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Indian village's IT assistance to poor lauded

Imran Qureshi in Bangalore

The Asian Development Bank is touting a tiny village on India's east coast as an example of how information technology can be used to increase the incomes of poor communities.

Veerampatinam village in the Union Territory of Pondicherry, adopted by the M S Swaminathan Foundation, uses the Internet to advise fishermen whether or not to venture out in the rough waters.

"Weather forecasts downloaded from the Internet and broadcast by loudspeakers at the beach enable the poor fishermen to know when to take out their boats," Yoshihiro Iwasaki, ADB's director, programmes department, told a roundtable discussion in India's IT capital Bangalore.

The ADB organised the discussion on information and communication technologies in association with the ministries of IT of the Centre and Karnataka as well as the Institute for Social and Economic Change. Close to 100 delegates from various Asian countries attended the two-day event.

Iwasaki was quoting the Veerampatinam example to drive home the point that 'far from being an instrument for the rich, ICT is an extremely powerful tool for empowering the poor'.

Flowing from its commitment to reduce poverty in Asia, the ADB is committed to bridging the digital divide in the region. The bank has adopted a strategy of selective intervention to create an enabling environment for ICT development, build human resources and develop ICT applications and information content in ADB-assisted projects.

In July, it launched the Japan Fund for Information and Communication Technology on the grant basis for ICT activities to help reduce poverty.

"These initiatives are only markers for a small beginning. ADB recognizes the central role of ICT in promoting development, reducing poverty and transforming traditional societies and economies," Iwasaki said.

Those most excited with Iwasaki's presentation were two of India's most IT-savvy chief ministers, S M Krishna of Karnataka and Nara Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh. The two have come in for severe criticism from the opposition parties in their states for paying too much attention to IT.

"IT is necessary for eradicating poverty as well as for providing transparency and accountability in e-governance and speeding up governmental work. I don't think the (global) slowdown will affect India because within the country there are opportunities for e-health and e-medicine. But what we do is very meagre," said Naidu.

"Naidu has referred to criticism that IT is for only the urbanite and the rich. Well, these are common words that were used against Indira Gandhi for bringing television into the country and Rajiv Gandhi for the communication revolution. Naidu and I see the benefits of that revolution when common people stand before STD (subscriber trunk dialling) booths in the rural areas," said Krishna.

But Krishna had a word of caution for the IT industry too. "All progress through exports alone will not create light for our people living in the slums and villages. As long as the industry does not address the core concern of India, the unemployed, their restlessness will only rise," he said.

Indo-Asian News Service

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