APPRAISAL OF INDIAN SITUATION- EFFECTIVE UTILISATION OF ICT IN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

Today we are living in the age of information, andtechnical detail and terminology.
communication where the information societies 
are rapidly transforming themselves from 
information society to knowledge society.?      The effective utilization of ICT is still
Information society or rather its Japanese termunknown to many. The lack of policy support and
“Johoka Shokai”, was perceived by thepolitical will is also due to lack of awareness of
Japanese writer, Yoneji Masuda, “as a society,economic, political, and social benefits ICT, can
which would eventually move to a point at whichbring. The level of awareness among professionals
the production of information values became theand decision makers in the region about the role
formative force for the development of theof ICT in development is generally low.
society.” 
               In India the significance of?      Connectivity and access at an
communication in equipping people with newaffordable cost in the region in particular, in rural
information and skills; and mobilizing them for theirand remote areas is still a problem. Computer
willful participation in various developmentliteracy is low and the common model based on
programmes and activities has been wellindividual computer access in most cases is
recognized and emphasized in the country'sunfeasible due to high computer costs and lack of
blueprint policy i.e the five year plans.energy resources. Low cost devices such as
Communication is fun, Communication is power,handhelds can contribute to mitigating this
Communication is money and Communication isproblem, but they are not available or they do not
intelligence today. So a country's growth, culturalhave any utility value in many rural or marginalized
moorings, its inner strength and competitive edgesocieties. The same applies to other useful
all depend greatly on communication power. In thecommunication technologies such as low cost FM
recent years the country is on the threshold of aradio stations, but here the challenge is often the
new communication revolution of which satellite,lack of political will to open the broadcasting sector
TV, Video are major manifestations. In thisfor communities to own and manage community
information age from high frequency wirelessradio/TV. Even the radio/TV sets provided by
communication to digital compression technology,the government remain unutilized due to reasons
to microwave communication to silicon chips,like intermittent electricity supply, want of repair,
satellite communication, optic fibers, telematics,or inadequate infrastructure.
computer graphics, Internet, world wide web, 
Internet protocol TV(IPTV),interactive?       Internet has been largely popular with
TV(ITV),digital audio broadcasting(DAB),multimediathe people who are well conversant in English.
and so on, there is no stopping and no lookingLack of appropriate local content and diversity in
back. Communication wise the whole world isthe Internet like local language, local problems and
technically knit together and with the constraintslocal needs has posed the greatest challenge.
of time and distance disappearing, it has beenDevelopment of local content in many language
possible for humanity at large to be integrated athas been insufficient due to lack of language
intellectual, economic, cultural and emotional levels,processing capacity. Tools to capture analogue
by sharing a global commonwealth of humancontent into digital form for many Indian
resources, transforming the whole world virtuallylanguages are yet not available and this has
into a 'global village'.slowed down the digitalization of existing analogue
        content in text mode and the development of
NEW COMMUNICATIONpages enclosing indigenous knowledge. Incapacity
TECHNOLOGIES-Different  Perspectives Andto develop local content is equally a challenge for
Significancemany electronic media and in particular for cultural
 and educational programmes suitable to local
            The concept of global village byaudiences.
Marshall McLuhan is becoming increasingly 
interconnected by communication technologies?      Lack of software, lack of local trainers
that is gradually defining the way we look at thecapable of imparting various skills related to ICT,
world. The Gutenberg era is over. A new digitalcontent development and media operations a
communications technology has emerged. Anchallenge which makes it difficult to extend the
electronic superhighway is beginning to girdle theinformation society beyond affluent citizens in the
globe as voice, video and data converge bringingregion. Moreover most software’s are
in the wake a new basket of digital multimediaprepared by persons who have no knowledge
and interactive communications technologies. Newabout rural people, they are born and brought up
technologies such as Global Satellite of Mobileand fed on the contents of Zee, Sony , Star Plus
communications(GSM),General Packet Radioetc. difficulties abound . in one e.g. , the officer
service(GPRS), Teletext, Videotex, Virtual Privateinvolved in computerizing land records in one
Network(VPN), Wi-Fi, Coded Division MultipleIndian state recently said more than half of them
Access(CDMA) etc are gaining wide acceptanceare either legally contested , or in the names of
due to several advantages like--the dead people , or illegible etc. yet the
- Interactivitycomputerizing of land records is on the agenda of
- Demassification (As opposed to the oldalmost every Indian state.
economy (which focused more on mass 
production and mass broadcasting to a mass?      The most of the traditional systems
audience), the new economy breaks downhave not been exploited fully. Lack of
(demassifies) production. The focus, in terms ofinnovativeness and creativity is a major factor.
production, is now shifted to customization,Generally all the programmes are made with the
segmentation, and individualization. This trend leadsbureaucratic mentality, such that if the
to narrowcasting).programmes are educative , they are boring as
- Asynchronity (the exchange of data, figures,they cannot sustain the interest of the viewers
and conversation takes place on a real time basis,for long and if they are entertaining they are not
without the presence of all the participants).educative. Consequently they lack the personal
- Immediacytouch and hence lack credibility. More so with the
- User friendlyfailure of public service broadcasting, the meaning
- Narrowcasting(A narrowcast is the transmissionhas lost somewhere in the bureaucratic tangles.
of data to a specific list of recipients. CableThe information people initially say they need ,
television is an example of broadcast model inmay not always be what they end up using . in
which the signals are transmitted everywhere andthe M.S. Swaminathan Pondicherry project , for
anyone with an antenna can receive them. Thee.g. , male farmers originally said they needed
internet uses both a broadcast and a narrowcastinformation about agriculture. In fact , their largest
model. To transmit to selected individuals. Cablesingle usage of village info. Kiosks was to get
TV and satellite radio are examples of narrowcastinformation about government programs.
services because they reach only their subscriber 
base. Mailing lists are another example.) 
