The government has decided to give special attention to IT, science and space technology in the upcoming budget and has proposed to allocate around Rs 18.5 billion for these sectors.
According to media reports, despite the financial difficulties, the government proposed to allocate a substantial budget for information technology, agriculture and space research during the next financial year. The amount is Rs 1 billion more than what was proposed in the previous budget.
The development budget will include 37 science and technology projects, including space research. There would be 41 projects of the IT Ministry. The development plan also includes projects to locally manufacture smart cards, mobile SIMs and chips.
Special funds will be allocated for smart policing, protection & monitoring of digital activities to combat cybercrime. Along with this, the online Satellite Image and Pakistan Multi-Mission Communication Project are part of the development planning.
It is also proposed to allocate funds for Pakistan Digital Economy Cloud Data Center Karachi and IT Park Freelancers Training.