"Convergence is simple, IT is communications."

Time and again, Minister of Information Technology and Parliamentary

Affairs Pramod Mahajan has reiterated that the IT ministry is about a red carpet

and not red tapism. To live up to his claim, he has initiated several measures.

The latest being the proposal under consideration about a brand equity fund for

IT. Mahajan has been displaying foresightedness in a number of areas including

convergence. It was Mahajan who, two years ago, had mooted the idea of a single

ministry for IT, telecom and broadcasting. Cyber News Service met with him to

catch up on his latest positioning on these issues.

Why do you want to have a separate brand equity fund?



I think that today Information Technology has become the driving force for the
entire country. My ministry’s job is to concentrate on four issues: IT

promotion, promoting IT education, formulate IT laws and IT policy. Even though

IT is connected to every sphere of life and my ministry has to work in

coordination with all other ministries and beyond the ministries to all other

spheres of human life, I think IT is in a transitory period of life. Till the IT

revolution stabilizes, it is our duty to give it special focus. So, instead of

tying up with somebody else, I think it is better if we give special focus.

A similar brand equity fund was launched by the Ministry of Commerce of which

we haven’t heard much except promoting a software product called Nargis-P.

What specific steps are you taking to ensure that this time the fund is a

success?



I can’t speak for some other ministry. But, if we plan something, definitely
we shall see that we deliver the goods. And, in the Internet age if we don’t

act fast, things become obsolete. So, we will use it fast for the purpose it is

meant. And, I don’t see any problem in doing it.

What are you going to promote, the India brand or individual products and

companies?



Basically it is the India brand that we will be promoting. We cannot promote
products. The companies themselves are doing it. We have to sell India as a

destination. While doing that it has to be ensured that proper regional balance

is maintained. I have nothing against Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, but I

don’t want IT to be limited to these few cities. Actually, the entire country

is a destination. So, our job is to promote India as the brand equity.

You are convinced that India has already sold itself as a brand. So, why

do you need this fund?



It is true that India is a potential. Singapore, US and Ireland visiting India
itself is a sign of the strength that we are. But, it is not true that we have

become an IT super power. As you always say, in life, there is a vast gap

between the cup and the lip. That is also true with IT and there should not be

any gap. So, we should be cautious about it. Secondly, we must also realize that

China is our main competitor. And, they too are fast. Only gap between them and

us is our knowledge of English. Because of our heritage, English is almost our

national language. And, today English is the IT language. So this is our added

advantage. But this advantage may not last long. Similarly, there are smaller

countries like Ireland and Israel. We have an entry into the world of IT. But,

to stay there and win is not an easy job. There is a confidence in the country,

which I want continued. At the same time, I want to take precautions. India as a

brand is not yet over. We should not think that India as an IT player is already

established.

In most presentations about India, we highlight the people, the knowledge

base and all that. But, what we really lack in the country is poor communication

infrastructure…



Yes, ideally true. IT Ministry is not the Ministry I head. IT ministry ideally
comprise two parts which are telecommunications and power. Unless we make

ourselves self-sufficient, modern and up to international standards on both the

fronts we shall not be able to sustain. Our strength is no doubt HRD but

that’s not enough. So you need both telecom and power. Now, when I think of

both of them, I don’t want to think of a half-empty or a half-full bottle.

In power, the country has gone from 1,950 MW to 18,000 MW in fifty years

though our need is 150,000 MW. But, at least in the power sector, there are

several initiatives and we have almost a success story here. So, at the policy

level there is nothing new to be done in the power sector. Yes, at the

government level, a number of projects need to be cleared… takes little time.

Speed may be a problem but we are on the right track. But, speed is always a

variable one can argue about.

Telecommunication--since 1994, miracles have happened. We have gone for

corporatization of MTNL, VSNL, and then we have Internet services. We have

bifurcated our telecom department into policy making and service providing. Then

we have national telecom policy ‘94, then ‘99; the migration package is

already completed–so there has been the push. It is not that we have not done

anything.

But the way the IT industry is growing …



It is very difficult for basic infrastructure to catch up with speed of IT. Let
me draw a parallel. However fast an aircraft you have, it cannot fly at the

speed of mind and IT is like the mind. IT is about ideas. In IT there are only

two aspects: ideas and infrastructure. Idea is at the speed of a second and to

build a physical infrastructure, say an STPI, will need three months to be

built.

