Advance in Information and Telecommunication Technologies
The technophiles’ view is that the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) herald the arrival of the new information era and are key factors for social change. The technophobes view the advances in ICT as new and sophisticated tools that would further the industrial imperialism. In spite of these opposing views, it is a fact that ICT have been contributing to a significant part of the economy of many developing nations. This is substantiated by the actions of almost every Third World country in treating ICT as a high priority item in their economic planning. ICT is seen to play an important role in political, socio economical, and cultural globalization process. Many international organizations including the World Bank, United Nations (UN) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), have fostered multitude of initiatives in the Third World countries that not only help in bringing the benefits of ICT to the Third World, but also create a framework for influencing policy formulations, open up markets, introduce competition and deregulate the ICT market.
The changes brought about by ICT are rapid and ubiquitous. The uneven diffusion of this fast-changing technology has also caused the digital divide within the countries and between the countries. It is almost certain that the countries which do not adopt and adapt to these changes will be marginalized, widening the digital divide. Third World countries are precariously poised at this juncture and a careful planning on their part would decide if the ICT would bring economic growth for them or push them deeper into technological isolation.
Department of Telecommunication is Also known as the DOOR SANCHAR VIBHAG this department concerns itself with Policy, Licensing and Coordination matters relating to telegraphs, telephones, wireless, data, facsimile and telematic services and other like forms of communications. It also looks into the administration of laws with respect to any of the matters specified namely:-
- The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885);
- The Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 (17 of 1933); and
- The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997)
The other Public Sector Units
- Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited(BSNL)
- Indian Telephone Industries Limited (ITI)
- Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited(MTNL)
- Telecommunications Consultants India Limited(TCIL)
R & D Unit
- Center for development of Telematics (C-DoT)
Other Units
- Wireless Planning & Coordination Wing (WPC)
- Telecom Engineering Center (TEC)
- Controller Of Communication Accounts (CCA)
The newest of all departments the Dept. of information technology (DIT) regulates the various aspects of Information Technology related to India. The following are comprehensive functions of the DIT. Policy matters relating to Information Technology; Electronics; and Internet, Promotion of Internet, IT and IT enabled services Assistance to other departments in the promotion of EGovernance, E-Commerce, E-Medicine, E-Infrastructure, etc.
Conventional photolithographic equipments usually use ultraviolet rays at 248 or 193 nanometers. A series of lenses are used to reduce the image to a quarter in sizes. The rays are passed through the mask on which the circuit patterns are traced. The image is then exposed in a chemical on the wafer. Another chemical treatment etches away either the exposed or unexposed areas of the image, creating the chip.
Using Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) one can embed ever smaller features on silicon, beginning with chips at 70-nanometer level. The EUV uses the 13- nanometer wavelengths. Most materials absorb UV light and the researchers needed to come up with materials that reflect this wavelength. This is in variance from the traditional transmitted-light photo masks used in the Deep Ultra Violet
(DUV) photo-lithography. The microprocessors that will reach the market in 2005 will feature 70-nanometers. There will be a smooth transition in later years for producing chips with 10-nanometer elements. This will extend the present microprocessors soon to have a billion transistors and with clock frequencies in the range of 10 GHz (refs 3 and 4). This could result in a performance of 100,000 MIPS increase over the current processors.
Promotion of Information Technology education and Information Technology-based education matters relating to Cyber Laws, administration of the Information Technology Act. 2000 (21 of 2000) and other IT related laws Matters relating to promotion and manufacturing of Semiconductor Devices in the country excluding all matters relating to Semiconductor Complex Limited (SCL) Mohali; The Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout Design Act, 2000 (37 of 2000). Interaction in IT related matters with International agencies and bodies e.g. Internet for Business Limited (IFB), Institute for Education in Information Society (IBI) and International Code Council - on line (ICC). Initiative on bridging the Digital Divide: Matters relating to Media Lab Asia.
The Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing (WPC) is a branch of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Government of India. The department is responsible for issuing amateur radio licenses and allotting the frequency spectrum and monitoring the frequency spectrum. The WPC is headquartered in New Delhi and has regional branches in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Guwahati.
Given the fact that various IT projects initiated in India for addressing poverty reduction and rural development are of considerable relevance to the other countries, their IT ministers, high officials and other stakeholders like civil society organizations are to be given opportunities to expose themselves to various relevant IT projects and programmes being implemented in India. It might be arranged in line with the present Asian Ministers IT meet held each year. A key proposal that should be taken up seriously is minimizing restrictions on the mobility of IT manpower from India to all Asian countries.
The communication technology has been growing at a pace faster than that seen in the performance of microprocessors. The communication bandwidth has, in fact, been doubling every year. Starting from telegraphy to modern day fiber optic based Dense Wave Length Division Multiplexing (DWDM), the communication technology has been exponentially increasing in both reach and richness.
Since the information network infrastructure is expensive and consumes large amount of time to deploy, world over, the research and development efforts have been directed towards improving the bandwidth over existing media that were laid for voice telephony and television. These include the telephone, fiber optic and TV cables, VSATs and wireless.
The Third World countries could collaborate in using ICT to create a firm base of educated and skilled manpower. ICT can be very effective in reducing the cost of education. The Third World could start with sharing of published and bibliographic material and create its own digital library like the ‘Universal Digital Library’. It could then frame standardized curricula for distance learning through the web.
The content creation efforts for distance learning could be shared amongst the Third World. It could also attempt to use the web to conduct quality research using shared laboratories and library. This would automatically fuel the need for STARTAP like connectivity between and within the Third World countries.
In brief, the Third World countries while planning to invest in enhancing their basic infrastructure for communications and content development should plan also to invest equally in developing its basic and higher education to produce a top quality manpower base and in creating a framework for high end collaborative research amongst the Third World. This will enable the ICT advantages to result in their economic prosperity and smoothen the digital divide.