| Michael Gurstein on Fri, 27 Jul 2001 15:39:59 +0200 (CEST) |
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| <nettime> Fw: [do-asia] NEWS: Indian help sought for global 'e-parliament' |
----- Original Message ----- From: "Frederick Noronha" <[email protected]> To: "Cybercom Cyber Community of India List" <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, July 23, 2001 4:09 AM Subject: [do-asia] NEWS: Indian help sought for global 'e-parliament' > India-IT-Parliament > > Indian help sought for global 'e-parliament' > > by Imran Qureshi, Indo-Asian News Service > > Bangalore, July 17 (IANS) India's information technology (IT) industry has > been asked to provide massive technological backing for an effort to set up > a global "e-parliament". > > Indian IT would facilitate the meeting of 25,000 elected representatives, > discussing and debating on problems confronting the world. It could, > perhaps, change the way the world thinks and decides on such issues as AIDS, > population growth, children's rights and strengthening of the United > Nations. > > "The concept of an e-parliament is a fantastic one. Their ideas could well > change the way the world is run today. It's a mammoth job that only a > consortium of IT companies here can meet," the CEO of a big IT company, who > did not want to be identified, told IANS here. > > He was speaking after two elected members of Parliament, Bert Koenders of > the Netherlands and India's Mani Shankar Iyer, explained the concept of an > "e-parliament" to 30 CEOs of top Indian IT companies at the home office of > Karnataka Chief Minister S.M. Krishna during a closed door meeting. > Karnataka's capital Bangalore is also India's IT capital. > > The idea of an e-parliament is, on the face of it, a simple one. It links up > existing national lawmakers into a democratic global body in a bid to solve > the world's problems. > > Those backing the effort say the existing international forum -- the U.N. -- > has in its present form proved ineffective during several crises, for > instance when it failed to prevent close to a million Rwandans being killed. > > "The U.N. is equally unable to act effectively to protect the global > environment and lacks the adequate resources in its fight against poverty. > Yet national executive branches tend to be opposed to a stronger United > Nations because they see it as a competitor for influence. An e-parliament > caucus on strengthening the U.N. could develop concrete proposals to make > the U.N. more democratic and effective," a document given to the CEOs said. > > The proposal for a step-by-step development of an e-parliament has come from > EarthAction in collaboration with the Harvard Program on Negotiation, One > World Now, the World Federation of United Nations Associations, the > Humanitarian Group for Social Development and a group of national lawmakers > from all parts of the world. > > The e-parliament would have caucuses on, say, AIDS or children's rights. The > formal structure could resemble a national parliament with committees > monitoring work of major international institutions. It would also have an > e-forum that would process proposals and get them approved by e-parliament > and transmit them to national parliaments for consideration and action. > > "Iyer and Koenders, along with Nicholas Dunlop (executive director, > EarthAction, Britain) are coming for a one-on-one discussion. So we will be > able to ask them questions on how they want the Web site to be developed. We > did discuss the question of funding because it means a big project," said > the chief of another IT major. > > Karnataka state government officials say they were informed by Dunlop and > Koenders that the concept had been appreciated by people like CNN's Ted > Turner and Microsoft's Bill Gates, who were also prepared to provide funds > for the setting up of the online facility. > > Karnataka's capital, of course, is pitching for something big if the IT > companies respond positively to the proposal. "After becoming India's IT > capital and one of the technology hubs of Asia, it will become the virtual > capital of the world if the Web site is hosted here," said a senior > government official. > > --Indo-Asian News Service > > *********************************************************** > frederick noronha, freelance journalist, [email protected] > near convent, saligao 403511 goa india 0091.832.409490/ 409783 > *********************************************************** > Bytes For All http://www.bytesforall.org > News from Goa http://www.goacom.com/news/ > Photos from Goa http://www.goa-world.net/fotofolio/ > FotoFolio@Yahoo http://in.photos.yahoo.com/fredericknoronha > GoaResearchNet http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1503 > *********************************************************** > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! 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