ICTs in political manifestos

Here is an interesting bit about how telecom helps economic growth.
A 2009 World Bank study on information and communication for development reveals that 10 percent increase in telecom subscribers in a given period significantly contributes to economic growth for that period. The relationship works not just by way of actual dollar investment and increase in employment but also helps jack up factor productivity - paving way for long-term growth.
Pakistan is no exception to this. The country can no longer ignore the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in creating jobs, fuelling economic growth and addressing social divide. Shedding the passive view that ICTs are just about communication depends on the political party(s) that succeed two weeks from now.
The good thing is all the three main political parties, the PPPP, the PML-N and the PTI, seem to have recognised ICTs as an active ingredient in economic growth. At least, so it appears from their manifestos.
All three political parties have promised to undertake computerization of land, police and court records, besides deploying technology in governance and public administration. Beyond that, differences emerge among the parties in their policy proposals.
The PTI manifesto specifies five national emergencies and lays out economic policies for major sectors. The party has not discussed the ICT industry separately. But it has taken a different approach and mentions its usage while discussing other parts of its manifesto, particularly in the e-governance section.
If voted into power, the PTI would deploy telephony services for public service delivery, and use electronic transactions for documentation in the economy. However, its Institutional Reform Emergency plan, where the party vows to empower regulators like the CCP, SECP, Ogra and Nepra, leaves out the PTA that stands politicized after the previous regimes interference in telecom affairs.
The PPPP dedicated reasonable amount of space to the ICTs in its manifesto, appreciating its converging role in other sectors. The party promises to develop more software parks, set up 250 IT Centers in small cities, and take the countrys IT exports to five billion dollars by focusing on regional joint-ventures and investments.
The party also vows to use the countrys expanded telecom footprint to document and enhance basic entitlements (BISP cards), enhance financial inclusion by digitalizing cash (branchless banking), and develop e-business in both Urdu and English to include low-income groups in this livelihood opportunity.
ICT, which gets prominent space in the PML-N manifesto as well, is slated to get a very high priority in a PML-N government. The party pledges to formulate a new ICT framework, create one million new jobs in the industry, leverage ICT usage and automation in law enforcement, judiciary, health & and education, manufacturing, taxation and transportation sectors, and promote local software industry to generate annual exports of at least $10 billion by 2020.
The PML-N manifesto talks about integrating ICT in major ministries and departments and establishing e-government portals at federal Federal and provincial levels. It also talks about giving self-employment loans to IT trainees and apprentices, establishing 500 ICT centers in smaller cities & and town, developing IT Parks in major cities, giving start-up assistance to tech entrepreneurs, and using USF funds for rural areas and Wi-Fi hotspots.
Should the PML-N form the next government, it will create a national master database to integrate and automate citizens data from NADRA, FBR, land records, property data, vehicle ownership, and arms data. The party also plans to create an autonomous organization to investigate and prevent cyber crimes.
The 3G auction issue has only been addressed only by the PML-N. Interestingly, a PML-N government will go straight to launching 4G/ LTE network technologies instead of 3G, because the "window of opportunity to deploy five- year- old 3G has passed."
The PML-Ns manifesto covers more ICT-related issues compared to other parties, but there are issues that have been ignored by all three parties.
For instance, none of them mentioned any targets for broadband and cellular penetration. There was silence on setting up cell phone manufacturing factories in Pakistan. There is no word on reducing taxes on telecom subscribers. Nor is there a clear stance on social media issues like banning YouTube and Twitter, and filtering online content.
Yet, it is a good sign that major political parties hold a progressive view about employing ICTs for governance and growth. However, only time will tell whether these proposals, promises and pledges will rot in the archives or they will make it to the realm of reality. Implementation, they say, is what matters in the end.