Govt working to digitise services to curb graft

Prime Minister's ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy said on Wednesday the government has been working to digitise all government services to curb corruption, reports BSS.

"When all the government services will be brought under digitisation, there will be no scope of corruption," he said.

The PM's adviser came up with the remarks while speaking at a workshop on 'Digital Bangladesh: ICT in the Journey of Progress' organised by Jatiya Sangsad (JS) secretariat at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city.

Sajeeb Wazed Joy said there are around 1,500 government services and of those, 300 have already been digitised.

"Works are underway to bring all the services under digitisation. As the government services are being digitised, corruption is also decreasing gradually," he added.

Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury addressed the function as the chief guest while Deputy Speaker Md Fazle Rabbi Miah, Chief Whip Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury and State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak spoke on the occasion as the special guests. JS Secretariat Senior Secretary Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan chaired it.

Joy underscored the need for changing the traditional laws and policies to take the country ahead at a faster pace.

"We are now living in an age of globalisation. We should further open up our economy for more foreign investments," he said.

The PM's adviser said, "Many of us have a common thinking that if any foreign company invests in our country, it will only earn profit. Foreign companies not only earn profits but also create employment opportunities. We should change our mindset".

Referring to Singapore and Malaysia, he said any foreign companies can easily invest and do business in those countries which help boost up their economies. "We also should go in this way," he said.

"Only the government cannot do everything. If the government wants to do everything, there may be system loss. But in the private sector, system loss occurs hardly," he said.

Joy said the private sector entrepreneurs should not consider foreign investors as their competitors rather they should work in partnership to go ahead.

"If that can be possible, we will go ahead very fast. But changes in our laws and policies are needed for that," he said.

The PM's adviser said the telecommunication policy would be changed to cope with the changing world.

Highlighting different development aspects in ICT sector, Joy said very few countries have been able to achieve such a rapid growth in such a short span of time in the ICT sector.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury underscored the need for making the new generation IT enabled to develop them as human resources.

She said a project has been taken to digitise parliament and ICT Division and Posts and Telecommunication Division will implement the project.