5000 jobs from IT workstations

Ambitious plans such as making the next decade the information technology decade and developing Nepal as a global information technology hub are mentioned in the public policy and program on Tuesday.

President Ramchandra Poudel while presenting the policy and program in the federal parliament informed that at least 5 thousand jobs will be created by operating information technology workstations at suitable locations in Kathmandu Valley and each province. He also expressed his commitment by encouraging the development of information technology industry as a major sector of employment and service export. Asserting that services such as citizenship, passport, labor permit, land registration are becoming hassle-free, efficient and economical, he said that the service flow will be made technology-friendly.

The government has included various aspects of communication and information technology in its policies and programs with the goal of making public service delivery and e-governance agile, technology-friendly, flexible and effective. "By arranging state-of-the-art, quality and competitive printing, security printing such as excise stickers, postage stamps, driver's licenses, passports will be done in the country," the policy and program says, "Postal services will be restructured and linked to electronic business by making them agile, efficient and information technology-friendly." .'

The government plans to start satellite-based internet service in remote and remote areas. The government is committed to advance the work of establishing its own satellite in Nepal, to make the existing broadband service high-quality, accessible and safe, and to speed up the work of expanding high-capacity optical fiber to provide high-speed internet service to all local level centers and ward centers. The government is also planning to bring the civic service center into operation in collaboration with the local level to provide public services provided by various agencies from one place.

'Access to information technology for women, minorities and backward classes will be expanded by expanding digital literacy,' said President Paudel, 'A business continuity plan related to communication and information technology will be implemented for the smooth operation of public services.' The government has also taken a policy to prepare an artificial intelligence strategy and study the feasibility of its use.

E-governance blueprint and strategy formulation, Internet and data exchange platform construction, preparation for the establishment of communication villages in all seven provinces, inter-relationship with international payment service providers and arrangements for safe payment in foreign currency through electronic system are also the government's policies and plans. They are attached to the program. The government also plans to implement an automatic digital system to make domestic and foreign investment approval process simple, easy and predictable, to make government data easily available, to make all insurance services based on technology and to implement an address system based on geographic information system throughout the country.  ; Representatives of the information technology sector responded that they were excited about the

policy and program and that their suggestions were included in the program. Deepen Chapagain, Secretary General of Nepal Association for Software and IT Services Company (NAS-IT) said that the government's announcement to develop Nepal as a global tech hub and information technology decade is in line with their goals.

'It is expected that the government's policy will help us in our goal of increasing the information technology workforce from around 100,000 to 500,000 in 10 years,' he said, 'In the next few years, the government should recognize and address our goal of increasing Nepal's information technology service exports to 5 billion dollars. It is felt that we are looking for it.'

General Secretary of the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN Federation) Chiranjeevi Adhikari commented that the announcement of using software made in Nepal is not compatible. He says that the 10-year plan is good.