- Infotainment(A television program with a?      India underwent a high degree of
mixture of news and entertainment features,change in terms of commercialization and media
such as interviews, commentaries, and reviews).information. Proper utilization and meaning of
- Ease of updatinginformation has been distorted to give rise to
- Instantaneous message disseminationwestern media imperialism and consequently the
- Time saving anddigital divide. The information gap is real and and
- Cost Effectiveruns between north-south, rich-poor, young-old,
                              literate- illiterate, rural-urban, and men-women.
Marriage of mediums or rather, Convergence is 
today a reality and India is fast waking up to the?      IT should not be simply identified with
digital era, re-shaping the way the individuals andcomputers and internet. Some of the inventive
organisations produce, process, market,uses of the IT involve radio, television and
collaborate and share information. The launch ofembedded chips, potentially useful satellite
paid Internet radio services on Yahoo! Andinventories etc. The classic e.g. is the use of
Rediff.com, Edge, Third Generation(3G) andautomated butterfat assessment equipment in
Bluetooth, Internet on TV, are some of the newGujarat , which has radically simplified the process
technologies that have been used for the benefitof automating milk and paying diary farmers.
of mankind. At the same time ,there is an 
increasing demand from consumers for data?      Lack of business process modification-
delivery, telephony services, global roaming, e-mail,in many well meaning projects & duplication
video and Internet access on one single device.of the manual process in the it environment was
These needs have resulted in global standardsseen as major reasons for the end users /
that are more open, making available the vastcitizens not associating any value addition with the
knowledge base and providing substantial increaseprojects & looked upon e-governance as an
in productivity, a better quality of life,unwelcome addition to the hurdles to be crossed
enhancements in education and recreation andbefore getting the work done. For e.g. in depts.
cross cultural understanding.Which maintain land records specially in rural areas
 the details regarding land ownership , cropping
 COMMUNICATIONS SCENARIO: Then And Nowpatterns etc were computerized , but no legal
 sanctity was given to the output generated by
                        Coming tosuch systems in absence of a commensurate
the access of these new technologies, no wonderchange in the status.
it can be safely said that the Indian middle class 
have moved at a much faster pace than?      More talk than action- lot has been
expected. If you still deny than consider thetalked about. Seminars , conferences and
communications scenario.workshops at national, international, local level has
Within a decade the average citizen owns ataken place a lot. Various five year plans have
private telephone, television and personalbeen planned. But few actions have taken place in
computer. In addition to these ,telephone andreality so far.
Internet access is increasingly provided by phone 
booths and cyber cafes situated in public places. In?      Financial sustainability- the goal of
1947 it, when India gained independence, it hadfinancial sustainability is rarely achieved . granting
only 84000 telephone lines, to reach out to athat initial start up costs have to be borne by
population of 300 million. By 1999,India had ansomeone, very few projects even plan for long
installed network of over 25 million telephone line,term sustainability and even fewer achieve it.
spread over 300 cities, 4869 towns and 310897 
villages, making India's telecommunication network?      A successful commercial ict sector does
the 9th largest in the world. Another mostnot necessarily trickle down to ordinary Indians.
successful achievement was the introduction ofProposals by state governments to develop it for
mobile telephone services in 1995, along withthe masses often place primary emphasis on
pager services. By 1998,India had one million celldeveloping software technology parks , improving
phone users in its four metropolitan cities, witheducation at higher levels of information
45% in Delhi followed by Mumbai 35%,Calcuttatechnology etc. though these goals are
12% and Chennai 8%.Another 500000 or sopraiseworthy , yet there is very little evidence as
existed in towns and cities. Previously the use ofto the increased growth rate of software
cell phone was restricted only among the urbanindustry in relation to improved living conditions,
elites, corporate leaders and businessmore schools and colleges, better healthcare,
professionals, but currently the omni presence oferadication of poverty,, more jobs, or any other
rural phone in rural setting is also very muchbenefits.
conspicuous. These services satisfies the strong 
cultural need of the pan Indian to keep constantly?      Apparently technical decisions concerning
in touch with the family members. For ait regulation, bandwidth allocation, pricing
vegetable seller in a remote village of Karnataka,mechanism, transmission standards etc, can have
uses his mobile phone ,to supply and take ordersprofound effects on whether or not information
for his customers, who lives in far off villages. Hetechnologies benefit ordinary Indians. One case is
has no pucca house, nor he has any pucca shop.the requirement that internet service providers
What he has is a small make shift shop, a twoguarantee to cover an entire state. This
wheeler moped and a Nokia 1100 mobile phone.effectively precluded local entrepreneurs from
Again Yashwant Singh a villager in Hoshiarpur ofproviding internet connectivity in small &
Punjab, owner of several trucks, has purchasedmedium towns , unlike local initiatives that have
cell phone for his truck drivers, to keep with themhelped spread satellite television rapidly in rural
in constant touch. Many well to do farmers in IndiaIndia. Analysis of the impact of technological
often own mobile phones keeping in touch withdecisions on it for the common man is largely
block and district level officials, checking marketabsent.
