Government amended Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961

A mega role for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been carved out with say over all policy matters relating to information technology, electronics and the Internet, other than licensing of Internet Service Providers.

• In this regard, the amendments made by President Pranab Mukherjee to the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 pertaining to the Ministry of Electronics and Information and the Ministry of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences were recently notified by the cabinet secretariat.

Details:

• Under the new rules, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will have complete jurisdiction over the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and National Informatics Centre.
• Two separate departments, Telecommunications and Posts, have been placed under the Ministry of Communications headed by the Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge).
• All matters relating to cyber laws, administration of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000) and other IT-related laws would be part of the domain of the new Ministry.
• The Ministry would lead the ‘Initiative on bridging the Digital Divide: Matters relating to Media Lab Asia’, Promotion of Standardisation, Testing and Quality in IT and standardisation of procedure for IT application and Tasks.
• The Ministry has also been entrusted with the task of promotion of the Internet, IT and IT-enabled services, assistance to other departments in the promotion of e-Governance, e-Commerce, e-Medicine, e-Infrastructure and promotion of IT education and IT-based education.
• It would also deal with matters relating to promotion and manufacturing of Semiconductor Devices in the country excluding all matters relating to Semiconductor Complex Limited (SCL), Mohali.

Besides, interaction in IT-related matters with international agencies such as Internet for Business Limited (IFB), Institute for Education in Information Society and International Code Council (ICC) would also be under its ambit.