It has been more than 10 years since the information technology act, 2000 (IT Act 2000) has been enacted. The primary purpose of IT Act 2000 was to encourage e-governance and e-commerce in India. Some cyber crimes were also included in the Act to curb growing menace of cyber crimes.However, even after 10 years of its enactment, IT Act 2000 failed to achieve any of its purpose. We do not have effective e-commerce utilisation in India, we lack effective e-governance services in India, cyber law of India has become cyber criminal’s friendly as it has made almost all the cyber crimes bailable and so on.
The problem is that India does not have a mandatory law that imposes an obligation upon Indian government to use e-governance and information technology for governmental purposes. On the contrary the IT Act 2000 expressly states that none would have a right to claim electronic and digitial services from Indian government.
Under pressure of industrial lobbying, ministry of communication and information technology (MCIT) has compromised India’s position on all the above aspects. Even matters like cyber security, cyber forensics, good telecom policies, etc have been totally neglected.
It seems our Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh has given too much leverage and freedom to MCIT. It is high time for the prime minister’s office (PMO) to keep a close watch upon MCIT, especially regarding its legislative and policy making roles.
