IT Professional
Forum (ITPF), which is formally registered at
the Chief District Officer's (CDO) Office, Kathmandu
and Social Welfare Council as a non government
& non profit making organization, is a team of
well established IT Professionals. ITPF members
represent private, semi-government, government,
academic and financial institutions in Nepal.
Its members are well versed in their specific
fields of specialization and have created success
stories in their respective areas of business
and services. ITPF is also associated with the
Social Welfare Council of Nepal and is an institutional
member of the Computer Association of Nepal (CAN).
ITPF has done a lot of policy research with respect
to IT policies, Electronic Transaction & Digital
Signature Act, regulations, VOIP, IPR, e-commerce,
e-procurement, e-governance etc. and provided
its assistance to His Majesty's Government (HMG)
in the past. The Forum is also involved in various
other activities such as tech talks on IT development,
Y2K test, highly professional software training,
curriculum development and review for ICT, and
other computer training programs. More importantly,
it is designing a quality certification test for
the ICT professionals, "The IT Proficiency Test".
Vision
The main aim of this project is to plan for the
provision of business incubation services to promote
business innovation and private sector development
in Nepal. Such business incubation services should
be planned through the integration and more effective
use of information and communication technologies
(ICT) into the business and small enterprise development
process.
The ultimate goal is to build local capacity in
the target business communities, raise awareness
and promote the appropriation and utilization
of ICT by local entrepreneurs and small businesses
as tools to address their short- and long-term
development goals, and facilitating the creation
of a global incubator network for exchanging ideas
and formulating best practices and lessons learned
for designing and implementing business incubators
in developing countries. The aim is to mobilize
resources and build capacity within organizations
in developing countries based on the available
experience and best practices from across the
world, catalyzing further investment and support
from domestic and international organizations,
and to document experiences in utilizing ICT to
help
infoDev and ITPF better understand
the impact of ICT on establishing business incubators
in developing countries.
Objectives
- To play a catalytic role for the IT-led
development in Nepal.
- To advise policy-makers and industry on
IT related issues.
- To provide a platform for IT knowledge-sharing
between national and international IT professionals.
- To explore the international market for
Nepali-IT industry.
- To serve the nation by offering quality
certification to IT programs.
- To represent IT Professionals of Nepal.
Achievements
The IT Professional Forum has been able to contribute
substantially to the government, public enterprises,
constitutional bodies, private enterprises, the
ICT Industry, academia, and the society as a whole.
Some of its remarkable services are outlined below.
Drafting of Regulations for Electronic Transaction
Ordinance 2061.
His Majesty's Government, Ministry of Science
& Technology has awarded a contract to ITPF on
January 12, 2004 for drafting rules and regulations
that will (i) invoke the articles of the Electronic
Transaction and Digital Signature Act as soon
as it will be enacted by an ordinance, and (ii)
supplement the act in other matters which are
unclear and undefined in the act itself. The project
will be completed within April 2004.
e-Procurement in His Majesty's Government
of Nepal
A study was conducted in order to create awareness
in the area of electronic procurement in Nepal
and to promote the implementation of such a system
in government purchasing. The study received a
very positive response from civil servants, private
entrepreneurs and other stakeholders; they supported
the idea of implementing e-Procurement in the
country. The study has come up with a viable project
proposal for the execution of e-Procurement as
a pilot project in the government. The study was
completed with the financial assistance of the
Asia Foundation in Nepal.
Talk Program on Knowledge Management
ITPF Professionals organized a one-day talk program
on Knowledge Management and ICT situation in Nepal
at the Royal Nepal Academy of Science and Technology
(RONAST).
Nepal Information and Communication Technology
2003
A study of Nepal's capabilities in the field of
Information and Communication Technology was completed
and the findings were compiled on a CD-ROM as
well as in a book. The CD-ROM was distributed
to all international participants of the "Asian-Oceanian
Computing Industry Organization (ASOCIO) officers
Meeting" with the cooperation of the Computer
Association of Nepal. The book was distributed
to all the participants of the Non-Resident Nepalese
conference in Kathmandu with the cooperation of
the Federation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce. The
Asia Foundation supported the publication of the
book.
Consultation, documentation and advocacy
regarding the draft IT Bill
A study and analysis of the "Electronic Transaction
and Digital Signature Act (Draft) and related
acts and regulations" was conducted to identify
the weaknesses and/ or strengths of the act with
special regard to eCommerce, Intellectual Property
Right (IPR) and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).
