India's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Annual Report (06-07)

I was quite happy to come across an Annual Report (2006-2007) of India's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, online. India's much-documented and successful experiences in using ICTs as tools for economic developement and poverty-alleviation, makes this report an informative resource for other emerging economies like the Philippines, with similar goals of tapping the potentials of ICTs.

With the Philippines looking forward to having its own Department of ICT, hopefully before 2010, the Annual Report provides information on the breadth and depth of work of an established ICT Ministry or Department, as well as some of the challenges that are encountered, both institutionally and in the field.

For those who are following developments on the status of the Philippines' proposed Senate Bill 2546, on the establishment of the Department of ICT, please visit the website of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT). The CICT has announced that President Arroyo has, very recently, certified the Senate Bill as urgent. 

Philippine Senator Sees Passage of Bill Creating DICT Within a Month

In a press release posted on the Philippine Senate website, Senator Edgardo J. Angara, Chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, said that he believes that the bill seeking to establish the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) may be passed within a month.

"This is the final meeting of the committee after we thoroughly discuss the amendments made by the Technical Working Group on the scope of the bill in terms of coverage of agencies with ICT functions as well as the approved budgets. I hope that within the month or within September, we will have a new Department of Communications," Angara said before the public hearing of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology, held on August 6.

Under Senate Bill 920, the proposed DICT will absorb the following agencies: the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) currently under the Office of the President, the National Computer Center (NCC) currently a component agency of the CICT, the Telecommunications Office (TELOF) of the DOTC, the communications functions of the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC), and the Communications Planning Service Division of the DOTC.