Few days ago, Government of India announced a new policy to include Open Source software(OSS) in Request for Proposals(RFPs). This means that from now on Indian government will consider open source software as an option for all the new procurements.
The government has also released a framework for adoption of Open Source software in e-governance systems. 69 page booklet containing that framework has included all the aspects related to the policy. The framework has also listed some of the famous and typical Open source software for various type of Technologies.
Some of the significant lines from the framework:
Government of India has been promoting the use of open source technologies and has been keenlyencouraging their adoption in the e-Governance movement of the country. Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Government of India has formulated the “Policy on Adoption of Open Source Software for Government of India” to enable effective adoption of OSS and encourage the formal adoption and use of Open Source Software (OSS) in Government Organizations. The policy has been approved and notified.
Adoption of Open Source Software (OSS) has increased worldwide and has led to innovations in implementation of ICT solutions across businesses and Governments. The use of OSS in the key domains of ICT implementation (like application development, internet connectivity, infrastructure, Data Centre and mobile) has helped widespread adoption of open source technologies across the world.
This kind of policies by various governments can certainly boost the development of Open source software to new levels. Moreover, this would also help to implement the Digital India programme in a efficient way.
