9 April 2023

Mahendranagar

Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, has said the time has come to focus production and management of able human resources in government bodies. Special attention should be paid to how competent human resources could be ensured in government offices, she underscored.

Receiving a comprehensive report presented by the high-level tatask forceelating to cyber security on Sunday, Minister Sharma, who is also the spokesperson of the government, admitted that we had a shortage of human resources to run the information technology sector competently. "We have neither modern equipment nor competent human resources. It has caused a huge problem. It is challenging to generate competent human resources in government bodies and enable the existing human resources. We need to prioritize homework on it," she shared.

Moreover, Minister Sharma said as IT is ever evolving sector, continuous training and updates on changing technology are imperative. Cyber security is as important as physical security. The government has planned to take ahead the programs of cyber security at all government bodies. She also vowed to incorporate the suggestions and recommendations made by the report in the forthcoming policy, programs, and budget of the government. She admitted that though cyber security is a significant issue, Nepal is backward on this front. So, she had prioritized it since assuming the office, Minister Sharma reminded. Moreover, the Minister said IT is indispensable from the collection of revenue to the protection of nationality, so its security is a prime agenda.

Considering this very aspect, the government decided to form a high-level task force on February 27. The team submitted the report within 26 days of its mandate. On the occasion, Ministry Secretary Krishna Bahadur Raut viewed structural change as essential to ensure cyber security and service delivery. The report would be enforced by making necessary plans. As the medium of service delivery is electronic, cyber security must be focused on.

Similarly, the high-level committee coordinator, Juddha Bahadur Gurung, informed that the report had furnished recommendations to the government for immediate and long-term implementation. The committee was mandated to study the policy, law, structure, and process on cyber security and prepare a report along with recommendations. The committee led by IT expert Gurung included Baburam Dawadi, Saroj Lamichhane, Mona Nyachchhyo, Prakash Rayamajhi, and Bijay Gautam. In addition to this, there were other area experts from Nepal Police and Nepali Army. The representative from the Ministry was Joint Secretary Anil Kumar Dutt.