DailyPost 1699
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) TALES OF INDIA
IT is a bunch of technologies with data and instant communication at its core, which has transformed the world to a level to remain liveable even in the worst pandemic of the century. India has been declared a IT powerhouse, our Computer Science engineers are transforming the world, inclusive of leading the best and most valued MNCs. The lesser counterparts, born and brought up in India have made their presence felt in large parts of the world. As things progressed, we became the back office of the world, the call center capital as well. Bangalore became India’s Silicon Valley locating all big names in the industry. Life as anywhere else, in India too slowly got dependent on IT and continues to increase with every passing day.
Whatever branch of engineering, you would have studied in college, you would like to get a job in IT was the real transformation. Most of them got it too. The IT sector became the mecca of the middle class and the job starved last generation, found a new hope in this industry. Whatever becomes successful also develops a system of packaging, a narrative and an effort by all to make it look and feel like a dream story. This happened to IT too. What remains glossed over is that the IT industry survives on what is called body shopping, providing human resources for operations, maintenance etc, euphuistically called software. There is a game of effort and cost calculation, which has gone on very efficiently.
Software product development is conspicuous by its absence. It is so difficult to find an Indian software product of any type getting prominent business and commercial space either in India or at the global level. The biggest stumbling has been our extreme aversion to research and development. Even the tech entrepreneurs who made name, fame and a huge fortune, neither invested any part of their fortunes for this purpose, nor did they mentor anything of this nature. These are long haul projects and need perseverance, grit and determination. These are the IT tales of India, which started impacting the non-IT areas; IT user organizations and the public domain too.
Any government project if you think of, inclusive of the apps for public use, has its own tale of misery. Some mature. The network is still a big challenge in literally any public resource you want to access. Server down is a well-accepted reason now. The elevation of public service to the level of Estonia or Singapore should have happened by now. Digital is the biggest leveller. Did Indian IT industry help us create a digital infrastructure of the global level? Digital marketing and AI have entered the political domain for quite some time with tools of micro targeting, sentiment analysis etc. Political parties went a step further, they redefined IT into the most negative use of social media. How can technology survive? We could have done a better job, if our IT systems were in place.
FROM CHINESE DISHES TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, WE CUSTOMISE EVERYTHING TO OUR TASTE. THE TASTE OF INDIA.
Sanjay Sahay