From the fellowship journey of our fellow, Akshay Modi. He is currently working with the NGO, Gram Vikas in Orissa.
NOTE: If you are reading this article electronically, it is because in all likelihood you have access to the information superhighway – the world wide web. Alternatively, to read an article offline, I presume that one would have to download the webpage on their computing device, which can then be accessed later even without internet. I have been doing the latter for the past four months, as I am living in the Thuamul Rampur block of Kalahandi district in Odisha.
Whilst India is on the cusp of a communications revolution, made possible by an increasingly affluent and demanding populace, advances in mobile hardware and drop in data prices, these in themselves mean little without access to the basic building block of telecom – access to a mobile network. As per an April 2017 report, there were over 50,000 villages in India still without mobile telephony.
Thuamul Rampur is amongst the poorest places in India. Characterized by hilly terrain and a largely tribal population, this block of Kalahandi district is home to ~100,000 people. Most parts of the block do not have a network tower. Public services, especially healthcare and education, are in a dismal state given the lack of infrastructure and skilled manpower to deliver these services.
In today’s age, access to a mobile network is considered a given for most of us. During my initial days after arrival here, I had met a person who had been unable to complete the last rites of his father who had passed away 4 days ago, as he was unable to get in touch with his son living in a different state and get him to transfer some money for the same. He had said he was failing to even mourn for his father given all his efforts to be able to speak with his son. This, philosophically speaking, seems to be in contravention of the fundamental right to life – a father should have a right to be able to speak with his son living elsewhere. A grandson should have a right to be informed of his grandparents’ death in time so that he can reach their funeral.
Taking the case of the demonetization episode, one of the central objectives of the exercise was to foster a cashless economy. However, how can a society turn cashless if there is a single bank branch to cater to a population of over 100,000, and there is no mobile network in order to undertake digital transactions? So much so, it had taken 3-4 days time for the news of the demonetization announcement to reach some areas of Thuamul Rampur. The pain of the de-mon fiasco was far more pronounced in places such as Thuamul Rampur, which have little facilities in terms of transportation and communication.
We often talk about the transformative impact that can be created by smart use of technology. Farmers can be boarded onto the eNAM platform as part of a single market to purchase and sell agricultural produce. Digital learning can complement the existing physical infrastructure, in order to curate a superior learning experience for our students. Coupled with financial literacy initiatives, technology can support creating a truly digital economy.
A “Digital India” campaign first and foremost should look to create a Digital Bharat. The government’s efforts towards this end are laudable but the initiative is running behind timelines. Already, the authorities concede that getting network here will be a long-drawn affair. The people of Thuamul Rampur have gotten accustomed to the shoddy implementation of government programmes. We hope that they are pleasantly surprised in this instance.