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Following the G7 Conference on the In-
formation Society hosted by the EU in
Brussels in 1995 and the Midrand Con-
ference held in 1996 in Midrand,South
Africa,building a global information so-
ciety,and setting the priorities for its ad-
vent have become a major agenda of many
national governments and international
agencies.International Telecommunica-
tions Union (ITU),WTO,OECD,
UNESCO,WHO,Economic Commis-
sion for Africa,New African Initiative,The
World Economic Forum,UN General As-
sembly,and the World Bank are some of
the forums in which the idea has been
deeply deliberated (CEC,2001).Never-
theless,it was soon realized that uneven
access to information defeats the hopes of
building a global information society.Fur-
ther,given the fact that the budgets of
many developing countries are limited they
cannot find resources for building the nec-
essary infrastructure for increasing access
to information.A global information so-
ciety,without the participation of the
world majority cannot be truly global.
Focused attention by donor agencies and
national governments on seeking means
to meet this challenge has given rise to a
range of innovative projects and processes
that attempt to use Information and Com-
munication Technologies (ICTs)for devel-
opment.
Private,public and the third sectors are independently and in partnerships in- volved in these projects in areas such as transport,planning and implementation, sustainable livelihood,governance,promo- tion of equitable access to social services, supporting macro economic policies and environment management.They are var- yingly intended to enable users to reduce costs,increase efficiency and competitive- ness,empower local communities,facili- tate social and economic initiatives,create employment opportunities,adapt and dis- seminate knowledge that enhances pro- ductivity or reduce corruption and red- tapism in administration.As such these projects encompass a wide area of devel- opmental activities in developing coun- tries. The major role of ICT expansion in the developing countries pertains to finding solutions to the problems of unemploy- ment and poverty reduction.Massive in- vestments in the public and private sectors and funding by donor agencies are justi- fied by the immense scope of ICTs in mit- igating developmental maladies and aiding development administration.ICTs,such as the World Wide Web,e-mail,tele- phones,cellular phones and satellites can transform drastically the way in which communities interact,conduct their busi- nesses,compete in markets and shape their development priorities.ICTs have enabled a section of the rural communities to ac- cess,adapt and apply greater amounts of information often creating opportunities for enhancing productivity and efficien- cy.It has also to certain extent strength- ened democracy,increased social participation and defined new models of sustainable practices.While the opportu- nities for the use of ICTs in development appear to be enormous,a systematic ap- praisal of the major restrictive factors that contribute to inefficiencies and instabili- ties in the outcomes of ICT use has not been undertaken.The absence of a proper framework for assessing the strategies,pol- icies and regulatory approaches as they emerge in the context of ICT expansion in India have greatly affected the rectifica- tion processes and attempts to reformu- late appropriate and coherent strategies for using ICTs for poverty reduction and em- ployment generation.This is more glar- ing in the case of initiatives undertaken by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) with both Governmental and non-govern- mental financial support.Surprisingly, organizational and technological innova- Interested? Read the complete article here. |
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