The Minister of State for Information Technology and Communications, Shakeel Ahmed announced that the IT laws would be strengthened to deal with data crime. He was responding to the suggestions made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology for amendments to the IT law.

Referring to the e-governance project of his department, he said that Rs.25,000 crores has been earmarked for over five years.

Nikhil Kumar, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology, emphasised the need for creating a safer information society and preventing cyber crimes. He said the Standing Committee had spent a lot of time in examining issues relating to security of cyber space and had taken evidence from across the country, in order to propose amendment to the IT law.