January 29, 2005

PAKISTAN is a country with tremendous potential. However, nurturing potential and steering it in the right direction, through the management of various variables, is vital. A long-term vision is, therefore, required.

One segment of the economy, which suffers from a lack of vision, is the IT sector. This sector, which encompasses industries such as the software industry, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and broadband providers, has potential for tremendous growth and could solve some of the worst problems facing the economy. However, the manner in which the sector is being managed is questionable.

Growth in the sector could be depicted on a pyramid comprising three crucial variables: education at the bottom layer, provision of infrastructure in the middle and governmental policies at the top layer. All layers of the pyramid are suffering from lack of vision. While the educational and infrastructural ills are obvious, the role of the government and its various misplaced policies deserve some attention here.

The flawed government policies are responsible for slow growth of the sector. In fact, the government has miserably failed in generating any notable activity. To top this, we play host to huge conferences and exhibitions such as ITCN Asia. While the idea of having such an exhibition is worthy of applause, the results have been unsatisfactory.

Apart from mismanagement during the exhibition, which has been going on for the past three years, the event has largely failed to generate investments. I am sure that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is well aware of the vicious cycle the economy could face if expenditures exceed revenues, year after year, in such an important sector.

Departments such as Nadra are also worthy of mention, which has recently been given the task of issuing computer-generated passports. An acquaintance recently acquired an “urgent” passport after a lapse of more than fifteen days from Nadra. Isn’t that ironic considering that an effective and speedy service is the main reason why investment is made in computers?

Under the old (manual) system, passports could be delivered within two or three days. Thus, an investment of between $8 million and $9 million, spent on the establishment of the Nadra database, can hardly be justified.

The Central Board of Revenue (CBR) is also being automated. CBR has decided to establish a database “to ensure uniformity in assessment of imported goods” at all ports. How many customs officials would actually consult such a database is anybody’s guess.

More and more public sector organizations are switching over to complete automation, based on the Open Source Operating System, Linux. Take, for instance, the billing system of KESC which is Linux-based. Has the corporation’s customer complaint system gotten any better following this automation?

We also have the prime example of the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), which was automated not long ago. Even though we hear of KSE reaching record-breaking points, the level of investment there has not really increased much.

Further, was a hundred percent computerization really needed at KSE when the mega-stock exchanges on the Wall Street perform better without complete automation?

More recently, Pakistan came up with its own version of a broadband policy, aimed at facilitating internet access in the country. The policy makes for a very amusing read. The proposal to set up an e-commerce department is particularly hilarious.

Do we really need a separate e-commerce department to look after such issues? E-commerce is a multi-disciplinary concept, which requires inputs from various governmental and other departments and divisions.

An entire bureaucratic setup dedicated to e-commerce would only make things worse. Considering how difficult it is for an individual to cut through bureaucratic red tape, does the minister really view such a unit as beneficial for the country?

The IT policy, which was formulated a few years ago, is also quite comical. Most of the documentation lacks substance and is full of borrowed terms, which look like “misfits” in the local context. Elaborate mention of terms like “Technology Parks” and “Internet Media Cities” and the declaration that the ensuing years will be an “IT Year” are just some of the policy's funny aspects.

The policy recommends standardization of IT services. To be sure, working on standards which suit the environment is commendable. However, this task should be left to the industry and professional organizations like IEEE and IETF.

Rather than talking about how the things are to be done, the policy details what should be done to facilitate growth in the sector. This is already known to most professionals. Furthermore, even though the policy is quite comprehensive, its implementation has not been spelt out properly.

For example, the policy places due emphasis on the grooming of humans as the enabler of IT in the country. However, strategies directed at educational institutions, which should be at the centre of any such initiative, lack substance as well as quality.

As we all know, obsolete curriculums produce graduates who are devoid of marketable skills. On the whole, the policy looks more like an absurd theory rather than a set of generalized guidelines to promote IT.

The authorities have also been obsessed with the e-government concept for some time now. E-government involves the use of information technology to facilitate tasks that would otherwise be snail-paced. The purpose of e-government, hence, is to provide quality governance.

However, the e-government concept only means automation and computerization for Pakistani authorities. The government is yet to realize that a functional relationship exists between redundancy from the government processes and quality delivery. Mere automation serves no purpose.

One of the main hurdles to the growth of IT is the society's perception about it. For example, Operation Badar was launched for the promotion of Java in such a manner that people thought they had to bid goodbye to Visual Basic for software development.

However, because of the benefits which the Rapid Application Development (RAD) provides, VB (.Net) has now surpassed Java. Thus, the government campaign resulted in an increase in supply which eventually pushed down the price of Java professionals and degraded a highly prestigious language.

Another problem is the learning curve involved in training employees. The National Bank of Pakistan got involved with IMCS in a training programme following its computerization. However, due to the immense investment involved, end-user training was too short to be beneficial. Even if the training periods are increased, shortage of qualified instructors is a constant source of problem.

Even though the government is dedicated (the software industry is exempt of all taxes) a lot of its efforts have been mere icing on the cake. A complete overhaul is needed. What we need is a consistent policy which would start from the bottom of the growth pyramid, by providing quality IT education, and then improving the required infrastructure.

The writer is a student of computer science at the Hamdard Institute of Management Sciences

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