Innovations in empowerment of minorities have both political and governance gains An inclusive democracy is one that not only claims to take minorities into political confidence and gains their trust, but is also perceived to innovate and implement plans that are realistic and sustainable. Action-oriented measures are important because when political rhetoric doesn’t lead to…
The country’s digital landscape for its billion plus population is set to build upon existing strengths and learning over the past decade and more The period 2014-19 is set to witness a transition in political governance in India’s democratic landscape. A new transformation in wider governance areas and intervention, with new ideas, vision and milestones,…
How you can contribute to the spread of digital literacy in small-town and rural IndiaChoose your dates, come along with me and meet some of the most unassuming people. These people have overcome many difficulties to adopt digital tools, and access devices and Internet connectivity. Most of them have little education, they are “backward” and…
The e-Panchayat project, implemented with a tech solution from the National Informatics Centre, is a positive developmentIndia’s right to information is perhaps a hallmark law, considering the fact that in the 21st century information is the basis of equity, empowerment, rights and access. While the law has caught the imagination of the people, it is…
Political exigencies to announce and roll out welfare schemes must match national urgency to address educational goalsI firmly believe that the digital age can change our country for the good, if digital tools are used with a citizen-centric strategy. Information poverty is the most sustained and perennial misery that a vast majority of the population…
With the emergence and rapid following of social media representing citizens voices, it is no more that alternative media is following traditional mediaIn 2011, a few days after the fall of Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, a Jordanian newspaper published a joke doing the rounds in Egypt: “Why do the Tunisian youth demonstrate in…
For a country where right to information is a law, India can’t become rightly and equitably informed until we have the Internet in every householdLast week, the world gathered in Bali, Indonesia, for the 8th Internet Governance Forum (IGF). While IGF is a non-decision-making body with multi-stakeholder participation that discusses all aspects of the Internet…
The poverty of resources in Ratnauli and adjoining villages is so abject that people talk about availability of print-outs from CIRC as a magic wandInformation is a great enabler for the educated as well as the illiterate. For many, Internet is the biggest junkyard of information. Yet, for many, the junkyard is a source of…
Getting the right amount of information at the right time is vital to making India tuberculosis-freeCan digital intervention and adoption of information communication technology (ICT) tools save 300,000 TB patients from dying every year? Health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said recently that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has in its two terms in office taken…
The average life of a mobile device in India is eight years, perhaps the longest compared with anywhere in the world. How? A majority of us are familiar with the front yard of the mobile landscape: the device, the design, the cost, the features, navigability, access and connectivity. Not unreasonably. We are living in a…