KATHMANDU, May 30: Eight years after the first information technology (IT) policy was issued, High Level Commission for Information Technology (HLCIT) on Sunday issued IT Policy 2010 with special provisions for outsourcing and expanding the use of IT.
Informing media persons about the new policy, Manohar Kumar Bhattarai, vice president of HLCIT, said Nepal holds a great potential to grab outsourcing jobs from other countries as the manpower here is 30 to 35 percent cheaper than in India.
“Due to time different with Europe and America, South Asian countries, including Nepal, are in a comfortable position to grab outsourcing jobs from Europe and America,” he added.
The new policy puts emphasis on information security and data protection and privacy in information technology. The IT Policy 2010 with 53 policies and strategies aims to enable IT sector so that it becomes successful in making significant contribution on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the near future.
The actual contribution of IT sector to GDP is still unknown.
Speaking on the occasion, Ramhari Aryal, secretary at the Ministry of Science and Technology hoped the implementation of the new IT Policy would help reduce existing digital divide in the country.
Conversion of rural information centers into multipurpose tele-centers, encouraging private sector to operate internet exchange and introduction of voice over internet protocol technology in rural areas are the major plans of action targeted for rural areas.
The new policy has identified IT sector as the knowledge-based industry and it includes the involvement of youth for employment generation as one of the major objectives. The policy suggests adopting a single window policy to attract domestic and foreign direct investment in the IT sector. The other provisions included in the policy are intellectual property rights and e-certification.
It has also announced policy-related and institutional framework to ease e-trade and e-commerce by promoting e-payment and gateway.
Juddha Bahadur Gurung, member of HLCIT, informed that Asian Development Bank has provided grant assistance of $25 million for the development of IT sector in Nepal.
The other issues that the new policy has emphasized are the promotion of information technology services and IT-enabled services, business process outsourcing, and development of digital content, animation, remote maintenance, backup operation and call centers.
Source: http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=19294
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