information, scheduling transportation, pick ups and 
so forth. Many mobile users access mobiles for?      Wiring India- until the cost of last mile of
listening to FM radio or MP3 DVD player,capturingbasic devices & of local language software
images and videos and simultaneously transferare brought down , the goal of wiring India will
them via infrared or Bluetooth to other mobileremain unachieved . Though low cost technological
users,use multimedia through 3G(Thirdsolution alone cannot solve the problem, but they
Generation),send SMS and MMS playgames andare requisites for it India.
various other purposes. 
                    The traditional?      Credibility- one cannot believe in what
sectors like radio and television have alsothey are told. A no of projects that are publicized
undergone functional displacement, owing to theturn out , on a site visit , to have closed, or not
changing times and needs. DTH (Direct to Home)yet to be in operation, or to have detoriated
technology which takes cross border satellitefrom their stated original goals.
programmes direct to viewers homes without the 
intervention of cable operators, is the future ofPROMISES OF ICT-
TV.DTH TV is digital and interactive and offers up 
to a hundred subscription channels. Also- One of the most promising uses of ICT. In
development of radio has taken giant strides inpractice , it involves distinguishable activities-
the past few years. Satellite radio was a major1. E-governance- It is the computerization of
innovation ,followed by Podcasting , which isgovernment functions itself, as discussed specially
currently riding high on the success of Appleby Andhra Pradesh. This proposes connecting the
computers ipod. Technically speaking Ipod arestate government headquarters to district officials
basically digital basic (MP3)players with local, computerizes registration, legal proceedings, land
storage and Internet connectivity-the latter isrecords, state offices etc, for the benefit of the
required for downloading audio and other filesadministrators of the state. Also e-governance
from web servers via RSS or XML protocol.may also mean government to people and people
Podcasters are like web loggers ,amateurs whoto government connections whereby citizens
create radio like programs of commentary, musicobtain direct access to records, rules and
and humour, save them in MP3 audio format andinformation about entitlements that they need or
post them as websites which are ipod enabled.want in their daily lives.
Then there is Digital Audio Broadcasting which 
consists in combining a series of services into a1. E-commerce- B2B , B2C, C2B, C2C platforms
frequency band called a base group, enabling acan be utilized fully for the benefit of the
multiplex bit stream to be created in whichcustomers as also for the business organizations,
services of all shapes and sizes can befor an efficient and smooth transaction, free and
transmitted, thus providing perfect sound quality,fair trade practices.
free of interference, capable of serving a mobile 
audience.1. Commercial funding- commercially funded ICT
                     In the case ofnetworks have considerable promise. For e.g. the
personal computers, one important factorWarana project, though heavily funded initially by
promoting the diffusion of personal computers, inthe state of Maharashtra and by Delhi , is
India, in the late 1990s was the rise of variouscurrently maintained by the sugarcane
financing schemes. More and more middle classco-operative in the area and offers tangible
could purchase computers. Till 2000 a typicalbenefits to sugar producers and growers. The
Pentium II desktop computer cost aboutE.I.D. Parry project in Nelikuppan Tamil Nadu
50000,which was quite a heavy burden upon theexpects advantages in terms of  improved
middle class. But the things changed with theinformation to their producers about best
alternative model of an assembled piece whereagricultural practices. ITC-IBD has set up a large
the consumer brought the computer home, byno IT Chaupals for soya bean, shrimp and coffee
choosing the specific configaration of afarmers with the goal of reducing the costs of
computer-like the speed and amount of ram,production that currently go to middlemen. It has
modem speed, speakers and monitors etc. andenabled economic capacity to proliferate at the
surprisingly all this within a very affordable range.base of the rural economy by providing farmers
Now the situation has changed to such an extentwith farming know-how and services , timely and
that even branded laptops are available for rsrelevant weather information, transport price
30000.the enthusiasm for the computers wasdiscovery and access to wider markets. Many
immediately visible through the internet. Cyberpeople in developing countries lack access to basic
cafes were quick to catch the pulse of thefinancial services such as savings, credit, insurance
market and in 1995 after Internet connectivityand money transfers. Most of the transactions in
was made available to the individuals and thesuch economies are in cash and involve very small
organisations, on a commercial basis, cyber cafesamounts. Services supporting the unique
sprang up to add zeal..These cafes unleashedrequirements of these types of financial
opportunities before an individual. It enabled antransactions can be very useful. A case in the
individual to log on to the net, surf it, play games,point is M-PESA, one of the more popular services
watch video, e-mail, chat,e-shop for Rs10/-15/perfor developing countries ,offered by safaricom
hour. Initially urban centric now it has spread itswhich is Kenya’s leading telecommunications
wings to rural areas too, by upgrading themselvescompany. Currently only 10% of Kenyans have
into ICC(Internet Community Centres ), providingformal bank accounts and M-PESA allows people
net surfing, net telephony, telephone, multimedia,without bank accounts to complete simple financial
video conferencing and photocopying services all intransactions, primarily person-to-person money
one.transfer. Since the introduction of the service in
                        march 2007, three million users have registered,
  Further the Internet gave rise to an era ofand the service has been growing in popularity.
e-business-both e-marketing and e-commerce. 
