Technology diffusion will be our priority in...
Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) Chairman Jayantha De Silva speaks on the new role of Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) and its new plans for digital transformation bringing dividends for all – rich or poor, educated or uneducated and urban or rural. Excerpts:
It looks Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been overlooked in the exercise of allocating ministries. There is no Minister or State Minister for ICT. Even the Opposition has pointed this in a recent press conference. Why was it really forgotten?
No, it was certainly not forgotten. ICT too plays a key role in today’s society. ICT today isn’t what we thought a year ago. Also the scope of ICT is so extensive that it cannot be allocated to a single ministry. ICT is relevant for every ministry. ICT also links all ministries together. ICT initiatives must be coordinated efforts. In addition, the benefits of the work we do must reach everyone in the society.
The President, with that understanding, has thought of recognizing Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) as an entity to serve national priorities. We will be guiding all others. In that way, we can do justice to our mandate better. We will be under the direct supervision of the President and be powered by all ministries. We can act faster. That is his expectation, as someone with a deep understanding of ICT and what ICT can do to the nation. In turn, there is now a better focus for ICT.
In our earlier role, we used to visit other ministries and departments. We used to receive their inputs, design and implement ICT solutions. We cannot always work like that. Environment has changed. That is not how digital transformation works now. In some projects we may have to talk to 4-5 ministries simultaneously. Sometimes, we have to talk to all together.
If you take an example, in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself leads the Aadhar project. That is a key reason for its legendary success. He knows everything that goes on. Every Minister and every secretary participates in the project under his guidance. Here too we have that setup now. We have been given more clout. Of course, that comes with higher expectations.
At present, people in Sri Lanka spend unnecessarily long hours to get some work done by the government. It takes ages to obtain a Birth Certificate, a Marriage Certificate or a Death Certificate. At the loss of a relative, some families spend more time in obtaining the Death Certificate than in mourning. Will ICT change anything?
Simplicity. That is what ICT can bring. Also transparency and agility. As I mentioned earlier, ICT benefits must be for everyone. Eighty percent of the Sri Lankan population is rural. We must rethink whether the benefits of projects we have implemented so far have reached the rural community.
I don’t think that happened. We cannot be complacent about the results. We will build a system for people to access government services from their own homes. They do not have to come to Colombo. There will be one service window. Think the conveniences that would bring. The cost will be less. Road traffic will come down. There will be almost no opportunities for fraud. Transparency is assured. Some ask me whether we can achieve all these practically. Yes, we can. We must have the correct approach. We need the support of the leaders and public.
The foundation of such a system should be the unique digital identity. If it was possible for one to have a fake Identity Card, the entire objective of the process is lost. President wants to correct that. Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity project is our first step. It will stop from one being Siripala today and Wimalasena a month later with forged identities. There will be only one identity for each individual and vice versa.
Today we store hard copies of birth certificates at multiple places. When we ask for a government service, we have to resubmit a copy of the Birth Certificate. In future, government will not repeatedly ask for your birth certificate copies. Say, if you were to apply for a driving license. You just have to place your finger print. The computer traces your birth certificate.
Let’s dig a bit more on this. How does the proposed ID card vary from the current one? What additions we have in the new one?
Theoretically t he plastic card is not essential. We can do without it. Still considering the practical issues, we will maintain the card too. There may be few changes. In addition everyone gets what we call a ‘Digital Identity’. Every child is assigned a number at birth. That is called ‘SLIN’ – Sri Lanka Identification Number. One’s Digital Identity is based on the SLIN number. That is safe and secure.
In the current Identity Card only the face of an individual identifies him. The new system goes beyond. We will take finger marks. We will also use iris recognition, an automated method of biometric identification based on the irises of an individual’s eyes. With that we can identify a person at a distance. Even if the face is partially covered we will know one by the eyes. This too will be a part of the digital identity. Then we let different government institutes use the data in providing digital services.
Let’s say we share our data with a private firm in this process. What guarantee we have for their protection? Cannot they be transferred across borders? What guarantee we have that our data will not be exposed to unwanted parties?
No, let me correct. Such data will never be released for a foreign firm. They will be stored only in cloud within our own boundaries. We have Lanka Government Cloud (LGC) for such purposes.
In fact, we face that risk more today. You provide your personal information every time you expect a service. Think how much information you provide to your telecom operator for getting a new SIM.
In future, we will have controls. Unless otherwise permitted by the citizen, we will not issue personal data to anyone. Say you want to open a bank account. The bank wants to run an EKYC process. We will not issue personal data without first requesting for consent.
What’s more for the people in digital transformation? How the poorest of poor in society can benefit from ICT? What are your plans?
With the new mandate, we have been given new responsibilities too. We will not be doing the same old things we did always. We will focus more on what we call ‘Technology Diffusion’. That will be taking technology to people.
We are an agricultural society. These days we mock the clay industry. We easily forget it is one of our key industries. Not everyone knows that even aluminum is derived from clay. We have clay pots at every home. The scope is not limited to that. The list of clay products is long. Still we have not produced many in that list.
