Comments on: The Rational IT Policy

By: Tools and rationality for IT in education at Blogbharti

Tools and rationality for IT in education at Blogbharti — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:56:20 +0000

[...] Atanu has posted a very interesting article about the “effectiveness, efficiency, affordability” and ease of use of tools in general and then applies that analysis to the way Information Technology (IT) is being treated as a panacea for all diseases ailing India: Even if we have determined that a CAT scanner is the tool required in terms of effectiveness and efficiency, we still have to address the question of affordability. And finally, we need to have the expertise to operate the scanner and interpret the results. The ability to use a tool matters. [...]

By: Random Walk of Life » Blog Archive » Open Source Vs Open mindset

Random Walk of Life » Blog Archive » Open Source Vs Open mindset — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 03:04:12 +0000

[...] the past few days, Atanu has been posting blog-posts on what a Rational IT policy should look like, and what should be the role of the Government in it. One of his posts received [...]

By: 6 AM Pacific » Blog Archive » More on IT Unpolicy

6 AM Pacific » Blog Archive » More on IT Unpolicy — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:41:16 +0000

[...] of Government I objected to Atanu Dey’s arguments against having an IT policy for India. He proposed, what I called an “IT Unpolicy” – basically, do nothing. Here’s a quote: The [...]

By: 6 AM Pacific » Blog Archive » IT and the Government

6 AM Pacific » Blog Archive » IT and the Government — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:24:24 +0000

[...] the IT Vision Document released by the BJP in the runup to the Indian elections. In his latest post The Rational IT Policy, he proposes an IT policy that basically does nothing – an Unpolicy, if you will. It requires [...]

By: tarang_72

tarang_72 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:37:55 +0000

Pankaj,

Pls read Atanu’s post ‘Of product and process innovation’ for his experience with HDFC!!

By: pankaj

pankaj — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 05:54:39 +0000

Good post as usual by Atanu dey.Tarang Axis/Sbi are nationalised banks they are not private, try HDFC instead .

By: tarang_72

tarang_72 — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:46:39 +0000

Let’s not forget that Govt expenses are atleast third of the GDP and it employes many millions directly. Every individual / firm is dependent on govt for some needs. I dont know exact statistics but many other countires also have similar govt share in GDP. The problem with india is accountability, efficiency, effectiveness of govt machinery. IT can be used very effectively by govt so that consumers of govt services (individual or firm) get better services (just throwing some examples – ration card in 5 days, passport in 2 weeks, decision on civil case in 6 months and criminal case in 3 months, uptodate status of any of pending application with govt and so on).

I dont buy the argument that we need to liberalise education to improve quality. Public schools in US are very decent alternative to private schools. Community colleges train many technicians/nurses and other similar professionals. And on national level, they have excellent public universities in states like caliornia, michigan, pennsylvania, north carolina etc.

Why can’t indian govt improve quality of its services?

(on side not, i went to india after 5 yrs. After visiting SBI and Axis bank, i am convinced that privatisation can not be solution for every problem).

By: viveksh

viveksh — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:24:56 +0000

1) “The major point here is that people who are in the business of education are much better placed to know which tools to use than some government bureaucrat who has little knowledge of what tools are most effective in education.”

I’m not sure this is true. I see colleges propping up across the NCR region so it seems like the investment is there. However, what are your thoughts about quality of education provided by these new colleges? Many of these new colleges seem to be set up to make a quick buck – nothing wrong with making money off of education except the word quick.

By: The “Rational IT Policy”, according to Atanu Dey

The “Rational IT Policy”, according to Atanu Dey — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:45:07 +0000

[...] While most of us in the Free Software community have been discussing the encouraging attitude towards Free Software taken by some political parties in their respective “IT policies”, Atanu says that the best policy is no policy at all. [...]

By: baransam

baransam — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 15:45:55 +0000

I completely, fully and whole-heartedly agree with Atanu on this IT-policy-issue. I can not think of putting it in any better format. Brilliant!! Thanks Atanu for a wonderful read.