E-marketing requires the use of the Internet to1. While the needs and wants of the urban
market ones products and services, andwealthy are familiar to the developed world , the
e-commerce is commercial transactions betweenunique needs of communities closer to the base
two parties on the Internet. In India though theseof the pyramid suggest interesting new services
concepts are relatively new, yet many individualsopportunities.
and organisations are entering into these business 
as they are time saving, cost effective and mostAt IBM’s India research laboratory , the
important of all ensures 100% transparency andresearchers are trying to develop a mobile
improves efficiency. The age old concept ofsoftware platform, called the ‘ spoken
middle class, underhand activities and unethicalweb’, for delivering the above kinds of
practices and unjustified harassments areservices to communities in emerging countries .
gradually being overcome by these e-business.the spoken web is a network of voice sites ,
Some of these e-business companies who havewhich exists and operates on the telephony
establised themselves as a reputed brand name innetwork rather than the internet. Accessing the
the international arena are Metal Junction Servicesspoken web does not require an expensive
limited, e-bay, Amazon.com, Aditya Birla, IFB, Dell,computer , an internet connection or the ability to
etc. Today the Internet is accessed via cable TV,read and write . people can browse voicesites by
telephone, mobile phones, palm tops, and DTHtalking to them and traverse from one voicesites
apart from the conventional computers.from another via voilinks, and even conduct
1.                        Thetransactions simply by talking. What’s more a
Internet has ushered into a new era where it isphone number can act like a URL in the traditional
concerned with the creation of wealth not onlyweb , and one does not need a high end mobile
through production, processing and transportationdevice to access the spoken web, a plain old
of goods but also through information- networksrotary phone can do the job. Interaction with
using technological know how, managementcustomers and dissemination of government
practices and remote processing, like customer information everything can be possible in the
help ,medical transcription, data and researchmobile web.
processing etc. Internet has given rise to several 
new occupations like website designing, 
e-commerce, Internet patrol, technical writer,INDIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
content developer ,multimedia specialist, graphic 
designer, etc. Today tele working is gradually in                     Even though
rise in India, considering the presence of a solidthere are huge disparities en-route to
telecommunications infrastructure,   favourableinformatisation, India's focus on growth of the ICT
policies for free global trade, and the availability ofsector has paid rich dividends in terms of export
low cost English talent. Several BPO's and KPO'searnings, employment generation and its image of
are gaining wide popularity among the youngan emerging economy. Large corporations are
university graduates. The corporates, thebecoming competitive by  deploying enterprise
organisations,the educational instituitions are armedwide solutions to interpret data and make panning
with the newest of these technologies likeand decision making data based. Many have
VPN(Virtual Private Network), Wi-Fi, V-SAT andstarted to feel that the next century will be the
broadband etc.century of knowledge. A nation's ability to convert
(DIAGRAM IN THE LAST PAGE)knowledge into wealth and social good through the
        process of innovations going to determine its
  CASE STUDY 1future. The economics of knowledge will dominate
 the coming century.
  Andhra Pradesh has already implemented four              
e-governance initiatives, adopting the old and new                     To meet the
technologies like -twin objective of growth with equity ,knowledge
 cannot be the prerogative of a few, everyone in
?      CARD-Computer Aided Administrationthe society must have access to knowledge and
of Registration Departmentbecome knowledge workers. Nations which do not
This enables a person regarding registration ofcreate knowledge societies will vanish into the
land ,purchasing of land,ascertaining marketingoblivion. But those that do create knowledge
value,transfer duty,etc. that which took earliersocieties will have the potential to lead the world.
days and hours,now took only 15 mins.Now before embarking into a knowledge society ,
?      APSCAN-Andhra Pradesh Stateone must first know what is a knowledge
Secretariat Administrative Network.society? Creation of a knowledge society should
?      APSWAN-Andhra Pradesh State Widerevolve around creating, sharing and using
Networkknowledge and information to create wealth and
Both of these networks help in interaction amongimprove the quality of life. Knowledge can be
the villagers ,government officials, blockdefined as familiarity gained by research and
development officers, chief minister, stateexperience, and includes
secretariats, and the extension agents through- Know What (knowledge about the fact),
video conferencing.- Know Why (scientific knowledge of the principals
?      TWINS-Twin Cities Network Servicesand laws of nature),
  This services is provided to the two cities of- Know How (skills or the capability to do
Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Here the citizenssomething) and
are provided all kinds of services like-electricity bill,- Know Who (information about who knows what
phone bill, driving license, holding tax,insuranceand how to do what).
claim-all under one roof.                      If the Indian
 society has to become a knowledge society, then
 CASE STUDY 2it is important that every Indian becomes a
 knowledge worker. We need to recognize the
               In a rural country likeconcept of a knowledge worker  in the broadest
India, health remains a perennial problem. Butpossible sense .It is not scientists and
Maharashtra has achieved astounding success intechnologists alone, who will be knowledge
routing information to the villagers not only healthworkers .Even a farmer can be a knowledge
conscious but also avail them of all those benefitsworker, provided he understands the soil that he
of doctors and medicines, that their urbanis sowing his seeds in and how he lives in an
counterparts are habituated to enjoy. Its a doseinformation village, where he has the benefit of
of e-medicine for rural folks across the state. Theshort and medium range weather forecasting to
doctors and experts together treats patients inplan his farming activity and so on.
the remote interiors of Maharashtra via satellite. 
