Govt puts focus on digital revolution
Photo: File
Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has affirmed that the promotion of information technology sector is the top priority of the government.
Speaking at an event on Tuesday, the minister said digital revolution was providing equal opportunities for all, therefore, the government was giving special attention to the sector to reap maximum benefits.
Iqbal said Pakistan had already made big progress in the IT sector due to better policy intervention. “It was our government that decided to privatise the telecom sector, which brought revolution to the sector and created thousands of jobs,” he added.
Similarly, “we also issued licences for 3G and 4G spectrums that had been stuck for over eight years.”
The minister said the PML-N government also provided one million laptops to the youth due to which Pakistan became the third largest e-lancing country in the world.
Likewise, fibre optic cable was laid across the country under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and in 2017-18, the then government launched the Digital Pakistan policy. However due to political disruption, the policy was interrupted, he added.
The planning minister said when he left the ministry in 2018, the total federal budget allocation was Rs1,000 billion, however, when he took over the ministry again in 2022, the allocation shrank to Rs550 billion.
Due to fiscal constraints, the minister said, the allocation for the current fiscal year was set at Rs700 billion, though the demand for ongoing projects stood at over Rs2,000 billion.
“A country that has no political stability and where prime ministers and other ministers face court cases every other day, cannot progress and move forward,” he pointed out.
Furthermore, he said, corruption in both India and Bangladesh was more than that in Pakistan. Yet, they were progressing at a faster pace due to political stability and policy continuity.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2022.
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