ITPF subsequently published the report and has
continuously been advocating (with the Government
and stakeholders) for the early enactment of the
act. The study was successfully completed with
the cooperation of the Asia Foundation in Nepal.
Research and Study on IT database
ITPF advocated and submitted a proposal to the
Ministry of Science and Technology, His majesty's
Government to conduct research and analysis for
the building of a national IT database and to
develop a suitable work plan for its growth.
Curriculum Development
The Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Engineering
course was reviewed and a suitable curriculum
was developed for the Tribhuvan University's Institute
of Engineering. A computer training course was
developed for CTEVT (Council for Technical Education
and Vocational Training).
Training on Object Oriented System Design
and Development
This training program was conducted in association
with the Nepal AOTS Alumni Association and was
partially funded by CICC, Japan. 20 enthusiastic
programmers participated from organizations like
Nepal Telecommunication Corporation, Professional
Computer System, Computer Advance, CORE, InfoCom,
etc.
Y2K Compliance test for Lumbini Bank
As Lumbini Bank had wanted to move safely to the
new millennium, an on-site compliance test for
the year 2000 was conducted for the bank and a
certificate of compliance was issued.
Talk program on VRML and demonstration of
virtual reality sites
A talk program on virtual reality was organized.
Forty participants from the information communication
industry participated. The program was conducted
by Paniaras T. Yannis from the United States.
Cybermatha Kathmandu provided required equipment
and facilities.
Previous
Grants
ITPF has not yet received any grant from
infoDev,
although it has received grants from other organizations
such as The Asia Foundation. The grants from the
Asia Foundation were for the preparation of ICT
policy recommendation - Preparation of ICT Success
Stories/ Profile for Nepal and preparation of
a Consultation, Documentation & Advocacy Report
on Electronic Procurement for the Government of
Nepal. The Asia Foundation is further interested
in implementing a Pilot Project on e-Procurement
in the government of Nepal. ITPF has been holding
discussions with the prospective local and/ or
central government agencies for the implementation
of the e-Procurement Pilot Project. A summary
of the work done with these and other grants is
presented in the table below.
| Donor |
Project |
Project Status |
Project Output |
| International Center
for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD),
Nepal |
Information Technology
Proficiency Test (ITPT)
(1999-2000) |
Completed |
ITPT Concept Report |
| The Asia Foundation,
USANepal Country Office |
ICT Policy Assessment
and Recommendation
Preparation of ICT Success Stories in Nepal
(2001-2002) |
Completed |
ICT Policy Recommendation
(Published Book)Nepal ICT 2003 |
The Asia Foundation,
USA
Nepal Country Office |
e-Procurement in the
Government of Nepal
(2002-2003) |
Completed |
e-Procurement in the
Government of Nepal (in press) |
| Ministry of Science
& Technology, His Majesty's Government of
Nepal |
Drafting of Regulations
to invoke the Electronic Transaction & Digital
Signature Act
(January-April 2004) |
Ongoing |
Draft Regulation, organization
of workshop, and submission to the Government
for enactment. |
Executive
Committee (EC)
ITPF is managed by an executive committee comprising
of a President, two Vice Presidents, a General
Secretary, a Treasurer, a Secretary and five Executive
Members. Regular EC meetings are held every week.
There are five Work Groups (WG) coordinated by
an executive member and represented by other members
of ITPF. These work groups focus on the following
areas:
- ICT policy, e-Governance, security, legislation
and advocacy;
- Networking among stakeholders, tech talks,
seminars, workshops, publications, and media;
- IT Proficiency Test (ITPT);
- Membership; and
- Projects.
Background of Executive Members
A brief introduction of the executive members
of ITPF is presented below. This introduction
reflects the diversity of representation in ITPF.
Suresh Kumar Regmi, President
Mr. Regmi is a graduate (Electrical Engineering)
of Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology, India
and has a Master's degree in Computation from
the University of Manchester's Institute of Science
& Technology. He has been working in the Information
Technology (IT) field in Nepal since 1982 and
also has been a short-term consultant to the FAO.
He started his career from the National Computer
Center (NCC) and also has the experience of teaching
at Kathmandu University (KU). He is currently
the Managing Director of Professional Computer
Systems P. Ltd. (PCS), Chairman of the IT Subject
Committee in Kathmandu University (KU), and Member
of subject committees in Tribhuvan University
and Pokhara University. He has also held the responsibility
of the General Secretary of the Computer Association
of Nepal (CAN) in the past. Mr Regmi has been
responsible for the development of application
systems in various national projects such as the
Population Census (1991), the Integrated Voters
Registration System (IVRS), the Election Results
Information System (ERIS), and the Games Management
System (GMS) for the eighth SAF Games.