Civic authorities ISRO (Indian Space Research 
Organization) and state officials have joined handsPRIORITY OF A KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
to make success their project. Here the patients 
in the rural areas get easy access to the modern                     A knowledge
facilities without having to travel long distance andsociety is characterised by new structures of
spending big bucks. Thus the patients and theknowledge, methods of dissemination and a
physicians in distant areas remain in constanttechnology that permits and sustains unrestricted
touch via telecom network.access to knowledge control over it. Since all
 human activity uses and creates knowledge, the
 existing societies are also, in this sense, knowledge
CASE STUDY 3societies. Human activity uses and creates
 knowledge and each society should be
               Recent governmentcharacterised and identified by its knowledge base
records show that more than 25% ( 59 million(Lokavidya).
school-aged children ) are still not enrolled in a           
school. Despite these poor figures in education ,                         The
India has highly competent human resources associetal transformation has to be through
also a strong base in ICT, which if utilized to itslarge-scale development in education, health-care,
maximum capacity in future , India will be amongagriculture and governance. These will turn to
the topmost Asian countries. the Bridges to theemployment generation, high productivity and rural
Future Initiative –India ( BFI) seeks to improveprosperity. Such models should aim to provide
the basic skills, literacy and entry in vocational skillsopportunity for rural economic development and
of out-of-school youth and young adults in poorprosperity. Youth in the locality could be easily
communities in several Indian states. to achievetrained to cater to the requirement of IT enabled
these goals , the BFI employs innovative andservices. This will also make available place and
cost-effective ICT tools and methodologies tomanpower at very cheaper rates when
improve the quality of teaching, learning in basiccompared to urban localities. This will also aid in
and vocational education and to assist communitystopping movement of families towards urban
members in obtaining information resources thatlocalities .More so the model should try to improve
can improve their daily lives. At the official level ,the quality of life in rural places. Knowledge
the BFI is situated under the patronage of MHRDpowered rural development is a essential need for
and state education agencies ( initially Andhratransforming India into a knowledge power and
Pradesh and Karnataka, where formal MOU’shigh bandwidth rural connectivity is the minimum
are signed in May 2001.).requirement to take education, health care, and
 economic dynamism to the rural areas. Knowledge
INDIA'S INFORMATISATION PROCESSsociety leading to knowledge superpower can
 prosper and survive only in the environment of
                  India's informatisationeconomic security and internal security. Nation has
process started  in 1990,which accompanied byto work for transformation into developed India.
the liberalisation , globalisation and privatisationFor eg if people find that they can book railway
policy, opened up borders for several MNC's liketickets through the web in a reliable and secure
McDonalds, Reebok,Pepsi,Coke etc. And alsomanner , then nobody will take the pains to travel
encouraged individuals to come forward to set upby scooter or the bike.
their own private organisation. The NEP (New 
Economic Policy) by Manmohan Singh reflected 
Indias enthusiasm to pursue an informatisation 
route. Prior to this Rajiv Gandhi governmentCASE STUDY 4
instituted favourable policies in electronics, 
software and telecommunications and pushed for The knowledge system for sustainable food
the application of information technology insecurity in the villages of Pondicherry has the
computerising the Indian railways reservationempowerment of rural women, men and children
system,banks and land records. During his tenure,with information relating to ecological
the Centre for Development of Telematicsagriculture,economic access and utilisation as its
(C-DOT), The Centre for the Development ofgoal. Such a knowledge system is being managed
Advancement Computing(C-DAC)) and theby the local youth at the village knowledge centre
NIC(National Informatics Centre) were established.from where the computer aided information
Also he invited Texas instruments,GE, andsystem is operated. Farmers who are becoming
Hewlett Packard triggering the rise of Bangalorethe knowledge workers are also being trained to
Technopolis. Further the establisment of a Nationalmaintain a “soil health card “to monitor the
Task Force in 1998 in the Atal  Behariimpact of farming systems on the
Vajpayee,regime under the co-chairmanship ofphysical,chemical and microbiological components
AP's  the then chief minister Chandra Babu Naiduof soil fertility.
was a watershed event in India's road to 
informatisation. Its action plan made 108           Enlightened citizens empowered
recommendations on ways of utilising technologieswith knowledge will be able to see the crucial link
for socio-economic development,it recommendedbetween the 5 E's namely environment,ecology,
the privatisation of internal services,the waiver ofeconomics,equity and ethics. They will then not be
license fees for private Internet, service providersguided by misinformation fed by vested interest
allowing ever cable operators and ISD/STD boothgroups. But they will use their knowledge to
operators to use their infrastructure to enhancedecide on their own as to what is wrong and
Internet access and zero duty on all it productswhat is right. They will not stop projects that lead
by 2002 ad .It further recommended thatto economic development but they will stop those
software and IT be treated as a priority sectorthat lead to destruction .
