. Sam Pitroda identifies five broadband priorities which IT has hauled into the realm of the possible.

We can do it.

This is the attitude that we must have if we are going to make India a powerful nation in the new millennium. It is not going to be easy. But let's not be daunted by the magnitude of the mission.

When I look at India, I think of the tremendous potential that we have, and I am sure that we can reach our goal. To get there, we need to address five key areas on a priority basis.

The first of these areas is to change the way that politics functions in India. Right now, it is based on personalities and promises. We need to move away from this and focus instead on performance and productivity. We need to zero in on issues that need to be tackled on a war footing, and find the right champions to do it. We need energetic, open, honest, committed, concerned, courageous, educated, experienced, accomplished, selfless individuals who are prepared to sacrifice in the service of the people. We need people who will be willing to give to the system, not just take from it.

We also need to change the existing parliamentary system into a presidential form of government. Give leaders the time to implement programmes with autonomy and the appropriate checks and balances. Also give them the flexibility to select people who will accomplish something. Simultaneously, we must change the Central power structure and empower the states in virtually all areas of governance. This will enable them to contribute more to the building of the nation. After all, each state in India is the size of a small nation in Europe.

Secondly, let's tap the developments in information technology (IT) and expedite the process of nation-building using these tools. We have a huge resource base of computer professionals but most often their energy is harnessed to solving other people's problems in the advanced countries of the world. When are we going to use their skills to solve the problems in our own backyard?

IT solutions can help us tackle problems in core areas of governance, commerce, finance, education, health, agriculture, environment, legal issues and employment. From opening a bank account to getting admission to a university, we are forced to fill innumerable forms and this puts bureaucratic hurdles in the way of people. Let's use IT to simplify life and enable people to get things done faster and with less hassles.

Thirdly, we need to exploit IT to fulfil basic human needs related to food, water, sanitation, literacy and health. We cannot hope for development if only a small percentage of the population is empowered with basic needs and the rest is left out of the picture. We must work towards cent per cent literacy, ten million new jobs per year, and ensuring that the economy grows at ten per cent a year. To achieve this, we must not train people to take jobs, instead we must train them to create jobs. The present educational system prepares students to become clerks. We need to change this so that a college graduate is enthused to solve society's problems creatively; is motivated with a sense of mission, not just the search for a job.

Fourthly, I believe it is possible to realise Mahatma Gandhi's dream of a self-sufficient village community through IT applications. When we are connected to the world, we can be anywhere with one call or one click -- we can create a virtual presence. We are already working toward setting up a fibre optic backbone in some states and this will enable high-speed connectivity and multimedia content to be exchanged at a rapid rate. Once this is in place, we do not need to always be in the urban centres, which are already showing the wear and tear that the strain of growing population brings. Maybe, we can even reverse this migration back to the villages.

This brings me to the fifth key component of our challenge. And in many ways, the most difficult to tackle -- the mindset. Let me ask you this question: what is India's national agenda? Do you know? Does anyone know? That is the key to positive change -- a national agenda to reflect the multiple dreams and cultural diversity of India. We need to articulate our vision of where India is heading. Even a child should know this and must work toward this common vision. All kinds of groups have their individual agendas, but collectively we need to be clear about what we want India to be. It is basically about our mindset. We need to create a sense of urgency, hasten the process of development, build consensus by public debate, create a climate for a new order and new ideas, and set priorities.

And we must encourage innovation. Currently, we do not encourage people to think differently and give wild ideas a hearing. There should be a paradigm shift from command and control to cooperation and coordination.

The Internet will be a key tool in shaping many of these changes. Through the backbones and the Internet Community Centres (ICC) that are in the pipeline, this vision will be within the grasp of many more people than it is now. And hopefully can become like the STD/ISD booths that have now become an integral part of the Indian landscape following the telecom mission. The ICC, where access to computers will be available for public use, will pave the way for e-governance.

We do not need experts to tell us what the problems are. We need experts who will come up solutions and have the will to make them work. And IT can provide us with solutions. After all, Indians are highly talented in mathematics, and we have a large pool of software talent. Let's cash in on these.

We have this chance right now. And it is important that we do not miss it because it may not be here for us again.

(Sam Pitroda is chairman and CEO of WorldTel, an organisation set up by the International Telecommunications Union and committed to developing communications infrastructures on a commercial basis in the Third World. He spoke to R Edwin Sudhir from Chicago)