The Group on Telecom is
working overtime to restructure DoT so that the Task Force recommendations are synergized
with the Telecom needs of the country. DoT on the other hand is dragging its feet on the
whole issue, besides fighting with TRAI on whether or not TRAI has jurisdiction over it.
At another level, the Prime Minister is going around committing all sorts of deadlines
about Telecom to the rest of the country. As is evident, due to DoT's intransigence with
GoT, the policy is delayed by another month, and the rest of the country suffers. In the
meantime, three more powerful ministers are inducted into GoT, probably with the hope that
they will be more successful in convincing the DoT, where others have failed.
If someone can make some sense out of this, we would be grateful to hear that. On the one
hand, the PMO, and the Prime Minister himself, display an affinity toward IT, which is
refreshing for a change. The IT policy comes out, as does the ISP. On the other hand, the
government decides to bite the bullet by issuing the Patents Bill as an ordinance, moving
the investment proposals on Power projects, out-blinking Uncle Sam and generally doing all
the right things.
So where is the problem? Is it only the DoT? Is the political will lacking somewhere or is
it a function of coalition politics? Is the 'famed' bureaucracy the problem, or is it the
Left ideology, represented by the Trade unions? In fact, even one of the leading trade
union leaders has gone on record saying that the DoT needs to be changed. But is anybody
listening?
These are issues which are critical today, not because of Telecom itself, but also due to
the impact that Telecom, or the lack of it, can have on the IT industry and the overall
economy. One thought that after finally getting a Minister, especially one with a track
record such as Mr Jagmohan's, things would happen. But they threaten to get more and more
complicated. As and when they do, the stakes become that much more higher and the
investments that much more distant.
The GoT still has not GOT that.
GoT IT
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