Business Economics & Services Team (BEST)
The Great Indian Digital Divide
Earlier Indian society was divided on two counts: haves and have nots. Presently, the division is more in terms of those who are net connected and not. In a way these two divisions are curiously linked. The net users are mainly those who are aligned with the mainstream. And the penetration of net and telephony is relatively low among those who are underprivileged and off the mainstream.
Will India tackle this isue in the near future? Admittedly there are various schemes to connect India launched long back. At least 10 years back, a massive drive was started to connect the district headquarters with the states and Center administrative apparatuses. Also, a massive scheme was launched to connect courts, universities, research laboratories, colleges, schools, Panchayats etc. There has been progress towards that but not commensurate with the desired goals. In India, there is no district or Panchayat, which can claim cent percent connectivity. It is a laborious process especially when it comes to digitizing land records since many such records are caught up in disputes. The next impossible task is digitizing court records. Though India is the most litigant country, the money spent on courts at various layers are hardly 4% of the gross domestic product. A massive modernization of justice delivery system needs outlays much more than that. The result is that undue delays take place in getting the justice,sometimes the cases are dragged for some 50 years or so, causing great hardships to the people.
The next area that needs close attention is education. many grant schemes are drawn up for connecting universities, colleges and schools, many such schemes are still in paper. The main reason pointed is the lack of finance to funds such schemes. There was a talk about outsourcing such projects to highest bidders. Many large corporations from India and abroad have shown interest in undertaking such schemes. But the problem pointed out was the security concerns , since some of the technologies and gadgets may contain malware and spyware.
The recently launched schemes are mostly net based such as financial inclusion scheme, clean India, direct transfer of subsidies etc. But it has to be seen how soon such schemes can be introduced since the backbone on which such schemes can work is Adhar, the digital account of each citizen and household. Unfortunately, the exercise to complete the project is still on and it is lingering on for quite sometime.
One has to introspect why India is lagging behind in connecting domestically despite its head start in the ICT sector. The reasons are not far to seek. India has put its best efforts to cater to the digital needs of other countries, ignoring the domestic segment. That too it happened in an unplanned manner. Even the government sources admit that ICT sector in India has grown despite government support. The only aim till date is to maximize its export to bridge the gap in the merchandize exports and imports. Whereas China, the next door neighbor focused first on the domestic connectivity rather than exporting its products and solutions. That enabled the country to modernize its manufacturing sector. Whereas, in India manufacturing and agriculture sectors are not in sync with its capabilities in the ICT.
The future lies in focusing on ICT applications in the domestic sector. That is possible only when a strong digital backbone is created to spread the infrastructure to areas, regions and people who are bypassed by digital era. That is the basic objective of Digitizing India. But it is to be seen how far India will succeed in that in the near future since the priorities of the government is shifting from development agenda to vote bank politics. That is the least expected from the new dispensation, which has come into power on its development manifesto.
The Great Indian Digital Divide
Earlier Indian society was divided on two counts: haves and have nots. Presently, the division is more in terms of those who are net connected and not. In a way these two divisions are curiously linked. The net users are mainly those who are aligned with the mainstream. And the penetration of net and telephony is relatively low among those who are underprivileged and off the mainstream.
Will India tackle this isue in the near future? Admittedly there are various schemes to connect India launched long back. At least 10 years back, a massive drive was started to connect the district headquarters with the states and Center administrative apparatuses. Also, a massive scheme was launched to connect courts, universities, research laboratories, colleges, schools, Panchayats etc. There has been progress towards that but not commensurate with the desired goals. In India, there is no district or Panchayat, which can claim cent percent connectivity. It is a laborious process especially when it comes to digitizing land records since many such records are caught up in disputes. The next impossible task is digitizing court records. Though India is the most litigant country, the money spent on courts at various layers are hardly 4% of the gross domestic product. A massive modernization of justice delivery system needs outlays much more than that. The result is that undue delays take place in getting the justice,sometimes the cases are dragged for some 50 years or so, causing great hardships to the people.
The next area that needs close attention is education. many grant schemes are drawn up for connecting universities, colleges and schools, many such schemes are still in paper. The main reason pointed is the lack of finance to funds such schemes. There was a talk about outsourcing such projects to highest bidders. Many large corporations from India and abroad have shown interest in undertaking such schemes. But the problem pointed out was the security concerns , since some of the technologies and gadgets may contain malware and spyware.
The recently launched schemes are mostly net based such as financial inclusion scheme, clean India, direct transfer of subsidies etc. But it has to be seen how soon such schemes can be introduced since the backbone on which such schemes can work is Adhar, the digital account of each citizen and household. Unfortunately, the exercise to complete the project is still on and it is lingering on for quite sometime.
One has to introspect why India is lagging behind in connecting domestically despite its head start in the ICT sector. The reasons are not far to seek. India has put its best efforts to cater to the digital needs of other countries, ignoring the domestic segment. That too it happened in an unplanned manner. Even the government sources admit that ICT sector in India has grown despite government support. The only aim till date is to maximize its export to bridge the gap in the merchandize exports and imports. Whereas China, the next door neighbor focused first on the domestic connectivity rather than exporting its products and solutions. That enabled the country to modernize its manufacturing sector. Whereas, in India manufacturing and agriculture sectors are not in sync with its capabilities in the ICT.
The future lies in focusing on ICT applications in the domestic sector. That is possible only when a strong digital backbone is created to spread the infrastructure to areas, regions and people who are bypassed by digital era. That is the basic objective of Digitizing India. But it is to be seen how far India will succeed in that in the near future since the priorities of the government is shifting from development agenda to vote bank politics. That is the least expected from the new dispensation, which has come into power on its development manifesto.