Mahesh Singh Kathayat, Vice President, Internal
Affairs
Mr. Kathayat obtained a Master in Computer Engineering
degree from the Tashkent Institute of Technology
in 1988. Afterwards he worked at the National
Computer Center as a Hardware Engineer for some
time. He also worked for some time as a Lecturer
in the Electronics Department of the Institute
of Engineering, TU. Now he is heading the Computer
Division of Nepal Police. During the past 12 years
he has been continuously working in the IT sector.
Besides being a Systems Engineer he has also been
the Project Coordinator for the development of
different Application Software (in the client
server environment with Oracle RDBMS and UNIX)
for his mother organization. He also works as
a consultant to different government and private
organizations upon request.
Khusbu Sarkar Shrestha, Vice President, External
Affairs
Mr. Shrestha is the founder and CEO of Nepal Software,
a full-service CD-ROM and Web Development company
that helps companies produce inspiring, high-impact
products and promotional media. Mr. Shrestha is
Nepal's pioneering and leading developer of interactive
multimedia CD-ROMs which have earned more than
rupees fifteen million since 1997. Mr. Shrestha's
team of top-notch industry professionals prides
itself in being able to provide custom-designed,
highly-effective multimedia tools to its clients.
One of his CD-ROMs recently bagged the PATA Gold
Award.
Jyoti Tandukar, General Secretary
Mr. Jyoti Tandukar is an Electronic Engineer with
ten years of experience in the computer industry.
He is an Assistant Professor at the Department
of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Institute
of Engineering, TU. He obtained his Masters degree
in Electronic Engineering from the University
of Wales, UK, with Distinction and came First
Class First. He has also been honored with the
Excellent Achievement Award while he was in a
Software Training in Japan. He possesses an excellent
academic record, including his standing Fifth
in the S.L.C. Board Examination. He is a recipient
of many scholarships, and has a diversified professional
experience especially in computing, teaching,
and publishing. He has been publishing CORExpress,
the only native Computer Magazine of Nepal, since
1993. His unique software "Galaincha" for carpet
designing, editing, graphing, and wool estimating
has claimed a wide acceptance and appreciation
in the industry here and abroad.
Lochan Lal Amatya, Treasurer
Mr. Amatya has a Master of Engineering degree
from the Lvov Order of the Lenin Polytechnic Institute,
USSR. He has been working with the Nepal Telecommunications
Corporation (NTC) since 1986. He was involved
in the computerization activities of the NTC from
the very beginning. he has been responsible for
the in-house development of software systems for
the billing, cash collection, and customer care
functions of NTC. Besides his responsibilities
in software development he also heads the computer
networking and maintenance team. He is currently
a senior executive engineer in the Computer Department
of NTC. He was the President of the Computer Association
of Nepal (CAN) for the period 2000-2002. He has
worked as the national coordinator for the ITU
RAS project for Telecom Software Development.
He has participated in various IT related short-term
courses in different parts of the world. He also
works as a computer consultant to various organizations.
Currently he is the chairman of the Academy of
Information Technology where he devotes his time
after his duties at NTC.
Rajesh Kumar Shakya, Secretary
Rajesh Kumar Shakya, M.E. in Computer Engineering,
is an expert in the design and implementation
of e-Business Solutions (B2C, B2B), Enterprise
Knowledge Management, Content Management Solutions
and P2P Collaboration solutions. He has participated
in many national and international seminars on
e-commerce, e-Governance and ICT as the speaker
or resource person. He was awarded the Mahendra
Vidhya Bhusan by Late King Birendra Bir Bikram
Shah Dev. He is also an expert in n-tier client/server
systems and Internet, Intranet and Extranet development
using Visual Basic, Visual C++/MFC/ATL, ASP, MTS,
COM/DCOM, Java with Servlets and EJB and SQL Server
and Oracle. Mr. Shakya is the President/CEO of
Hitechvalley iNet Pvt. Ltd.. Hitechvalley iNet
has implemented several world-class e-solutions
for its clients in the USA, Canada, UK, Denmark,
Holland, Japan, Korea and other countries.
