Govt committed to see all benefit from IT - Minister
Siyambalapitiya
The government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa aims at seeing
everyone use IT in their living for greater comfort and ease, said
Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Ranjith
Siyambalapitiya, while participating in the launch of the issue of
copies of birth, marriage and death certificates in a few minutes in the
Polonnaruwa District recently.
An applicant receives a certified copy of a birth
certificate from Telecommunication and Information
Technology Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya under the BMD
project just launched in Polonnaruwa. (From left) ICTA
Re-engineering Government Programme Head D C Dissanayake,
Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister
Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Health Minister Maithripala
Sirisena. |
Speaking further at the inauguration held at the Polonnaruwa District
Secretariat, Minister Siyambalapitiya said that there would be a huge
transformation in the country’s information technology sector soon.
Recalling the assignment of ICT to a new Ministry and its
responsibilities the Minister said “At the cabinet reshuffle in November
2010 the President gave us several responsibilities.
“While attempts are made for Sri Lanka to become the Wonder of Asia
by 2016, the President instructed us to make the ICT literacy of Sri
Lanka which is currently about 35 percent, become 75 percent by 2016.
“Another challenge the President asked us to meet was to generate
200,000 new ICT-based jobs by 2016. Making Sri Lanka’s current IT-BPO
industry revenue reach US $ 1 billion by 2016 is another challenge the
President has instructed us to meet.
“But the most important challenge given to us by the President is to
take ICT to every citizen; in other words, to use ICT to make the life
of everyone more comfortable, to make us able to see every citizen use
ICT to make his life more comfortable,” he said.
A collorary to this is to make government service more efficient by
the use of ICT, the Minister said underlining a core responsibility that
has to be addressed in accordance with the Mahinda Chinthana ‘Vision for
the Future’.
Referring to the 2012 budget the Minister said that the budget 2012
contained several proposals which were a shot in the arm for using ICT
in all sectors targeting national development.
“Apart from the specific allocations for the institutions under the
Telecommunication and Information Technology Ministry the budget has
allocated Rs 500 million for the Ministry for developing IT in the rural
areas.
“Accordingly we selected the Polonnaruwa District for IT development
in coincidence with the Anuradhapura-based Deyata Kirula 2012. As stated
by ICTA Re-engineering Government Programme Head D C Dissanayake I
requested that this programme in Polonnaruwa be launched under the
patronage of Health Minister Maitripala Sirisena. I am now going to
explain what we just launched today.
“Those days, I can remember, to get a birth certificate, my father
used to get ready two weeks ahead. ‘Whom do I know in the Kachcheri? To
whom should I speak first?’ My father would pose questions like these to
himself and make preparations for obtaining the birth certificate.
“Today there is no need for such elaborate preparations. Today anyone
from the Polonnaruwa District could obtain his birth certificate not
only from the Polonnaruwa District Secretariat but even from any
Divisional Secretariat in the Polonnaruwa District within a few minutes.
So could the marriage certificate be obtained. A relative could obtain
the relevant death certificate with similar ease.
“Those days a mobile phone was a prerogative of the elite. But today
most of the population have mobile phones. Sometimes one person has more
than one phone. Our population is 20 million. There are 21 million
telephones in the country. Out of these 17,500,000 are mobile phones and
3,500,000 land phones .
“We want to see everyone in the Polonnaruwa District, - be he a
farmer, grama niladhari, fresh water fisherman - use this IT tool,” he
said.
Participating in the occasion as chief guest Health Minister
Maithripala Sirisena said that it was gladdening that the government led
by President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave top priority to ensuring the use of
technology for the well-being of all.
Speaking further at this inauguration, the Health Minister thanked
all concerned for extending the BMD project to the Polonnaruwa District
in response to his invitation. The Ministries of IT and Technology and
Public Administration, the Registrar General’s Department and the ICT
Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) were particularly commended for their roles
in bringing BMD to Polonnaruwa.
Moving from technology that enables the issue of vital certificates
in a few minutes, the Minister referred to the area of both mental and
physical health per se. The Health Minister said that the government had
launched several programmes for regulating the use of the mobile phone
and for ensuring the use of technology for people’s well-being alone.
“No country in the world has taken steps as Sri Lanka to ensure the
use of mobile phones and internet subjected to healthy monitoring. The
government has by now taken steps to draft regulations necessary for the
use of mobile phones and internet under a sound monitoring system. The
government has done so to ensure the highest good of the country’s
future generation and to prevent anti-social activities that could take
place by abusing new technology. Decrying this abuse Health Minister
Maithripala Sirisena said “ It is regrettable that although new
technology should be used for man’s well-being, many abuse it.
“Moreover many accidents take place as a result of people crossing
roads and driving while holding the mobile phone to the ear. All these,
finally impact on the Health Ministry. The Health Ministry incur heavy
expenditure for providing treatment to a large number of victims of
accidents caused by the use of mobile phones”.
Participating in the occasion ICTA Re-engineering Government
Programme Head D C Dissanayake said that BMD enabled the issue of birth,
marriage and death certificate within a few minutes, thanks to
computerisation.
“Currently BMD is fully operational in the Colombo, Kegalle and
Moneragala Districts. In addition it has been introduced to the Ampara,
Anuradhapura, Badulla, Hambantota, Jaffna and Puttalam Districts”, he
said. |