President realized t he i mportance of this industry as a result of his continuous interactions with people. The same is true for batik industry, which now has an international spread. A large population depends of batik.
There are many such small scale industries that can benefit from ICT. Women in Jaffna make baskets for Rs. 150 that is sold for Rs. 1,500 in Colombo. Sadly the profit does not reach the manufacturer. We direct ICT to develop these industries with the intention of helping both the producer and the buyer.
We create increasingly complex systems now. In such environment what guarantee we have for the security of our information systems? How can we protect our systems from cyber attacks? Are we really safe?
Cyber threats are common hazards everywhere. We will give highest priority to moves against such threats. Our sister institute Sri Lanka CERT | CC too plays a critical role in this. I think centralization is more a solution.
I do not wish to go into details as this is a sensitive area, but assure we have taken all the steps within our control meet this immense challenge. Considering the steps we have already taken the chances of cyber attacks against our systems would be rare.
We have seen State institutions following their own standards building information systems. Will that be the same in future too?
According to our new mandate, every State institute must first consult ICTA in their digitalization efforts. We find excellent systems in some government organizations. On the other hand, some have not shown results to the level anticipated. That nonuniformity will disappear in future. We cannot let anyone fail. There will be common standards for everyone to work.
Is the legal framework in Sri Lanka fully ready to take over digital transformation challenges? What are the changes you plan to bring in there?
We have seen in other countries how legal impediments delay the implementation of ICT projects. The case here is different.
In fact, it might surprise you that Sri Lanka is leading most of the other countries in this regard. We have even guided the rest. ICTA in its history has played a key role in that. We have a legal advisory division at ICTA led by perhaps the most knowledgeable senior lawyer on ICT laws. We have the relevant legal framework already done. We need only to get them approved by the Cabinet and the Parliament. I am sure that will address all the gaps in the current framework we have.
Another key challenge is improving computer literacy in Sri Lanka. While they use e-voting systems in nearby India, we follow the traditional systems. Can we be satisfied with the current computer literacy levels? Shouldn’t that be improved too?
Good question. We have made it a top priority in the National Digital Policy we designed.
Our computer literacy levels are sufficiently high. We should feel happy about that. But we will not stop there. We must move forward. Our approach is twofold. Firstly, we must build the ICT capacity among state sector employees. We cannot go on saying they lack necessary skills. We must start somewhere.
So we commenced training 500 officers in State sector as Chief Innovative Officers. Not just Chief Information Officers, we go beyond that. So, through them we build the ICT capacity in the entire organization. We have a target of making the entire state sector highly computer literate by 2024.
Secondly, the public. We cannot do the same with them. We are satisfied with 70 percent computer literacy among public. We plan to start new projects achieving these objectives. You might remember once we had Nenasalas. That network is no more fully operational. We will rethink and remodel Nenasalas network to meet today’s challenges. We also work with Universities. There too we plan a significant transformation.
Talking about universities, do you think the number of ICT graduates we produce today is sufficient for digital economy needs?
No, it is not. We need more ICT graduates for the industry. We all know where the problem is. Large numbers of students who pass GCE Advanced Level do not enter into state universities. So we need to pave alternative paths for them. We should not penalize them for not meeting the entrance criteria by 1-2 marks.
In addition, we must train our students in Research and Development. Sri Lanka’s younger generation is smart and capable. I realised t hat when working with my employees in one of the international level private sector organization few years back. We have a plan to introduce research/innovation labs at every university. Private Sector has already offered their support.
We can direct R&D in ICT to solve complex problems in society like Human-elephant conflict. If not both humans and elephants continue to suffer. We must find a high technology based solution. One of the best ways is to fund university students to come with their own solutions. You may remember Prof. Senarat Paranawithana used undergrads for his research at Sigiriya. We will do the same. We will provide university students opportunities to work in national level projects.
World economy is currently undergoing a setback. Situation in Sri Lanka is not too different. Under such unhelpful conditions, do you think Sri Lanka will find adequate funds for all activities you spoke about?
COVID-19 has somewhat changed our plans, but more to a positive side. From what I hear through industry organizations like Sri Lanka Association for Software Services Companies (SLASSCOM) and Federation of Information Technology Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS), we now have more global opportunities than we had before. I don’t think any obstacle is big enough to hinder the digital transformation that we undergo today.
Finally, tell us about ICTA. What really happens there now?
We now have a Director Board with individuals with long and wide experience in private sector. They have had international exposure. They are successful self-made individuals. They work for ICTA not for financial returns but to be a part of a national endeavour. We will not be able to achieve our goals unless we have leaders of that caliber. I assure you the integrity of ICTA Board.
We will plan to bring new blood to our organization. Many are ready to join us even on voluntary basis. Typically private sector firms in IT compensate their employees generously. One boy who previously worked for me said he would like to join for one third of the package he could expect in the market. They are so eager to join us because they know we take a genuine effort in building the nation.
The moment the responsibility was handed over to us, we drew a plan for five years. We now move forward according to that. In my opinion, this is the last chance we have. Digital transformation cannot be achieved just by the President, Ministers and MPS. We all have to work as one keeping politics aside.