EMPOWERMENT
OF THE COMMON MAN THROUGH DIGITAL REVOLUTION
T.K.
Viswanathan*
Hunger, greed and
poverty are the major evils confronting the mankind. These evils
have to be eradicated on a war footing if the survival of human
race is to be ensured. The only panacea to cure these evils is
to ensure that the developmental efforts of the Government reach
the intended beneficiaries, namely the common man. It is here
that the information and communication technologies will play
a pivotal role.
The majority
of our population lives in the villages. In spite of urbanization
and large-scale migration to the cities, this trend is not going
to change in the near future. Villages will continue to be the
archetypal unit which represent our culture and civilization.
Agriculture will continue to be the primary source of livelihood
for the rural masses. It is by addressing the problems at the
village level that we can improve the lot of the common man and
achieve our developmental goals. One way of doing it is by providing
better telecommunication facilities to the villages.
Developmental
efforts of many countries have not yielded the expected dividends
since the importance of the human factor was ignored. This was
highlighted by the former Secretary General of the United Nations
while launching the World Decade for Cultural Development (1988-1999).
Mr. Perez De Cuellar attributed the failure of many developmental
efforts due to the fact that the importance of human factor, that
complex web of relationship and beliefs, values and motivations
which lie at the very heart of a culture, had been underestimated
in many developmental projects. So if our developmental efforts
have to succeed, we must attach due importance to the human factor
in the rural sector since a majority of our population resides
in villages.
There is another
dimension which has broadened the scope of development itself.
Initially development was synonymous with economic development,
but ever since it was realized that mere economic criteria alone
was insufficient to sustain a programme of development, the concept
of development was widened to include the right of every human
being to exist with dignity and well-being including his cultural
rights. Freedom of expression is one of the pillars of every civilized
society. Mutual knowledge of cultures, respect for others, the
promotion of cultural diversity and the prevention of conflicts
are essential factors for economic and social development. Fundamentally,
they rest on the exercise of freedom of expression. Viewed in
that context communication and information technologies assume
great importance. Communication is the vehicle for implementation
of the principle of freedom of expression. Article 19 of the United
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes this
principle. The Article states "Everyone has the right to
freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom
to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and
impart information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers". It may not be out of context to mention that
the frontier is not necessarily confined to physical frontiers
but it extends to the electronic frontier as well, because otherwise
this right will be meaningless if it were to be confined only
to oral or printed versions. Any logical extension of this right
should cover the right of the public to have access to information
which is disseminated in all media including the new multimedia
systems. Our Constitution too reflects the spirit of this Declaration.
Information and
communication technologies today are what industrial machines
were for the industrial revolution in the last century. In today’s
economy they are the engines of growth and also vehicles of power
and wealth. They offer the great advantage of freeing the people
from the tyranny of geography. In such an environment where information
and knowledge are crucial for economic and social development,
unequal distribution and sharing of information and communication
technologies and access to information could distort the information
society. To overcome this shortcoming, all the countries have
made Universal Service as their long term objective of the telecommunication
policy. Briefly stated, it means that communication facilities
must be made available to every member of the society on an individual
or household basis. Provision for universal service will facilitate
an integrated rural development and promote innovation.
Information economy
has opened up untold opportunities for mankind to create new forms
of wealth. The information and communication revolution has transformed
information into a commodity since raw material of knowledge is
information. This development portends enormous advantages for
a poor country like ours. We can transform our knowledge into
wealth. Our indigenous knowledge is very rich. It is reflected
in the traditions, customs and folklore of our villagers. It is
embedded in the minds of our village folk. This indigenous knowledge
can be turned into wealth through educating the rural masses and
also giving wider telecommunications access to them.
Access to information
and knowledge constitutes a global public good and is essential
to the advancement of education, science, culture and communication
to empowerment, to the promotion of cultural diversity and to
fostering open governance. This is the mandate of UNESCO. We must
reinforce our efforts to broaden the range of languages available
on the Internet.
Telemedicine
can deliver health care to the village folk who cannot afford
to visit hospitals in metropolitan cities for treatment of serious
ailments. Complicated surgeries can be performed at the remote
places from cities or even from abroad through the use of new
communication technologies. This is already happening in our country.
Distance education is a boon for adult education programmes which
can reach the remote villages. Farmers can share their experiences
with others in other parts of the country or even outside India
and can also learn from their experiences. Community networking
can bring villages together. Technology is becoming so user-friendly
that it can be mastered by the illiterate even without much training.
Voice recognition software, multilingual operating systems, touch
screen computers and interactive TVs will make Internet access
easier even to the illiterate villager. Cyclone predictions will
help us to save the lives of thousands of people living in the
coastal areas who are subjected to the ravages of nature every
year. Better weather forecasts will facilitate farmers plan their
crops sufficiently early. The benefits of digital revolution are
so great that it is difficult to predict at this juncture the
further possibilities it is going to offer.
Linking every
village through an effective communication network will enable
the rural masses to take part in the mainstream of national life
and share the developmental benefits. To these ends the information
and communication technologies can be of great help.
Ours is an ancient
civilization. We are rich in knowledge. Our computational skills
are outstanding. We have launched satellites into orbit without
any external help. In the emerging global information economy
we have a vital stake. The digital revolution is a revolution
fathered by the Indian brains. So we should make the best out
of this revolution. The digital revolution will modify the exercise
of democracy. It brings about a more direct link between citizens
and the State. Access to administrative services will become faster,
access to justice can be simplified. Every individual will have
the opportunity of participating in an active, more transparent
and more effective form of citizenship. If we can push our agenda
vigorously with the rustic common man in the village as the ultimate
beneficiary of all our developmental efforts, we will eradicate
poverty, ` hunger and disease. This was the dream of our founding
fathers and will herald the dawn of the golden age of our nation.
If this dream is realized, India will emerge as one of the main
players in the global knowledge economy.(PIB Features)
*Member
Secretary, Law Commission.
