Conclusion

The experiment of holding an apex forum away from Delhi i.e. in Bangalore had a reasonable success. It could have been still better if the holding of the Apex Forum did not coincide with the postal strike. This resulted in invitation letters not reaching many invitees and the background paper being not available to some participants in time. Secondly, the holding of apex forum at the same time and location- as the function, to honour Shri Premji- stretched the resources of Bangalore centre a bit too much. It is suggested that Apex Forum should normally be kept as stand alone function in future so that adequate importance can be given to the participants who are important people in their field. It would appear that some participants from media went back at 10:45 AM since the police personnel at IETE Bangalore centre gate and the banners only announced the function to honour Shri Premji. Thirdly, apex forum should be held on a holiday and after giving adequate notice so that the participants who are at senior levels could attend.

There is a need to thank the team at IETE Bangalore centre for a lot of hard work put in.

 

4.Summary of Recommendations of IETE

1. Policy makers should evolve plans for development of media considering electronic & print media as complementary to each other.
2. Telecom infrastructure development plans need to be prepared for substantial improvement through privatization.
3. The use of current technology should be made for the economic benefit of media and public. They should not be blocked by administrative regulations and controls.
4. TRAI as regulator should have adequate authority similar to the agencies like Controller and Auditor General of India.
5. Telecom services should be planned more carefully, expeditiously with seamless upgradation so that the costly resources are not wasted.
6. The telecom tariff should be revised downwards with the increase in utilization of services. It should be made affordable to common man at rural and urban level by use of modern and current technology.
7. Policy guidelines for security of information should be drawn and their implementation ensured.
8. Content development should have the quality provided by current technology.
9. DTH needs to be introduced and exploited for education and rural development.
10. Need based allotment of frequency spectrum should be made and enforced through monitoring.
11. Adequate trained manpower resources need to be developed for generating software for electronics media, which will help in taking education to remote areas and thus ensuring development and integration of the country.