Dear GKD members,
Throughout our discussion we have asked, "Will ICTs help in India's rural
development ?" One view is voiced by Dr. Martin Lees Rector of the United
Nations University of Peace, who would answer that question by saying,
"Most definitely not." We may not agree with him but it is important to
take into cognizance the University of Peace's views, as it was set up in
1980 by Mr. Rodrigo Carazo, former President of Costa Rica, on the
initiative of the United Nations General Assembly, and the University
specifically examines extreme inequalities in access to, and control of,
resources including knowledge and opportunity. For my own country, India's,
stand-point Dr. Lees' views are very important to consider, as in 1988, at
the request of Chinese Premier Zhao Xiyang, he initiated a program "China
and the World in the Nineties", an international consortium of world
leaders to advise Chinese leaders on its economy. As part of this effort,
Dr. Lees established "The China council for International Cooperation on
Environment and Development".
Dr.Lees feels even though 200-300 million people are moving ahead in India,
there are still 700-800 million people who are not participating properly
in the growth process. The most important factor in India is the
demographic expansion -- the best assessment of India's population growth,
1.5-1.6 billion people in the next 50 years or so, is a tremendous
challenge not only for the government of India, but also for the world in
general.
Perhaps the most accurate answer to the question I raised above is to say
that we must set our priorities carefully, and ICTs *alone* can't bring
about rural development. The basic problem in India still remains one of
EDUCATION FOR ALL -- 40% OF INDIA'S POPULATION IS ILLITERATE. All modern
economies have demonstrated in the past that education is the first step to
building the capacity which people can then use. If the Indian economy
grows at 5-6 per cent per annum as it has been growing over last 2-3 years,
then over 10-15 years the size of the Indian economy would have doubled.
Even with this level of growth it cannot by any means bridge disparities
and eradicate poverty. Therefore introducing ICTs alone will not meet the
development challenge. For ICTs to succeed in India, education for all must
be the first priority.
It is, of course, important to note that the proportion of the economy
involved in some or other form of adaptation or usage of ICT is still very
small. The proportion of people involved in the ICT Industry, especially in
the rural areas is negligible. Thus, another priority action, in order for
the benefits of ICT to trickle down as well as contribute to the rural
prosperity, would involve setting up several rural and village level
micro-enterprises. For example, under their "Township and Village
Enterprises" program China has set up more than 20 million small
enterprises in the countryside, including hundreds and thousands of
ICT-based enterprises, since the beginning of the 1980s. This has helped :
**create employment in the non-farm sector; and
**prevents vast migration to people from the rural areas
Many similar success stories are indeed beginning to change the face of
rural India. One example is the way ICT has changed the life of a 21 year
old tribal youth Goverdhan, son of a landless Bhil daily wage earner who
takes home not more than US 85 cents per day. Goverdhan has been earning
approximately US$ 80 per month ferreting out crop market rates, e-mailing
villagers grouses, generating caste and land certificates out of his rural
cyber kiosks. On the side, he also teaches village children basic
computing. He was on the verge of giving up plans of going to college for a
degree in history as he had no money to buy books. That was when the Madhya
Pradesh Government under the Gyandoot project (which I described in my
previous message), began to fund rural networked cyberkiosks to offer
villagers a range of services through an Intranet based at the district HQ.
Goverdhan became the first coordinator or a manager of an information
center called soochanalaya in the local language.
Many kiosk operators during lean crop season; earn up to US 25 cents per
page, typing villagers applications, giving US$6 per month of computer
education to the kids or even churning out astrological charts and
forecasts.
Another ICT success story comes from the coastal state of Pondicherry, a
fishing hamlet on the shores of the Bay of Bengal where now loudspeakers
dotted around the fishing villages crackle to life by announcing the
weather forecasts. The announcer also gives the details of the tide, wind
direction and height of the waves. Earlier, the fishermen used to scan the
skies to hazard a guess about possible storms; however now the fishermen
are always prepared even during stormy weather conditions.
Another story comes from the sugar-cane belt : Some 400 kms, south-west of
Bombay, India's industrial capital lies the sugar-cane belt of India where
aged dairy and cane farmer Mahadeobhau Chowgule is happy with a PC
installed in his Pargaon village, which gives him information about the
harvesting time for the crop, the results of the crop sampling (a field
officer from the cooperative takes a sample of the crop of every farmer
which is tested for the volume of the sugar and quality) and a forecast
about the expected yield. The software also keeps records of all his
transactions with the local sugar and milk cooperatives. Previously
Chowgule used to travel some five kms. away a dozen times every year to get
this critical information, to the Warana Sugar Factory, the local cane
growers cooperative; only for getting information about 500 tons of cane
every year. Now, of course, he trusts his computer in Pargaon, which is one
of the 70 villages wired under the Wired Village Project.
Yet such success stories are still very few and far in between. Major
impediments include :
**illiteracy amongst the vast multitude of people
**major power-cuts and `brown-outs' affecting the country-side ranging from
5 to 12 hours every day. Even though uninterrupted power supply systems are
used; yet they prove insufficient to cope up with the power breakdowns.
**serious band-width issues and connectivity problems. Even though
technology is available to upgrade the band-width; not enough resources
have been budgeted by the Government to change this scenario. However once
a few projects for the upgradation of the band-width on the anvil get
commissioned, there should be a significant improvement in the
connectivity.
**financing difficulties encountered by the local grass root level
institutions as well as by the state governments. Drastic steps are needed
to inject funds for the development of the ICTs in the rural areas;
increasingly by the participation of the private sector.
**acute shortage of project leaders and guides who could ensure
implementation of the ICTs at the grass root levels. Unfortunately most
professionals want to work in the urban areas where there are ample
opportunities available to them for growth as well as prosperity. In the
absence of these 'techno-catalytic' resources; development of ICTs in the
rural areas will always be very slow.
However there is no disputing the fact, that the ICTs are paving the way to
digital empowerment, and hopefully to poverty alleviation in India's
hinterland. The ICT revolution has arrived silently in India's heart land
and has also begun kicking!!
Best regards,
Chetan Sharma-President & Founder
Datamation Consultants Pvt. Ltd.
361 Patparganj Industrial Area
Delhi-110 092 (India)
Ph# 91-11-2167230/2167973/2168017/2169162
Mobile# 91-9811039482 Fax# 91-11-2166602/2243087
URL : www.datamationindia.com
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
** Note the information about Dr. Lees came from an Interview of Dr. Martin
Lees published in Frontline February 2001 issue.
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