The draft for the National Data Governance Policy (NGDP) has neared its completion and soon it will be presented for final approval in the cabinet. The purpose of the draft is to improve data governance in the country by working to define various attributes related to data, its usage, and its role in effective government. An official from the Ministry of Information Technology told media that the draft of Artificial Intelligence and Block Chain was also in the pipeline. Similarly, the Personal Data Protection Bill is also in the concluding phase of its approval in order to ensure the protection of online data, information, and privacy of Pakistani citizens, the official said.

In the same vein he said, that the National Cyber Security Policy (NCSP) 2021 has already been approved. The purpose of NCSP-2021 is to prevent the use of information, available online, from harming the country and its people. Insidious use of communication technologies and spyware pose a direct threat to the financial and tangible security of the country. The policy supported the establishment of an internal framework in all institutions for the protection of the cyber ecosystem, security of national information systems, infrastructure, and protection in all national ICT infrastructures, he added.

Further he said that a few more policies are under consideration and are being drafted. They included the Digital Pakistan Policy 2022 which is an extension of the Digital Pakistan Policy 2018, National Broadband Policy 2021, and National Freelancing Facilitation Policy. The main motive behind the drafting of these policies is to improve the environment for the proper use and adoption of emerging digital technologies, he explained.

Commenting on the initiatives taken by the MoITT, he said that the past two years have been particularly productive in this regard. Not only were various policy and legislative initiatives taken but also various concrete steps were taken to accelerate the objectives of Digital Pakistan Agenda in order to accelerate the growth of Pakistan’s ICT industry, he said.

He said, “the launching of ‘The Cloud First Policy’ will enable transparency, accelerated service delivery, one-window operation availability, and integrated agency response to public queries.” It will also enable the public sector departments to collect and hold data in a common space where access would be easy while at the same time improving productivity, he noted

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk