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Investigating ICT infrastructure to develop an information society in India

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Abstract

The information society (IS) can be defined as a society that will witness creation, storage, processing, and distribution of information as major source of economic and cultural activity. IS has also been defined in social, economic, technological, and cultural domains. This study peruses the technological parameter into consideration to look into the role information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure can play to build and promote IS in India. India’s progress on millennium development goals (MDGs) is scrutinized to benchmark with average rates of various economies around the world. Extensive literature survey has been conducted to contextualize IS in India. In three of the important parameters of MDGs, India struggles in the bottom of the benchmarked nations in terms of internet users and telephone lines. However, its performance in mobile density has surpassed low-income, South Asian, and sub-Saharan African countries. India must invest in these technologies to perform better, as UN considers these three parameters on a par with literacy, water, sanitation, etc. A large portion of the population in the country, specially in rural areas, is not able to access ICT infrastructure that if often characterized as poor in quality. There is consistent need from the government to dedicate a larger sum of ICT expenditure on its mega project ‘National e-Governance Plan’ (NeGP). However, just like an oasis in the desert, India remains one of the most affordable nations to offer prices for fixed lines, mobile telephones, and the internet. In terms of ICT usage, India also attains the distinction of highest uses of mobile telephone (minutes/user per month). These strengths can definitely uplift the sagging morale of the Indian economy to get on the path of contemporary IS.

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Notes

  1. The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was a pair of United Nations-sponsored conferences on information, communication and, in broad terms, the information society that took place in 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis. It was held in response to the general purpose of ICTs and its use in society and mainly addressed the increasingly importance of ICTs in context with the developing countries [International Telecommunication Union (ITU)–United Nation Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)] [25].

  2. Most of the contents available in global World Wide Web (WWW) on internet are in English, the language of less than 10 % population of the world (Canadian International Development Agency CIDA) [7].

  3. Signed by 147 heads of states at the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2000, the eight MDGs are: eradicate abject poverty, achieve universal education, promote gender equality and empowering women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development [40].

  4. In their ‘Blueprint for Action’, APEC ministers recognized the enormous potential of electronic commerce to expand business opportunities, reduce costs, increase efficiency, improve the quality of life, and facilitate the greater participation of small business in commerce [3].

  5. Developed with the partnership of multiple stake holders: Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO); Ministry of Information and communication of Republic of Korea; LIRNEAsia and LinkAfrica.

  6. Through an informal system, DOEACC introduced computer courses like DOEACC-A level (equal to Diploma), B-level (equal to Graduation/BSc), and C-level (equal to Master/M. Tech). The Society also run short courses starting from short duration to 1 year (equal to certificate level). These courses were designed in the light of huge deficit of trained IT manpower in the economy, especially after the success of Indian software industry at international level. These courses are designed on an informal system because these are in addition to the formal ones offered by universities and educational institutions.

  7. Web of knowledge is a consortium of international publishers including Elsevier, Wiley, Springer making available all the content of quality journals in digital form. Subscribers have access to full text and abstracts of important publications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR-National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies (NISTADS), Dr. K. S. Krishnan Road, Pusa Gate, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Kashmiri Lal

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Correspondence to Kashmiri Lal.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 3.

Table 3 List of current information society indexes (ISI) used.
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Lal, K. Investigating ICT infrastructure to develop an information society in India. Univ Access Inf Soc 16, 517–528 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-016-0472-1

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