Bridging the digital divide

According to the digital inclusion index compiled by the Maplecroft, a British risk analysis firm, India figures in the extreme risk category, meaning that much of India's population is shut out of the so-called digital revolution. Digital inclusion, which is crucial in helping people take part in economic activities, improves the governance and competitiveness of a nation.

Already the government has the National e-Governance Plan in place, pursuant to which core infrastructures such as State Data Centres, State Wide Area Networks and State Service Delivery Gateways have been created. The 27 e-Governance Mission mode programmes are at various stages of implementation, and their full rollout would ensure that most of the government services are available at the doorsteps of citizens.

But considering that the Internet reach is around 6.9 percent, and 100,000 Citizen Service Centres or kiosks cannot cater to a 1.2-billion population, the country has to think of newer paradigms in service delivery. The alternative lies in using wireless mobile devices as service delivery platforms. The relatively low cost of mobile technology versus Internet technology has drastically lowered the entry barriers for citizens to get connected with government services.

MOBILE GOVERNANCE

Many State Governments and their agencies have launched a number of initiatives: these include initiatives in agriculture, NREGA, health, district administration, tourism, police, elections etc. For example, in Bangalore, traffic challan generation and fine payment are done using mobiles. The Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is using mobile-based intelligent garbage monitoring system.

In a country like India with such diversity, policymakers must endeavour to include the lowest denominator possible within the fold of m-governance. It will help a farmer, if he can access climate, soil, and agricultural inputs, and produce price information on his mobile, without having to go to any centre or kiosk. It will help Self Help Group women if they can get information regarding the status of their loan applications from their homes. It will help a pregnant woman to get better antenatal care and postnatal care if she gets alerts on her mobile regarding the services she needs to take, and the health worker accountable for giving those services. It will help an undernourished child get better health check-ups and nutrition.

It will help a student if he can get training material and lessons by way of IVR. It will also help governance, if departments conduct all the surveys, inspections and data collection using wireless technology, thereby providing real-time data for effective service delivery and decision-making. Therefore, the scope of mobile governance is as wide and diverse as the needs of the citizens.

CLOUD COMPUTING

Technology-wise, the challenge is to leverage cloud computing with GPRS/2G/3G in order to enable even a basic-level phone to have higher performance. Many applications that use cloud computing to handle heavy calculations and simple application interfaces can be developed.In order to make the whole range of services available to the people, the Mobile Network Operators can be engaged to make available on the mobile phones, the directory of government services. Also, considering that 99 per cent of the mobile subscribers are in the prepaid plan, it would help the cause of mobile governance if we could use the prepaid airtime for making payments for government services.

It will be especially beneficial to people in the rural areas who don't have access to debit or credit cards, and hence are unable to access services from their homes, and have to visit the government offices or Citizen Service Centres.

To conclude, wireless technology can become a great leveller for bridging the digital divide.

(The author is an IAS officer. Views are personal.)

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