Rs.10 crores

and above Rs.1 crore per annum.

a.  Power: 25% rebate on power tariff in the first three years of the operations and

43. Mega Projects:

A special package of incentives will be offered for mega projects. Such projects will be

defined as projects creating employment of more than 1000 in the case of IT and 1500 in

the case of ITES. Alternatively an investment of Rs.50 crores and above will be

considered as a mega project.

 

44. Special Focus Areas:

In the case of the following segments a special package of incentives will be offered in

consultation with potential investors.

1.  Nano Technology.

2.  Smart Appliances.

3.  Next Generation Communications.

4.  Broadband Internet Equipment.

5.  Robotics.

 

45. Hardware Industry:

a.  Hardware manufacturing is the priority sector of this Government and the special focus

areas have already been spelt out.

b.  The Government will facilitate development of a Nano Technology Park near the

Hardware Park in Hyderabad. It will encourage private enterprises to set up

Semiconductor manufacturing and other related activities including R&D.

c.  Hardware Park near the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad would be

declared as SEZ, which will enable congenial and rapid growth of the industry.

d.  300 acres of land would be earmarked for SMEs in the Hardware Park and will be

developed as Hardware Manufacturing Cluster Park (HMCP) in the SEZ.