by banks for five years and that students, 
teachers and schools be offered computers atCASE STUDY 5
reduced prices. The task force wanted every ISD 
STD  booth in the country to be turned into an      ICT policy of Malaysia
information kiosk providing access to the Internet Malaysia being a middle income economy is able
and related  services like e-mail. More over into shift from agrarian society in a single
1999,it introduced  an IT bill in parliament forgeneration(during 60's to 80's).ICT has played a
facilitating e- commerce and e-business activitiesdual role in the development of Malaysia, one in
and created a 25 million venture capital fund toproduct sector and another one   as a strategic
fuel computer start ups.enabler. Malasia took two major initiatives to
Not surprisingly some of the famous and richestaddress both the issues of economic
IT Indians are Aziz Premzi (Wipro), N Rcompetitiveness and social equality, such as
Narayanmurthy (Infosys), Vinod KhoslaMultimedia Super Corridor(MSC) targeting
(co-founder of Sun Microsystems) , Sabeereconomic development and National Information
Bhatia(co-founder of hot mail) and SamTechnology Agenda(NITA) targeting social
Pitroda,who had spearheaded the country'sdevelopment. In 1996 National Information
communication revolution to a large extent.Technology Council (NITC was formed in 1994)
 came out with national IT agenda , with a people
 From the above situation one can summarisecentred approach to development. Ita was
the India’s  informatisation effort-operationalised with five e-trusts model. They are
 e-economy,e-public services, e-community,
?      India has vast potential to competee-learning,and e- sovereignity.
with world's best -Japan,Germany,U.S,and U.K .The 
rich resources,huge talent and billion population   Access to knowledge can impact
should be tapped by the Indian government andeffectiveness when individuals feel enriched (with
thus facilitate innovation, enterpreneurship andnew ideas, solutions to problems) and are able to
creativity, rather than stiffling it or creatingseek information at the time and place where it is
barriers like red tapism, bureaucratic hassles inneeded. Thus knowledge management initiatives
approval and licenses. India's enthusiasm and zealshould supplement traditional networking through
should motivate young enterpreneurs to comeface to face contact. The rural populace lacks the
forward and be an active member in thelife skills required to filter through the vast
participatory process for socio-economicinformation available on the Internet and identify
development in the country. The informatisationinformation most relevant to them. The role of
strategy through which an information societyintermediaries in interpreting the information needs
emerges centres on new communicationof rural communities ,collecting the information
technologies, on research universities wherefrom public domain sources and dissemination of
technical brainpower is trained and research andthe information in local text and idiom is very
development is conducted,and on favourableimportant, as has been demonstrated in pilots in
government policies. With this India is poised toKothamale and in Pondicherry.
become an it world power. 
   STEPS NEEDED FOR FULL PROOF
?       The infrastucture,the economic policyKNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
and various other policy and strategies should be 
directed towards facilitating of India’s?      Creation of IT mind set in India-
communication revolution .For eg the PCO's, ICC's,Information and technology are moving so fast
cyber cafes that have come up has not onlythat it has been impossible for general public to
provided employment to the young people butkeep a tab on the events. There is a  need for
also has enabled the individuals to empowerawareness of it among the people and its
themselves and others with knowledge andutilisation. For e.g. many people though know what
information.is Internet, they dabble with only its minimal
 applications whereas it has far reaching and
?      Indian personalities should also play ain-depth utilisation and impact.
role model for the coming generation. The role of 
conventional media like radio and TV should be?      Promoting development of an enabling
imitated and most importantly folk media shouldpolicy environment-
be merged with it to create a far widerTo be a knowledge society India needs to
acceptance. The DD should be more innovativedevelop holistic national policy promoting an
and the government should ensure the cable TVenabling environment for a knowledge society for
DTH participation towards a more sociallyall .In the policy development process special
responsible approach rather than only spinning offefforts should be taken to address to equitable
money.access, human resources, and application
 development. Also the linkages between the
With the development of technologies in the pastknowledge society and media and in particular
few decades , the role of information andpublic service broadcasting as a conduit for
communication technologies(ICT), in improvingeducational and cultural content should be
economic efficiencies and enabling socialaddressed as an integral part of the policy
development . Governments , the private sector formulation process and media law revisions .In
and civil society alike note that , “ vastformulating policy India should encourage
no’s of people are excluded from thetransparent dialogue with all the members including
benefits of these technologies , in particular peoplethe civil society ,communities and private and
who lack the infrastructure, skills , literacy andpublic sector agencies.
knowledge of the dominant internet 
language-English. They also recognize the?      Promoting equitable access-
opportunities for ICT to bring about change notIndia should promote shared access through
only to address existing obstacles  to the socialcommunity multimedia centres and conduct
and economic development of these groups , butassessment of current access models. India
also to transform the very systems that createshould support innovations in low cost community
these inequalities in the first place . ICT must beaccess targeted specially at marginalised groups.
deployed to build an information society  whereWith the possibility to use ICT, librarians and
everyone specially disadvantaged women, poorarchivists offer great potential as knowledge
and rural people – can fully participate asworkers. Many libraries and archives in the region
citizens and reap the benefits of the informationdo not provide online access to their readers
revolution..Libraries if properly equipped with ICT ,can
According to Robert Schware , lead informaticsbecome for many people an effective gateway
specialist, the global ICT dep’t, of the Worldto the information society.
