We are living in a society, where we are surrounded by Television, Radio, the Internet and Cell phones etc, and can’t even imagine of a moment without these possessions. For quite a sometime India has become hot spot for telecommunication activities like Mobiles, the Internet, Satellite and Cable networks. All thanks to the Information and Communication Technologies (ITCs). There won’t be any vista which is untouched by ITC. It certainly has an impact on our social and economic life and redefined it overall. To commemorate its greater reach, the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is celebrates on 17 May of every year, across the globe.
Most of us are not aware of the fact that, World information Society Day was proclaimed to be on 17 May by a United Nations General Assembly resolution, following the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis. The day had previously been known as World Telecommunication Day to commemorate the founding of the International Telecommunication Union in 17 May 1865. It was instituted by the Plenipotentiary Conference in Malaga-Torremolinos in 1973. In November 2006, the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, decided to celebrate both events on 17 May as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
The intention behind commemorating WTISD is to raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other ICTs can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. In simple terms we can say, it focuses to tone up national policies, fill up the technological differences, and promote connectivity, foster global interoperability of systems and to curb on physical distances globally through the Internet, T.V, Phone etc. and make information and communication more accessible to people residing in the remote area.
This juncture reminds of the disparities between the have and have not among the urban-rural population, those who are far from development, people are deprived of access to the means of communication and information. This is the time we should think of millennium development, bring out change in the society using the ICT, where people are longing for the minimal needs like, sanitation, health, shelter, food etc. ITC has the power to empower the society by providing information and knowledge and its potential should be used for the noble cause.
The day is celebrated on different themes every year. The theme for World Telecommunication Day 1997 was "Telecommunications and Humanitarian Assistance", for World Telecommunication Day 2007 it was “Connecting the Youth, the Opportunities of ICT” and for World Telecommunication Day 2008 it was “Connecting persons with disabilities” and for 2010 the theme is “Better city, better life”.
This year is no difference; countries across the globe are celebrating it in different manner. On this occasion, ITU calls upon all stakeholders - policy makers, regulators, operators and industry - to promote the adoption of policies and strategies that will promote ICTs in urban areas to contribute towards a better life in cities. ITU, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
, UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) and UNDP’s (The United Nations Development Programme) WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) Forum 2010 conference scheduled to be held from 10 to 14 of May 2010 at the ITU Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland. This event builds upon the tradition of annual WSIS May meetings, and its new format is the result of open consultations with all WSIS Stakeholders.
The Forum will offer participants a series of diverse interactions, including high-level debates addressing critical issues to the WSIS implementation and follow-up in multi-stakeholder set-ups, WSIS Action Line facilitation meetings, thematic workshops, kick-off meetings for new initiatives and projects, knowledge exchanges facilitating networking among the participants, and others. The forum will provide structured opportunities to network, learn and to participate in multi-stakeholder discussions and consultations on WSIS implementation.
China rejoices 17 may in Shanghai at the Expo Center of World Expo 2010. The WTISD-2010 theme is aligned with that of the World Expo: "Better city, better life", which represents the common wish of all humankind to achieve better living standards in future urban environments. ICT play a catalysing role in achieving this goal. Shanghai is also going to host the ITU World Telecommunication and Information Society awards, the awards focuses on the eminent personalities who have contributed to using ITCs in providing a better life in cities.
Bulgaria's Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications (MTITC) chose to mark this year's celebration under the national initiative: “Manager for a Day 2010”, part of “Junior Achievement Bulgaria”, held on 22 March 2010 in Sofia. In general, the national initiative is related to inviting young people to share ideas for improving people’s lives in the capacity of managers of public administration for one working day.
In Uganda, Commonwealth Association, in partnership with other partners, CPAUG will be organizing a public dialogue on 17th May 2010 as part of the WTISD 2010 theme: "Enhancing the achievements of the Information Society in Uganda in building Better Cities" for about 250 participants. Partners: ICT Ministry, UCC, and I-Network.
Poland want to make ICT a household word in the country and to accomplish the goal this year a number of events, seminars, discussion panels and conferences will take place. Arab states are also showing there keen interest to make it a mark and AICTO, in cooperation with the Arab Towns Organization (ATO) and Tunis City, is organizing an international conference on the occasion of WTISD 2010. The conference will take place on 22 May 2010 in Tunis City and will include two panels and a roundtable related to this year's theme "Better city, better life with ICTs".
India is not far behind and to make this occasion memorable, The Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology from Udaipur in India, organizes a National Workshop on Computer Networking as well as a Celebration on the occasion of WTISD-2010. And apart from that the fifth World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-10P), will take place in Hyderabad, India from 24 May to 4 June 2010 at the kind invitation of the Government of India. The objective of WTDC-10 is to identify priorities for the development of telecommunications and information and communication technologies (ICTs), taking into account contributions made by Member States and Sector Members, and to adopt the Hyderabad Action Plan (HAP) setting the future of activities of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) over the next four-year period.
With this kind of initiatives taken throughout the world it is quite obvious that all biggie across the world are taking the ICT expansion quite seriously and if it follows in the future it will have the tremendous impact. ICTs present innovative ways of managing our life- smart buildings, intelligent traffic management, provide solutions to many of the problems, direct to deal with the current scenario and help the cities to develop in an efficient and eco-friendly manner. Surely, the vision “Better city, better life with ITCs” will certainly come true, the only obligation is, every individual to do their bit in making it real.
No comments:
Post a Comment