The Indian technology industry association Nasscom has made it very clear that it is fully committed to support the nation to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
Nasscom has pointed out the devastating impact of the second wave of Covid-19 is being felt across the country and its economic and social impact is unprecedented.
The association has pointed out that the current scenario calls for greater partnership and collaboration across industries and the government.
Nasscom in its letter to the Prime Minister has made three critical asks which will enable the industry to do more and act faster to help the country navigate the second wave and be better prepared to deal with future waves.
Temporary Relaxation in FCRA Conditions: Many countries and global companies are providing aid to India and are helping the healthcare infrastructure deal with the surge. However, the amended provisions of the FCRA Act 2020 are proving to be a deterrent. Given the humanitarian crisis, we would request the government to grant a temporary waiver to the FCRA Act and the 2020 amendments. This will enable NGOs to transfer funds between two FCRA approved NGOs and non-FCRA approved NGOs.
Liberalizing Vaccine Import: While the vaccination regime has been liberalized, the availability of vaccines particularly for the private sector continues to be very challenging. While we are attempting to source available vaccines in India, we request the government to provide emergency use authorization for all WHO-approved vaccines – Pfizer, Moderna, J & J, and others that have gone through stringent approval process globally, to ensure there is no vaccine divide in the country.
Need for an effective data utilization strategy: Data and AI have a critical role to play for India to deal with the Covid crisis. NASSCOM in July last year had called for an urgent imperative for the country to build a data utilization strategy. Covid tracking and vaccination, insights, and analytics from data could play a key role in decision making and early warning signals. Data is one of the most strategic ammunition available to manage the pandemic and respond better. We must ensure effective access to data for insights and planning, across all states and key departments, on a priority.
Nasscom is the premier trade body and chamber of commerce of Indian tech industry with over 3000-member companies. Its membership spans across the entire spectrum of the industry from startups to multinationals and from products to services, Global Capability Centres to Engineering firms.
Guided by India’s vision to become a leading digital economy globally, Nasscom focuses on accelerating the pace of transformation of the industry to emerge as the preferred enablers for global digital transformation.
The association’s strategic imperatives are to reskill and upskill India’s IT workforce to ensure that talent is future-ready in terms of new-age skills, strengthen the innovation quotient across industry verticals, create new market opportunities – both international and domestic, drive policy advocacy to advance innovation and ease of doing business, and build the Industry narrative with focus on Talent, Trust and Innovation. A
