Divakara K. Udupa, E-mail: [email protected]
Digital divide is an emotionally charged mantra for a large cross section of people ranging from Bill Gates to anti-computerisation groups. Some of them contend that IT is going to divide the society into haves and have-nots. This debate on digital divide is going to be fierce in many developing and underdeveloped nations. Incidentally, these nations also have significant disparities of income, education levels and so on.
IT is ushering revolutionary changes in most of the spheres of life around us. At present, there are about 500 million desktop and laptop computers in use and about 400 million Internet users around the world. The Internet has become ubiquitous. How can we shut ourselves from such profound technological changes around us? By the by, can anybody say: throw your TVs.
Why are some opposing IT? By and large, basically there is a psychological inertia for a change among many human beings. Besides, there are many pessimists, who can only see a half-empty glass. The scenario is similar to the one we witnessed a few years back. Many regional language chauvinists, while vehemently arguing for regional languages, were quietly sending their children to English medium missionary schools. Ironically, many, who are against IT, are enthusiastically preparing their children for IT related jobs. We also have examples of some of them getting IT people as son-in-laws.
Why IT industry has become a cynosure for some and envy for many? To find out some of the reasons, let us examine agriculture, manufacturing and IT sectors. In the agriculture sector, due to competition from cheap imports, uneconomic small holdings and lack of assured financing, the job avenues in the agricultural sector are slowly shrinking. As a matter of fact, if about three percent of the US population can feed the US and, if need be the entire world, there is not much scope to lock in more than 60 percent of the population in agriculture and agriculture related activities in rural areas. The economics and the increasing aspirations of farmers and their children and the rural people do not permit the long-term dependence on agriculture for creating jobs.
The job creations in the manufacturing sector will be progressively slower without some radical changes. One of them can be to create special manufacturing zones on the lines of special export zones in semi-rural areas with special laws. Asking for such radical changes in a democratic set up such as ours is to ask for the moon. Currently, we are witnessing a gradual decline of jobs in this sector due to mismanagement, irresponsible unions, heavy corruption, and competition brought in by globalisation. Also, high-level of risk and absence of quick returns are major deterrents to tangible investments in large manufacturing units. In future, even in this sector, skilled and high-paying jobs will require the knowledge of computers.
While not many jobs are being created in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, the IT sector is creating jobs at a higher rate with a steady growth of around 50 percent since a decade. Major investments in all nations are in IT related areas. As a result, opportunities are comparatively more. Also, the employees generally command a higher salary. As this is a global phenomenon, IT industry and its employees are attracting much attention. IT is already creating new paradigms in our society. Also, gradually it is creating a division of society as IT haves and have-nots.
As a matter of fact, there have been divisions of society from time immemorial based on intelligence, skin colour, education, skill levels and so on. The industrial revolution is the recent in history. It brought along with it mass production, organised labor, and trade unions. The industrial workers have been getting a higher salary and more benefits than the rest of the unorganised work force. This resulted in the division of work force into organised labor and the rest.
Let us be clear about certain issues. IT does not produce the basic needs of people such as food, energy, steel and so on. It helps in making their production, marketing, and distribution more efficient. As an example, it will be easier for our farmers and their cooperative societies to market their products globally at competitive prices. IT opens up many opportunities to them. Our farmers in the remotest villages can access the latest advances in the field with a few mouse clicks.
Some other major advantages of IT are being ignored. IT is a great leveler. Using IT effectively, even a small player can compete with Goliaths on an even footing. Besides, the Internet has removed the distance barrier. Even in small places and garages, people can start their companies creating jobs. As a matter of fact, many production items need not be concentrated in overcrowded and crumbling cities. If we carefully leverage IT, we can reverse the trend of people from rural and semi-rural areas flocking to the cities in search of job opportunities. This is another direct boon of IT.
Ultimately, we have to remember that some changes in the world are irreversible. They cannot be prevented or stalled for long. Somehow, they have a tendency to take their natural course irrespective of the opposition. So, if you cannot prevent the changes, better be part of it!
To summarise succinctly, let us face the fact: the digital revolution is here to stay. The resulting digital divide is analogous to the current division of society as literates and illiterates. How are we tackling the divide between the literates and illiterates? Are we throwing the papers and books out of the windows or are we trying to make more people literates? In a similar manner, the socially responsible people should strive to make as many people as possible IT literates and try to reduce the disparities due to the digital divide.
However, IT people have to remember that they are part of a society. Their responsibilities only increase with the success of IT! They have an obligation to the society they are part of. There is one more important frequently ignored issue. One has to not only work for the society, but also subtly publicise the work. Public relations are very important in the information society.
IT industry and its employees have to learn from the past mistakes and should not indulge in excesses as we witnessed during the different stages of industrial revolution. They have to bear in mind that excesses resulted in vehement reactions including violent ones!