<nettime> Fw: [do-asia] NEWS: Indian help sought for global 'e-parliament'

["Michael Gurstein" <mgurst@vcn.bc.ca>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frederick Noronha" <fred@bytesforall.org>
To: "Cybercom Cyber Community of India List"
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Cc: <s-asia-it@apnic.net>
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
>
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