Daily Post 1241
DIGITAL DIVIDE IMBROGLIO
Digital divide is generally defined as gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the internet and those who do not. Though this divide from this physical point of view might be getting bridged, today with technological advancement and penetration, digital divide has taken multifarious dimensions, it has become an imbroglio. There are vast chunks of the Indian masses who have it and miss it, at the same time. Till the time this is sorted out the benefits of the digital revolution would barely fructify.
Compare with the barely lit filament yellow bulbs in villages and small towns of yesteryears and also our schools in the same geography. Even with widespread education the governments provided for some weightage to rural areas in jobs was an acceptance to the fact that the education was not at par. The same issues perpetrates between regions and specialties in the digital world as well. South India employs 44% of the IT professionals whereas as Eastern India a measly 4%.
The issue starts from the professional technical education itself. Most of colleges in small towns and rural areas do not match with their city brethren. The computer education thus becomes inherently different. Employability goes for a six. The quality of IT service too depends on depth of the IT Services’s provided, mere hardware and pirated software cannot take you a long way. The famed India trio of TCS, Infosys and Wipro have no presence in large part of the Indian landmass and population, few cities notwithstanding.
Rest of the country has to fend for, with whatever they have. Technology Consultancy is limited to even fewer areas. Audit in unknown. Emerging technologies is still unheard of in most parts of the country, few places its being used as jargons and captions. The also rans are visible. A clear cut strategy needs to be implemented to save large parts of the country from being under the Digital Shadow. It’s the business of the elite and the urban, rest is just a baggage.
BASIC DIGITAL QUALITY PARAMETERS HAVE TO CREATED AND DELIVERED ACROSS THE COUNTRY.