The Rs. 1.76 lakh-crore 2G spectrum scam has deprived the 400 million people below the poverty line (BPL) of their rightful share in healthcare and education, said Adviser to Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations Sam Pitroda.
Addressing the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) convention here on Friday, Mr. Pitroda said freedom from poverty was not possible with scams siphoning off resources.
Mr. Pitroda was conferred the INAE Lifetime Achievement Award.
He called upon the people not to remain mute spectators to such scams. “Why should there be secrecy in price finalisation? It should be provided upfront in a transparent manner over the Internet.”
Speaking on the ‘Unfinished Agenda,' he said technology could change the closed government to an open one through e-governance and by democratising information.
Currently, 15,000 software engineers were working in the government sector to take IT and telecom to the next level, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given $20 billion funding to bring the BPL people into the development mainstream. This would be spent on providing broadband connectivity to 250 panchayats and 1,500 nodes to educational institutions.
Working at 40 GB bandwidth, the six new platforms created for unique ID (identification), GIS (Geospatial Information System), payment gate and health, would revolutionise delivery systems.
The other lifetime achievement award winner was the former Atomic Energy Commission chairman, M.R. Srinivasan.
Naval Science and Technological Laboratories director V. Bhujanga Rao and INAE president P.S. Goel were also present.
