3% Of States Funds Proposed For It

The information technology ministry is mooting the idea of the Planing Commission deducting 3 per cent from the devolved annual contribution to the state governments and government departments based for various IT projects implementation.

This proposal is made as the ministry is of the view that the various state governments and government departments are failing to comply with the Prime Minister's Task Force on Information Technology recommendation to spend a minimum of 3 per cent of the annual budget on IT implementation projects.

According to sources in the information technology ministry, the ministry has already prepared a blue print and would soon initiate talks with the Planing Commission regarding this.

 

If this happens, according to a senior government official, the cash strapped IT ministry would be able to speed up some of the pending IT implementation projects. The Prime Minister's Task Force on Information Technology has recommended that "each government department and state governments must spend a minimum of three per cent of their annual budget on information technology."

"The ministry has observed that most of these funds are not properly utilised for implementing IT. Some times it is getting lapse and at times it is even used for payment of salaries," said an infotech ministry source.

"If the ministry becomes the fund manager it will be able to utilise these funds judiciously and can see the implementation of IT projects happening fast," the source added.