Statement by Head of the Indian Delegation,
H.E. Mrs. Sumitra Mahajan,
Minister of State for Communications & IT
Government of India,
 

Mr. Chairman
Excellencies
Distinguished Plenipotentiaries
Secretary General and other elected officials of ITU
Representatives of other International Organisations and Media

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am very happy to be here on this historic occasion of Plenipotentiary Conference of the ITU being held at this beautiful city of Marrakesh in the great country, Morocco. I am sure this first Conference of the Millennium hosted by this great African nation will pave for making ITU even more vibrant and responsive to the needs and aspirations of the whole mankind.

I convey our gratitude to the Government of Morocco for all their efforts to make this Conference such a great event.

ITU, which was created in 1865, is the oldest intergovernmental organization. Government of India is proud to be playing an active role in ITU, ever since it became a Member as early as 1868. We are thankful to International telecommunity for their reposed faith in us by electing India to ITU Council since 1952. We assure ITU of our continued support.

The Telecommunication sector in India has taken a quantum jump in new century. Government's telecom operations have been corporatised in October, 2000.

Indian telecom network is among the ten largest telephone networks in the world. Indian Cellular Network is competing with the basic network and has achieved remarkable growth. By end of this year, India will be able to link all remote and difficult areas including villages. They will also be provided internet facilities.

This growth could happen because of our National Telecom Policy formulated in 1994 and revised in 1999. Two main reasons for our success have been dedicated manpower and futuristic vision of our leadership.

A great feature of Indian Telecom Sector is that the futuristic technologies co-exist along with proven technologies. Our Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) is doing a great service in Rural Communication and low cost switching.

We have evolved a mechanism for fulfilling Universal Service Obligations wherein all the operators contribute towards universal access to telecom services. A Universal Service Obligation fund has been created under the control of an Administrator.

India has been steadily making progress in space technology and its applications including launch capabilities. Our main thrust in Indian Satellite programme is national development especially in the areas of communications, broadcasting, distance education, earth exploration services meteorological and remote sensing applications, space sciences, etc.

We also attach great significance to management of radio frequency spectrum and Geo-Stationary Satellite Orbit. It is essential that these resources are used rationally and efficiently for equitable access to all Member States

I am happy to note that ITU is taking the lead role in organizing the World Summit on Information Society with the aim to develop a common global vision on information technology. While access to Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) can educate, entertain and enrich our lives, ICTs, together with other tools, can also play a part in helping to achieve the much broader goals as also proposed at the UN Millennium Declaration. However, the most important challenge before us is to check the growing "digital divide".

Mr. Chairman Sir, earlier I had the privilege to be the Minister incharge for Women's' Affairs and I can say with certainty that such "divides" affect the women most. Women still face many barriers to participating fully and effectively in a knowledge-based economy, a key component of economic development.

ITU should focus more strongly on gender related programmes especially in context of developing countries. Women must be empowered at all levels to achieve our goal of equity and social justice. Telecom is a great enabler and I am sure that access to telecom services would enable women to walk tall in all spheres of life.

I assure you, Mr. Chairman, that my delegation would work in the spirit of mutual cooperation. I wish the Conference a great success.

Thank you