Bank, said-that India did take up over 200 pilot 
projects in the area of e-governance ; out of?      Enhancing knowledge management
which only 100 are worth taking up full scale andcapacity-
can be replicated in other parts of the country. InThe process of knowledge management for both
his answers , to the global scenario incontent and availability is an essential part of
e-governance , he said- “that it is estimatedmodernisation. Human resource development in
that approximately 85% of e-governanceinformation management for knowledge workers
projects in developing countries are total failures,should take a central place in India's
approximately 50% are partial failures, only somecommunication and information programme. To
15% can be fully seen as success.” Though hesupport capacity building, particularly in the area of
commented that the primary factors for thehuman resource development,India should provide
failures include inability to deliver governmenttraining of local trainers in the fields of ICT at
services that provide benefit to citizens orvarious levels. Also India should promote
business, lack of clarity on business perspective ,specialised training programmes for disadvantaged
projects are done in dept-al isolation rather thangroups to reap the benefits of ICT particularly in
via a single co-ordination body and lack of politicalICT enabled learning and enterpreneurial
will and leadership and lack of skills in projectopportunities.
management among some. 
There are many countries that have achieved a?      Developing appropiate content
reasonable amount of success in their India to promote appropiate content
e-government initiatives. For e.g. according to Capdevelopment ,should rely on creating proactive
Gemini Ernst & Young consultants , duringpartnerships with extension services
2003, Denmark had achieved 72% of(education,agriculture,health),government
government services on line with an 87% scoreagencies,non-governmental agencies,media
on degree of sophistication. Other countries thatorganisations,and professional organistions. It
have high rate for particular e-governmentshould be geared towards the ethos and
services includes the U.K, Spain, Greece, Finland,relevance of the local people,and their problems
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Romania and Mexico.and needs. The universal access cannot be
According to Sudhir Narang, Vice President,achieved without promoting multilingualism in
government and service provider business , Ciscocyberspace. India should also motivate and
systems , India & SAARC, “ almostsupport the efforts of public institutes and
every state has an it policy in place with the aimuniversities to identify and promote technologies
of evolving itself from being an it aware to an itand tools capable of digitizing local contents.
enabled govt. state govt’s are fast 
recognizing the benefits of an it-enabled working?      Developing Public Service Broadcasting
environment”. Shivaji Chatterjee , seniorIndia should continue to harness the potential
director , sales and marketing, Hughes Escortseducational and cultural role of Public Service
Communication, says “ IT has a vital role toBroadcasting and need for public service
play in all transaction that the govt undertakes. Itbroadcasting to reposition itself to fulfill this
helps the govt cuts red tapism, avoid corruption,function. The challenge to transform public service
and reach citizens directly.” Adds Rajiv Kaul,broadcasting as a democratic platform and an
MD Microsoft, India –“ a strong technologyenabling tool for masses to migrate into an
infrastructure can help central and state govtseventual knowledge society remains relevant. This
deliver a comprehensive set of services tois more so with the potential to use broadcasting
citizens.” The Karnataka’s govts ‘as a disseminating technology for distance learning
Bhoomi’ project has led to thein remote rural areas with the possibility of
computerization of the countries old system ofsimultaneous data casting of distance learning
hand written rural land records. Through it , themodules. Repositioning Public Service Broadcasting
revenue Dep’t. has done away with theto act as an interface to bring benefits of ICT to
corruption ridden system that involved bribing atthe greatest number of people is a real challenge.
every step. ITC’s E-Choupal unique webIndia in collaboration with the partners should
based initiative  offers farmers the information,strive to introduce sharing of high quality
products and services they need to enhanceeducational  content through the public service
productivity , improve farm-gate price realizationbroadcasting systems .There is also a need to
and cut transaction costs. Farmers can access theensure a greater gender balance and to
latest local and global inform on weather , scientificsupporting media training for women.
farming practices, as well as market prices at the 
village itself through this web portal all in Hindi.?      Promoting community radio
 The national e-governance plan ( 2003-2007),The central public interest principle in broadcasting
reflects the strategic intent of the central govt. inis that of universal access. This principle of access
the right perspective. In the future State Wideshould allow people to participate meaningfully in
Area Networks (SWAN), & Communitytheir community and society. It also includes
Information Centers ( CIC), projects have to begreater access to the means of production and
rolled out , backed by a strong Public-Privateparticipating in broadcasting. Community owned
Participation model( PPP), to achieve long termand operated radio networks can make radio a
sustainability. Already the United Nationstruly participatory communication tool. Community
Development Programme (UNDP) and nationalradio 
institute of smart government ( NISG) has hosted1. Stimulates community participation
India’s first S. Asia public sector ICT summit.2. Raises the efficiency of decentralisation,
The theme of the summit was ‘ new modelsenhances local level transparency and
for e-govt. in S. Asia and the world’ &accountability. and
was targeted at senior govt & policy makers3. Involves people in the design ,implementation
from the countries in S-Asia including India. and evaluation of local development programmes.
