ISLAMABAD, Feb 15 (APP): Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication here on Tuesday reviewed National Information Technology Board Act 2022 (NITB) and decided to examine the Act clause by clause in the next sitting.
The meeting was held at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Kauda Babar. Officials from the Ministry of Information Technology and the NITB informed the committee that the objective of the proposed bill was to make the NITB an autonomous body to improve its working and remove obstacles.
The officials said being a subsidiary, NITB often faced financial delays, which was hurting the fast-growing sector, especially IT.
Responding to a query of Senator Dr. Shahzad Waseem, Leader of the House in the Senate the officials said NITB had been successfully providing quality Information Technology services to the government including e-office, National Command and Operation Center application and others.
He said NITB was also working on human resource development. Before embarking on any project, one had to go through a long process to get PSDP grants which was not suitable for a field like IT, he added. The official said, “Status of an autonomous body will eliminate unnecessary delays as well as improve the decision-making process”. The official also briefed the committee about Pakistani online freelancers and the issues faced by them.
The committee meeting also reviewed the steps taken by the Ministry for the processing of financial transactions/remittances of online freelancers in particular. Chairman Committee, Senator Kauda Babar said freelancers in Pakistan were generating millions of rupees in the country without any government support. He said lower and middle class youth were associated with this sector.
“These young people can be the best source of valuable resources for the country with government support and encouragement”, he added. The Secretary Ministry of Information and Technology informed the committee members that various training programs had been started in collaboration with the universities across the country to enhance the potential and capacity of youth to prepare them as per the requirements of the market.
On the question of Senator Afnanullah Khan, the Chairman PTA said the government intended to launch 5G in the country by 2023.
Committee meeting was attended by Leader of the House, Senator Dr. Shahzad Waseem, Senator Sana Jamali, Senator Shahadat Awan, Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, Senator Afnanullah Khan, Senator Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan, Senator Seemee Ezdi, Senator Naseema Ehsan, Senator Rubina Khalid, Secretary Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Chairman PTA and officials from NITB .
