INFO AGE: The Digital Divide

Information and knowledge have now become the key to economic prosperity. The Internet has ushered in the "Information Age", signifying the period of greatest potential for wealth creation in history. It has rocked the way we deliver and receive information and the way we use it for business, entertainment, planning, and living. It is widely acknowledged that Information Communication Technologies (ICTs)—television/radio, telephone, computer, and the Internet—hold the promise of local and global information-sharing needed for sustainable economic development and wealth creation.

"Haves" Vs "Have-nots"

Unfortunately, only 15 percent of the world's population are believed to have access to the Internet. Forget surfing the Web, more than 80 percent of people in the world are still believed to have never even heard of a dial tone. And the gap between the information "haves" and "have-nots" is widening. That is called the "digital divide".

In his speech at Telecom '99, Kofi Anan, UN Secretary General, had warned of the danger of excluding the world's poor from the Information Revolution. "People lack many things: jobs, shelter, food, health care, and drinking water. Today, being cut off from basic telecommunications services is a hardship almost as acute as these other deprivations, and may indeed reduce the chances of finding remedies to them." Less than one percent of people in South Asia have Internet access even though they constitute one-fifth of the world's population.

Examples Galore

The impact of communications and the Internet is not mere rhetoric. There are many examples from the developing world of how technology helped individuals to prosper.

In Morocco, where women play a vital role in earning livelihood for the families, Fadma now sells her wares in the global marketplace, earning enough money to take care of herself and her two daughters. She is part of a group of local weavers who sell their rugs through a site called Virtual Souk. Around 75–80 percent of the artisan partners of Virtual Souk are women. The project, which employs 775 artisans in Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon, works through NGOs to avoid middlemen and delivers 65-80 percent of money earned back to the artisans.

In India, a large majority of rural women have never seen a telephone or television, and with literacy rate ranging between 8-10 percent, the Internet Revolution is yet to touch their daily lives. Yet we have the example of a rural embroideress, Maniben, from Kutch in Gujarat. A non-profit organization, with help from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), featured her mirror-work embroidered tie on its web site—peoplelink.org. Maniben received orders from UK to make "Millennium" ties.

Also in India, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is helping co-operative unions across the country to set up computer systems, connecting the villagers who sell milk to the union office and the union office itself to NDDB. The Board is going to 1,000 villages thus avoiding the middleman through use of computers.

At the milk production centre in Anand, Gujarat, women take milk to a weigh-bridge. There the milk is weighed, the fat quantity assessed, and the payment immediately calculated by the computer. Earlier middlemen could cheat saying the fat content was low. Records—right from quantities sold to payrolls—are automatically maintained and are tamper-proof compared to the time-consuming ledger work in the past.

A vet in Tiruchi in Tamil Nadu is computerizing all details of animal and poultry diseases. This will be available in booths across the villages in the area, so that people know exactly what should be done for prevention and cure. In Andhara Pradesh (AP), a professor is working on the prototype of software on animal health care to dispel misinformation and provide villagers with information on animal diseases. Information dissemination would become simple and speedy, with every village in AP expected to have an Internet booth soon.

Government plays a key role in taking IT to the masses. In AP, for instance, land records have been totally computerized and every district and village is expected to be networked in the future. A videoconference network connects the chief minister with 25 key locations in the state. Other states are following quickly.

There are many cellular operators in India who are implementing schemes based on the experience of "GrameenPhone" of Bangladesh to bring the benefits of communications to rural folk.

Role of Education

There are many instances of housewives aged over 60 who want to familiarize themselves with computers. All the above examples can serve as benchmarks or models to help more people to benefit from the Information Revolution. Governments have a big role to play here—not only to facilitate through appropriate policies and infrastructure but also through education. In particular, now the Digital Education.