China has overtaken India on the global IT (information technology) radar, by occupying the 46th rank in what is called the Network Readiness Index (NRI), according to the Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009, issued today.
While India climbed down to the 54th rank from the 50th spot in 2007-2008, China leapfrogged 11 positions to emerge as a more advanced nation in furthering its global IT interests, Soumitra Dutta, management academic at INSEAD, France, told Business Standard.
The NRI is a gauge for “countries’ preparedness to leverage ICT advances for increased competitiveness and development.” It also provides an insight into how “prepared countries are to use ICT [information and communications technologies] effectively” to further their competitive strengths in the global economy.
Issuing the World Economic Forum’s annual report on Network Readiness of Nations, of which he is the main author, Dutta said the “speed at which China is transforming its IT infrastructure through a combination of human development and technology-related policies has brought a massive change among the BRIC countries for the first time.”
India has, however, dropped from the 44th position in 2006-2007 to 54th this year.
While Nordic countries such as Denmark and Sweden continued to top, the US continued at the third position despite the economic slowdown that hit it last year. Significantly, Singapore has remained a consistent performer, by occupying the fourth position due to its focus on education excellence, innovation and extensive ICT access.
“It is important for leaders in both private and public sectors not to lose focus on ICT as an important enabler of growth and competitiveness in times of crisis,” said Irene Mia, senior economist at the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Network division.
The ICT Strategy of India Needs Rejuvenation to make National E-Governance Plan (NEGP) effective.Public Initiatives are needed to fill policy vacuum since Governmental policies and strategies are not benefiting the common man.The lack of political insight is also coming heavily upon the outsourcing Industry of India. In the absence of Data Protection Law in India and a strong cyber law in India, confidence of foreign outsourcing providers has started shaking.
It is sad that India has dropped down in the IT index. I think the priority of the current government has changed. The previous Government did a lot of work for Information Technology like creation of Ministry of Information Technology, Telecom Policy, IT Act, National IT Action Plan, conceptualization of NeGAP. However the country has gone down from the IT Map. I recently came across the website lkadvani.in and was impressed by the IT Vision document of the party. http://www.lkadvani.in/eng/images/stories/it-vision.pdf. It is a good document and re-assures that political parties are having IT as one of the agenda for progress. Infect the various websites which have come up are laying the foundation of e-democracy in India.
regards,
Sameer Sachdeva
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/India-egov/
Content Guide