Shashi Bhattarai, Executive Member
Mr. Bhattarai, Bachelor of Engineering, University of Roorkee, India and a Master of Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand. Mr. Bhattarai is currently Development Research Engineer at Integrated Consultants Nepal, ICON. Mr. Bhattarai had served as Chief of the Special Projects and Coordination Branch at the Nepal Industrial Development Corporation (NIDC), also headed the South Asian Development Fund (SADF) Secretariat and the IT Unit at NIDC. Mr. Bhattarai has experiences with a wide range of private and public sector project identification studies, feasibility studies, appraisals and financing. His fifteen plus years of experience includes the execution of projects financed by local consortia of financial institutions as well as those supported by bilateral, multilateral and international agencies. Mr. Bhattarai has received many awards including the Joint Japan/World Bank Graduate Scholarship Program (JJ/WBGSP) award, the UNDP fellowship, as well as performance recognition award and letters of appreciation from NIDC. He was also the recipient of a training award from AOTS and CICC, Japan and conference participation grant awards form DFID, UK and Creative Decisions Foundation, USA. He is member of international organizing committee for ISAHP 2005 at Hawaii (www.ISAHP2005.net). Mr. Bhattarai's current interest is in Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) based Multi Criteria Decision Support System (MCDSS) application in business, industry and development.
Bhushan Narshinga Pradhan, Executive Member
Mr. Bhushan Narsingha Pradhan is a graduate of
Motilal Nehru Regional Engineering College (MNREC)
in India from where he obtained a degree in Electronics
Engineering (B.E.). Subsequently, he received
a Master of Science degree in Geoinformatics from
the International Institute of Geo-Information
and Earth Observation in the Netherlands. He is
currently working as a Computer Officer at the
Department of Land Information & Archive which
is in the process of developing and implementing
a nation-wide land information system in Nepal.
Mr. Pradhan is involved in the design and development
of the attribute (text) and spatial (geometry)
components of the cadastre (parcel) based land
information system. His IT-experiences also include
the services he has rendered in the fields of
computer hardware and networks/internet as a system
engineer/consultant.
Prashant Lal Shrestha, Executive Member
Mr. Shrestha is a Graduate in Computer Science
Engineering from Karnataka University, India.
He has been working in the Information Technology
(IT) field in Nepal since 1993. He is currently
the Chairman of the Academy of Information Technology
Pvt. Ltd. (AIT). He started his career as a Computer
Instructor in a private computer training Institute
and then went on to become a Computer Teacher/
Consultant for some Schools. He has been involved
in the curriculum development of the three year
Diploma course in computer science (a vocational
training course) designed by the Center for Technical
Education and Vocational Training (CTEVT) and
the curriculum development for the Human Resource
Development Program designed by the Ministry of
Science and Technology (MOST). Currently he is
a consultant for the monitoring and evaluation
activity of the Human Resource Development Program
conducted under the Ministry of Science and Technology
(MOST). Mr. Shrestha has received a training award
on Project Management for System Development by
the Center of the International Cooperation for
Computerization (CICC) in Japan and has been honored
with the Excellent Achievement Award. Mr. Shrestha
has been responsible for the Application System
Development for various projects such as the Welfare
Management System of Nepal Telecommunications
Corporation (NTC) and the Clinical Management
System of ADRA Nepal .
Shiv Bhushan Lal, Executive Member
Mr. Lal has a Master of Technology degree in Management
and Systems from the Center for Management Studies
of the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi
and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science
from the Order of the Lenin Lvov Polytechnic Institute,
USSR. He started his professional career as an
Assistant Executive Engineer in the Nepal Telecommunications
Corporation in 1982 and become the Manager of
the Computer Department there in 2002. He is involved
in the planning, human resource development, and
computerization activities of the NTC and in the
implementation of various telecom projects. He
has taken various IT related courses conducted
in different parts of the world. He is also an
associated faculty member of the Faculty of Management,
Tribhuvan University and teaches courses in Management
Information system and Decision Support System
to the students in the Master of Business Studies
program.
Binod Vaidya, Executive Member Mr. Vaidya
obtained his M.Sc. degree in Radio Communication
and Radio Broadcasting Engineering from the Odessa
Electronic Institute of Communication, Odessa,
Ukraine, in 1993. He is an Assistant Professor
at the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University,
and since the last five years he has been affiliated
with the Centre for Information Technology of
the Institute. He is involved in designing and
implementing a wireless network system in the
Zero Energy House of the Centre. He is also the
coordinator for the CISCO Networking Academy Program
at the Department of Electronics and Computer
Engineering, which is implementing Internet Service
via VSAT, Computer Network System and Campus Backbone
Network using fiber optics.
