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Comments from Ajit Maru, FAO (Rome)
First of all, in my opinion, the challenge India faces is not only of taking ICTs to every village but in enabling access to relevant and useful information and, if possible, knowledge, in time through appropriate use of ICTs to every village community and individual in rural areas. The focus should be on the social appropriation of ICTs by its village communities to access information and the ability to use it for development. We, in India, have made the mistake of not doing this when we tried to "take" electricity, water and even radio and TV to Indian villages. The consequences of this approach is there for all of us to see. Large sections of the village communities have been left out from accessing what was "taken" to them. We have had problems in sustaining what little we had "taken" to the villages.
Second, I feel that the impact of using ICTs for agricultural development has been marginally dealt with in the papers presented in the document. ICTs (not only Internet) have shown potential to transform agricultural extension and how new knowledge for agricultural development can be made accessible to village communities. Unfortunately, as seen by your otherwise relevant document, we (all of us involved in ICT4D) miss opportunities to highlight this aspect of using ICTs. In India, we cannot ignore the development of agriculture, especially when it comes to the use of new technologies. Associated with the use of ICTs for agricultural development in India are issues of restructuring and creating new Institutions that can efficiently service the information needs of rural communities. There is an urgent need for creating appropriate content, in developing governance mechanisms for information flows and in developing learning systems that can help the communities use information gainfully for their own development. I was looking for what were the thought on these issues by your esteemed group. I was disappointed not to see them discussed.
Third, there is very little in the documents on how we can use ICT to bring knowledge and skills useful to individuals in rural areas who very soon, as India's economic growth rates increase, will migrate to urban areas to enter manufacturing, construction and the service sectors.
Finally, there is again very little on how we can use ICTs to benefit the vast numbers of Indian expatriate migrant workers in communications and in sending earnings to their families. We must remember that they also contribute significantly to rural development.
Ajit Maru
Agricultural Research Officer
GFAR Secretariat
C/O FAO/SDR
Vialle Delle Terme Di Caracalla
00100
Rome, Italy
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