India's Telecom Reform - Indian Institute of Public Administration

India’s Telecom Reform: A Chronological Account
Appendix II
Information Communication Technology
and Poverty Alleviation
Expert studies attribute the high incidence of rural poverty
in India to:
(a) lack of proper income generating activities and opportunities
in villages,
(b) Inadequate infrastructure facilities and
(c) Ineffectiveness of existing government agencies in the
fields of health, education, agriculture extension services
etc.
Information and Communication Technology is a tool that
lends itself to addressing all the three areas, so as to realise
the goal of speedy alleviation of poverty.
Government programmes aimed at addressing rural poverty
fall into three broad categories:
(a) Providing basic infrastructure in rural areas, e.g. setting
up new schools, health facilities, rural roads, drinking
water supply and electrification,
(b) Promoting rural industries, increasing agricultural productivity
and providing rural employment and
(c) Policies aimed at providing productive resources that
in turn help raise the incomes of the poor.
Problems of design, implementation and monitoring and
overall inadequacy of resources undermine the effectiveness
of these programmes.
On the design side, centralised planning leads to the same
policies being applied in different geographic areas without
taking into account variations in agro-climatic conditions,
skills of rural population, access to social infrastructure
and literacy levels. On the other hand, decentralised
planning also lacks effectiveness where it is not supported
by regional databases and tools for spatial planning.
With regard to implementation, problems are posed by a
multiplicity of agencies involved in the process. Lack of
co-ordination among different government departments
implementing such programmes dilutes the benefits derived
at the grass root level. Lack of co-ordination is often
caused by want of reliable communication systems.
The other main hurdles of programme implementation are
the unwillingness of programme workers to stay in the field
and lack of proper supervision. The records maintained by
programme workers are suspect, because they are not updated
through actual contacts with the target population.
Manual reporting systems have also been ineffective due to
the enormity of data, adding up to difficulties in monitoring
large programmes. These problems compound the inherent
drawback posed by inadequacy of resources.
Effective poverty alleviation strategies, on the other hand,
are characterised by micro level planning, effective supply
of credit to the poor, improved management of government
run poverty alleviation programmes and building
networks of self-help groups amongst the rural poor with
the active involvement of local non-governmental
organisations. Grass root intervention is identified as a necessary
factor of poverty alleviation.
26