The government on Tuesday said that it will soon build the public information infrastructure, PII, to democratize information on a big scale. Discussing on the democratization of information in the first ever press conference on Twitter in the country, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, Mr Sam Pitroda asserted that information is important for development and it needs to be timely available to the people.

Mr Pitroda stressed the need for creating a new paradigm for development. Talking about the UPA government plans to build robust information infrastructure, he said the PII will include a national knowledge network, connecting 1,500 nodes for universities, colleges, research labs and libraries. It will also connect 2.5 lakh panchayats in the country through fibre optics to Mr Pitroda said that it will have far reaching implications on delivery of public services, governance, education, health, agriculture and other areas.

He, however, said that it will require new mindset and commitment of the young to change the course. Mr Pitroda said that information brings about openness, accessibility, transparency, accountability, networking, decentralisation and as a result democratization.