|
Use of IT in Saarc countries
Ali Ashraf Khan
February 06, 2003.
The world's famous mountain range of Himalayan, Karakoram and Hindukush are situated in the SAARC region, which as a matter of fact forms a natural bondage between the members of SAARC.
These mountain ranges have also served as a natural defence against invaders from the north who had to adopt the route through Khyber Pass in Pakistan.
Mount Everest being the highest peak in the world is situate in Nepal and has been the centre of attraction for mountaineers, so much so that when the first man could reach the top of the world at more than 29000 feet, it was an international news and the conquerors of the peak Edmund Hillary from Australia who was guided by the Nepali Sherpa Tensing were the world's most photographed men at that time.
Pakistan has recently converted the ancient Silk Route into Karakoram Highway, the advantage of which can very well be taken by our tourists.
Chitral, once a part of Northern Areas, has the privilege to stage the world's highest altitude polo tournament at about 14,000 feet above sea level. Polo lovers rush to this tournament every year to play this manly game.
Tourism industry while being the most attractive industry, yet most neglected in Pakistan, the only requirement to promote this industry is to provide infrastructure and publicity abroad of what we have got for the tourist to see and enjoy and educate.
Therefore, joint venture in tourism is the need of the hour, this will not only give a boost to the individual country but to the SAARC as a region.
The prehistoric legacy of Lord Buddha and Gandhara heritage is yet another source of attraction in Pakistan and India for tourists.
It is a matter of history that when Alexander the Great invaded India he passed through Khyber Pass, which is situated in the NWFP and has been a gateway for the northern invaders.
Yet another area which calls for development is the Information Technology, the world is moving fast and so is the information technology through computer and communication, the time has gone out for the cluttering typewriters, these days a decision is taken in minutes and it is communicated all over the world in seconds.
There are only one thousands or so computer institutes in Pakistan.
The government of Pakistan contemplates to take this number to at least five thousand, side by side supported by IT Parks, IT Cafes and IT Portal, which has been inaugurated in the Ministry of Information recently.
There is a vast scope for development of IT in SAARC region, which lags behind very sadly in the field of socio-economic growth.
Poverty alleviation is the crying need of not only the governments but also every segment of society; this menace can only be arrested if we give a sincere boost to IT human resource development in the SAARC region on priority basis.
Economic growth will rule the world in 21st Century and Information Technology has the greatest role to play therein, the world is moving fast and we cannot keep pace with it without IT development.
Rentable space is getting costlier and costlier and time has come now when we can store thousands and thousands of pages into one small computer disc.
E-commerce is going to play a major role in boosting commercial agility not only in SAARC region but all over the world.
The failure of dot com companies is an eye opener and calls for protective measures, laws will have to be enacted to provide protection to the litigants and to the evidence produced through Information Technology in the court.
All this calls for deep thinking and research to arrive at an international cohesion, this may lead to think that IT will lead to more unemployment and may have a disastrous effect on the growing population, but that is not so, more people will be employed in the research work and less on the executive side.
I also give below the figures regarding Information and Communication Technology (ICT) spending on computer and telecommunications products and services, office equipment, salaries, capital depreciation and the internal portion of ICT spending budgets:
The total global spending on ICT totalled $1.8 trillion in 1997, according to a report by the International Data Corporation (IDC).
The figures accounted for 6 percent of the global GDP. This figure has jumped to $2.1 trillion in 1999 and is expected to surpass $3 trillion by 2003. 55 of the largest ICT spending countries account for 98 percent of all ICT spending.
North America leads the pack with $796 billion spent last year.
The above figures distinctly indicate the level of investment being put into the infrastructure by the companies world-wide, considering the above figures and march of nations towards prosperity and war against poverty alleviation programmes.
The SAARC region has to be more conscious of their requirements and put in more efforts and investment to compete with the global ICT scenario.
The role of the government is to facilitate the private sector to lead IT development for which government is aggressively seeking foreign investment and collaboration in the sector of telecommunication and software development.
Liberal investment environment with 100% foreign ownership of companies, repatriation of profits and favourable legislation is being made.
To achieve these goals government of Pakistan has increased allocation for Science and Technology by 12,000 % in the budget.
Pharmacy is as important as food to keep the nation alive and healthy.
There is a lot to be done in this sphere, the SAARC region are conspicuous in shortage of production and provisioning of medicine and health care to its people.
Recently the Government of Pakistan has removed general sales tax from all medicines, which has reduced the prices of medicine in Pakistan, this is a plausible measure that the President has taken to alleviate poverty from lower strata of society in
Pakistan.
In a country of the size of Pakistan there are only 21 multinational companies and say about a hundred local companies, who manufacture and supply substandard medicine, which stills more harm than health and longevity of the nation.
Regional agencies have to be established to ensure production of standard medicines not only in quality but also in quantity.
It is a common ailment in the SAARC countries to expect every thing from the government, on their own side they only like to be receivers of benefit without any commitment for the nation and the country, they only want that the government should provide enough incentives in every field of activity to invest and set up industry, provisioning of infrastructure is the governments job, investment laws and the labour laws are the governments job, let them play their role but production and quality production is the private sectors job and responsibility, which they should take up in right earnestness, and no one should be allowed to play with the health of the nation and adulteration in medicine should attract deterrent punishment, stringent laws should be made to this effect.
Then and only then SAARC can be turned into a region free from poverty and exploitation of the West.
Multinationals companies like ICI produces Tenormin in Pakistan as well as in India.
In Pakistan the price of this medicine of the same supplier is more than double to what they charge in India, the reason being that India has tighter control over price and the drug is easily available to every sick person irrespective of his financial status.
Then there are member countries in SAARC who do not have their own industry in pharmaceutical and deprived of the life saving drugs at reasonable rates and have to obtain them from the imported drugs for higher rates.
Steps should be taken to devise ways and means where the life saving drugs are within the reach of common man irrespective of his location in the region.
On top of everything is the alleviation of poverty from the teeming millions of the Third World countries through the efforts of SAARC member countries. With all these conferences going on to bring about cohesion and prosperity, we have yet to decide, how poor is poor.
Let us first of all decide the level of poverty in our region, instead of depending on the survey reports from NGOs from foreign countries, where thousands of people do not even get drinking water and one loaf of bread in a day, what to talk of a level of less than a dollar a day.
Let us be indigenous and try to make our own homes with our own brick and mortar.
According to a recent Asian Development Bank report, poverty in Pakistan is rising because the money received in the form of loans and assistance does not reach the poor for whom it is meant.
It is consumed between the bank and the distributors. Where does this money go, you can very well form your opinion about it.
Source:
Business Recorder
|
Pakissan.com;
|
