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BY
DEBASHISH CHAKRABARTY
This is the age of Information technology, they proudly say. Computer Training Institutes are churning out thousand of youth every-week for fancy careers in IT; governments are too eager to metamorphose into e-governments; print and electronic media have tons of news reports on the advancements being made in the arena. All are feeling elated, as our capability to build faster computers, better graphics cards and superior networks become manifold every day. Yet the Digital divide remains as steady as it has been.
Every now and then, symposiums and seminars would discuss this divide and make sure that it remains there to be discussed next time. I say, what's the use of Information Technology if faster processors solely mean that the elite kid would be able to play better games on his PC, if better network means that all information would be available everywhere with no body to decipher it; if the hertz-race between chip companies does not cast affect on our real-life.
Stupendous networks performing e-business, banks going online, IT is all ease and you need not step out of house to submit your bills. But does that apply to the real India, the rural India? Has healthcare services benefited from IT? Is global medical information available to a village health-center? Will a doctor from Britain be able to assist a
dai[1] in a remote Indian village online, to help deliver a child? It all seems a National Geographic story because actually in the name of applying IT we have merely gone for a system where a data entry operator has replaced a
babu[2] and the right to information helped the government to get rid of its responsibilities by uploading all data on Internet. Who cares if the illiterate
janata[3] doesn't know how to read it!
The latest wireless applications, the ability to acquire latest application software appear pygmy before the necessity to free children from hunger and illiteracy and provide adequate healthcare. The whole concept of applying IT seems isolated from our own reality. How can you put million into buying hardware for bringing e-governance in a village when you actually need hand-pumps to provide clean & safe drinking water to the community.
The developing world is home to an estimated three billion people who have never made a telephone call. Yet many of these including India are racing ahead to show the world that they have indeed brought IT to the masses. South Africa harnessed satellite technology to connect municipalities and collate results of recent elections. Bangladesh's
Grameen[4] Bank operates a mobile telephone system in remote rural villages. What's the point then in talking of e-learning systems when children in rural areas still learn under trees, they do not even have classrooms; a far cry from Sweden, where half of all people aged 12 to 79 use the Internet.
Am I opposing the use of Information Technology? No. I am advocating that we set the priorities first. Have we provided adequate basic amenities like water, electricity, health-care to the area? If yes, we can perhaps go for the IT-fication options; again, options that can really serve people. Can we set up an e-police station or e-court or e-hospital? Can we provide free e-learning to the kids at village community center?
Its not too complicated to comprehend. If we are really keen on resolving the so-called digital divide it would not be without addressing issues of poverty alleviation, provision of education and health care. And these issues must also form the foundation of any Information Technology project in our country.
***
[2]Hindi for a "Government clerk"
Author's Note: This piece originally appeared in my column 'Reality Bytes' in issue dated 2nd December 2002 of the Free Press Journal, an English daily published from Indore, India.
©2002 Debashish Chakrabarty. The article can not be copied, distributed, excerpted, reviewed without the written permission of the author.
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