Q. What about existing infrastructure with the Railways or PSUs like Power

Grid, GAIL, SAIL…and the private sector players who have been wiring up the

different states? Are you going to ask them to share capacity with the

government?



You have rightly mentioned the various networks like the Railways, the ONGC,
NTPC networks and the private sector. These have been created for different

purposes. At the government level we are talking of convergence and everybody

knows about convergence. And again Railways is a huge network and my suggestion

to Railways is that each station can be converted into a center for a cluster.

And the Railway capacity can be used to a distance of 10-15 km radius. Only

problem as a country today is that our priority seems to be on software exports

only instead of also looking at the domestic front.

Q. And on the domestic front, you have also been talking of the digital

divide…



It’s not just the digital divide. The other day in Bangalore I coined the
slogan that IT is like a double-edged sword. If it is not used properly, it can

create a digital divide and if it is used properly for the good of the

underprivileged, then it can create a digital unite–not only economically but

also at the social, language, regional and geographic level. IT can be used as

an enabler of bringing about this great unity.

Q. What specific steps have you taken to bring about this great unity,

i.e. taking IT to the masses…



My job as government personnel is to promote IT. It’s not that the government
has to get involved in everything. As one of the steps, I have decided to set up

STPIs in all the 25 states. Then I am trying to promote IT among the different

segments of the economy like the hotel industry and the health-care industry. We

may request the NGOs to get involved in organizing IT yatras, initiate IT

festivals called e-yatras or e-festivals. Or, we can create parks where anybody

can come and see computers and get to familiarize themselves. So, you see my job

is to champion the cause and make people aware of IT.

Q. Don’t you think that as a beginning you could start off with some of

your ministerial colleagues?



One of my initiatives has been to call all the Chief Ministers on a common
platform to chalk out their IT plans so that a common IT National IT plan is

formulated in the process. I have also requested the Chief Justice of the

Supreme Court to set up technology courts–technically as the IT Minister, it

is not my sphere of influence. But, I have to spread the light of IT. What

Chandrababu Naidu has done is nothing but throwing ideas. As Minister for IT, I

don’t have piles of files to clear, but the job certainly involves spreading

ideas about IT and its usage.

Q. You have been talking a lot about convergence. What is your definition

of convergence? Do you think that market convergence and technology convergence

should lead to convergence in policy making and regulation also?



I think now convergence is very simple. Information technology is now
communication. We have arrived at a technology which enables communication very

fast. That’s why I call IT as the fourth generation of communication. The

first form of communication being gestures, the second was communication through

words, the third form of communication was the written language and now we have

the digital language. So the entire boom about information technology, to put in

layman’s words, is a new form of human communication. So when I change the

very mode of communication between humans, the rules of the whole world changes.

What I communicate between you and me is voice. Now we want to see each other so

we exchange video and the third, you want some information so I communicate it

through data. So voice, video, and data are the three things that can be

communicated.

Now we have reached a stage where one wire or maybe wireless can carry all

the three things which is convergence. This is the kind of convergence that will

come in about three to five years’ time. And when it comes, again the rules of

the game will change. At the lecture in the hotel, from which I have just come,

I said that the TV screen would be the center of all activity: voice, data,

video. So, I advised them to install TV in bathrooms also, which is where a lot

of interaction will take place and a lot of important decisions will be taken.

This is happening and when this happens the rules of the games will change.

In fact, sometimes I feel that this IT revolution will be complete in five to

seven years time and it will stay for 50 years till you find some other new

revolution. So the laws of policy will have to follow technology since

technology is dynamic and till IT stabilizes we will have to change legislation.

In fact, the Singapore Prime Minister commented that I was holding two mutually

incompatible portfolios--IT that moves so fast and Parliamentary Affairs that

moves so slowly.

Q. Your skills as a key BJP negotiator is well known and the Ministry for

Parliament Affairs is somewhat compatible. But, IT Ministry requires economic

and such other skills, so why were you chosen for this portfolio?



Distribution of portfolio is the Prime Minister’s prerogative. Sometimes it is
a political decision sometimes it is accidental. I do not know what it was in

this case. However, during my short tenure of eight to ten months in the

broadcasting ministry, I was instrumental in bringing about the news channel, I

was the one to propose privatization of the FM channels and not only took a

policy decision but also made the bandwidth available. And for the first time,

the Ministry made a profit of Rs 550 crore out of nothing. We sold only air and

without making any investment. And there was no scandal with complete

transparency.