Again if the example of Mizoram , then it can beCommunity radio also has the potential to act as
seen that ever since its inception in 1989, thean interface between communities and internet.
continuous and tireless efforts of NIC MizoramConverting community radio into multimedia
have resulted in spreading of ICT culture in thecentres with access to information networks
state. NIC along with the government of Mizoramshould be main thrust of India's approach to
has taken up many initiatives in facilitating andpromote community radio.
promoting e-governance in various sectors such 
as transport, land record, public health engineering,?      Regional flagship programmes
accounts and treasuries etc. –India should establish regional flagship programmes.
For eg in transport communication ‘1. ICT's for reaching the unreached -should focus
Sarathi’ and ‘Vahan’ provide provideon developing sustainable operational models for
a complete solution for district transport office (the unreached groups to access and use
DTO) computerization including registration ,knowledge resources for development.
licensing, permit and enforcement, tax and fee2. Supporting development of national information
collection etc. a vehicle statistics informationand communication policies .Should develop a
systems has been developed that helps inresource kit for information and communication
collection of various reports required annually bypolicy formulation leading to knowledge society.
state transport authority of Mizoram.This will include comprehensive guidelines on the
 policy development process with civil society
26 CIC ( Community Information Centre) haveparticipation and
been established since 2000 which are equipped3. Human resource development -should include
with computers , VSAT, TV, web cameras,development of interactive self-learning training
printers, ups etc . Two qualified operators managecourses to increase the skills of the local trainers
these CIC’s , which provide the followingas well as increasing access to knowledge
services to the people in the far flung and remoteresources through a portal.
areas of the state. E-mailing , web browsing and 
document priority; imparting IT training to theCASE STUDY 6
villagers, students, etc, providing G2C ( 
government to consumer) services such asE-SEVA  project  of Andhra Pradesh-
support for BPL survey, village council elections, 
publications of tenders, notifications etc.From a mere 4,800 transactions a month in
 august 2001 to a whooping 7.5 lakh transactions a
  PROBLEMS ENROUTE TO INFORMATISATIONmonth in February 03, e-seva , Andhra Pradesh ,
 G2C ( Government to citizen)  utilities  service
Though from the above discussion it might seemproject  has come of age , offering nearly 43
that India has successfully become an informationservices ranging from payment of utility bills to
society and can be considered for futureissuing of certificates, permits to licenses,
knowledge society, yet wait before coming toreservation of buses to B2C services.
any conclusion .consider these: 
  
?      Although India ranks 18th in the world inCASE STUDY 7
terms of usage of TV, radio, and Internet and 
with an entertainment industry having as size ofThe project SAUKARYAM
Rs 14,400 crore in 2000, which is expected to 
rise to Rs 80,000 crore in 2009,yet amidst theSaukaryam in Vishakapatnam is among the few
expected fast rate of media development, ruralprojects using the net effectively to connect
India is marginally affected. Without effectivecitizens to civic administration in real time. People
communication no society can be apt enough tocan settle their bills online , check the status of
adopt dynamic models of developmentbuilding and water supply plans , receive
communication. Rural India faces a lot of problem.information on births and deaths, track garbage
They are:-clearance , even scan tender notices. The idea
1.     Wide communication gapbehind the project is to track every service that
2.     Traditional values and attitudesis offered by the corporation online; from taxation
3.     Large and diverse populationto public works to city sanitation. Also it offers a
4.     Low socio-economic statusdiscussion forum for people.
5.     High cost of mass media 
6.     IlliteracyCONCLUSION
7.     Stereotypes and prejudices Though India can boast of an informatisation
8.     Low motivationprocess which is going down well, yet it would be
9.     Defective opinion leadershipblunderous on its part to get smugged off easily
10.  Persuasion difficultwith its partially achieved success. The problems
11.  Feedback difficultwhich are seemingly appearing minuscule, are only
12.  Acute social deformitythe tip of an iceberg, which urgently requires
          timely intervention, before it assumes gigantic
                      In a societyproportion. Instead of resting on its laurels , the
where till recently the mother has scarcelygovernment should take note of the loopholes in
spoken  ,the wife has spent her life withoutthe machinery itself, which affect seriously the
virtually seeing her husband, loveable children arevision of this project.
produced without seeming parental interaction, it is 
very difficult to consider the meaning ofBIBLIOGRAPHY
communication and hence such a society  1.”Within a decade....family members”,
demands mutual interaction, literacy dissemination,India's communication revolution-from bullock carts
physical interaction, institutional transmission,to cyber marts—Everett M Rogers and
political participation and cultural togetherness.Arvind  Singhal—Sage Publications.
 2. ”In the case of personal
?      Indian media is largely urban centric. Allcomputers....affordable range”. India's
the development that have taken place in thecommunication revolution-from bullock carts to 
recent years gave rise to a rural urban divide. Thecyber marts—Everett M Rogers and Arvind
important challenge is to reach the unreached andSinghal—Sage Publications.
to include the excluded in its efforts to create an1.. Case Study 1,----India's communication
information society for all. . Starting by consultingrevolution-from bullock carts to       cyber
at the grassroots level is essential. Top-downmarts—Everett M Rogers and Arvind
projects generally don’t work. These end upSinghal—Sage Publications.
by providing information that people do really2. Communication revolution—Kewal J Kumar.
need or use at an incomprehensible level of