Binu Alex, Commodity Online
Worldwide web has become the dominant player in the world economy to the extent that the country's growth now solely depends on its bandwidth capacity. Is that a good trend? Can we depend too much on internet for our needs?

In fact a new debate has now begun which says the countries should be judged not according to the military strength it has but more by its internet power and its willingness to open up public data to their citizens. And this has come from none other than the inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

He told the BBC that the government data should be open and all these open data should be considered a basic right of citizens.

This raises a serious question. A question of political correctness and human prudence. In a country like India, where no human rights are considered as the basic right, will this idea sprout?

For instance, can a farmer be able to know the crop pattern and plan his next season? Can the government give him a data wherein he is told that a particular crop will not work in the coming season due to various reasons. It could be weather, demand and supply situation or just any other reason. This is possible if there is enough bandwidth and penetration. Many consider literacy as the chief protagonist. But it is not.

This can even be done with a simple radio but the radio waves are government monopoly and the FM stations are limited to urban areas and beaming nothing but scrap music. Perhaps the only way a farmer or an entrepreneur can get help is in the form of bandwidth. A farmer needs bandwidth more than fertilisers. Sounds absurd?

It may, but this is the grain of truth. In a particular reference to developing countries, Lee pointed out in his BBC interview that 'if the democracy is going to work you have to have an informed electorate.'

How true is this cannot be guaged by Mayawatis and Laloos and Mulayams. It can only be done by a Nilekani and unfortunately, we have only one Nilekani. As we have more Nilekanis, investor confidence increases. As more investors pour in, infrastructure has to improve.

This is where bandwidth plays a major role. At present there are many bottlenecks and entry level barriers to accessing internet. One and the foremost is lack of data. There is absolutely no data available for any Indian citizen to plan their schedule.

Farmers doesnt have the data to plan for the next crop. Commuters doesnt have the information about their daily trains and buses. Train and flight passengers are ill informed about the departures and arrivals of their respective form of transport, drivers have the least knowledge of where the traffic is congested, job seekers have no idea where their talent will be useful to the optimum, students have no information on their future course of academic action, patients have no direction where the hospital is located, police have no idea where the criminals are and the list is endless.

But all these information are tip of the iceberg that bandwidth can create. India can build upon these information to go to greater heights but when it takes years to migrate from 2G to 3G just because the minister in charge has an inflated ego, India's chances of getting ahead seems to be bleak.

Right to information act has done wonderfully well. But the question is what data are you expecting by filing an RTI query. If a farmer files a querry at the local Panchayat level to know how much quantity of cotton is grown in the district to plan his own crop pattern, what can the Panchayat answer him?

Beyond Commodities is a casual column by Binu Alex, Editor-in-Chief, Commodity Online Group

Post your comment  (0)

Connect:

Post to Twitter

Post to Facebook