Information, Interrupted

In 1996, I traded three coins (two Irish cents and one South African schilling, to be precise) from my vast collection with a friend for two words that have changed my life, as they have of billions of people across the world.

The two words, if i remember correctly were 'dubey' and 'dubey1234', the username-password couplet to the VSNL shell account that let you reach websites on a text-only interface.

Exactly one month later, a more generous friend offered to give me a 'proper TCP/IP Internet experience with graphics' on another stolen VSNL account. He, however, refused to reveal to me the username-password, choosing to instead come to my home and login whenever I asked of him.

Nine years later, Internet access is one of the cheapest commodities in the Indian urban market. The future costs of Internet access are anybody's guess.

A subject that has been very central to the development of Internet utility since the turn of the millenium is related to the rural areas.

Small to medium sized projects networking villages to cleanse up the traditional mandi system, exchange of agricultural information and forging inter-village marriage alliances have reached some success.

Low literacy, however, remains that biggest bottleneck towards leting Indian villages go online in a big way.

Proponents of removing the so-called 'digital divide' exhert a sense of urgency in planting computers in a mass manner in the villages, at a pace that cannot be matched by the increase in literacy.

In my opinion, the 'digital divide' is a flawed concept that only serves the purpose of those who want to see computers proliferate across Indian villages. It fails to solve the real problem, that of the lack of access to information.

The inflated importance attached to the 'digital divide' and the urgency to plant computers in villages creates unnecessary complications, the least of which makes a whole workforce of software minds engage in redesigning popular software platforms in local Indian languages that can be understood by all.

While this community of computer-planters grapples with these complications and experiments with new ideas, the Indian villager is not getting access to any information.

A viable alternative that has been gaining support is that of community radio.

A small radio station made to cater to a small area costs less than One Lakh Rupees to set up. If given into the hands of the community, the possibilities are immense.

Local panchayats can form content policies, a village-level group can create the content custom made for the local needs and disseminate information in a universal format. Public-private participation with the intervention of NGOs can broadly provide the required censorship.

Community radio, however, remains illegal in India for all the wrong reasons.

One would fear the upper-castes in a village take over the radio and use it for lower-caste oppression, or political parties use it to brainwash votebanks.

The Indian Government, however fears an altogether different problem: that of national security. What if a jehadi group takes over a radio station and converts it into a hate-breeding anti-nationalism tool?

The apprehensions are obviously hypothetical and overinflated. The success of community radio in Latin American countries, with all its cocaine mafia, military-civilian tussles and trigger-happy rebels is there to see.

The government in India, can start off by legalizing radio in the interior and problem-free states like Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Haryana and Punjab. Small pilot projects to test the waters can be a good beginning. Given the free press and public scrutiny in the country, rest assured that these projects would be fairly guaged for feasibility and viability from all angles.

The government, however, will have to take an initiative first. If it engages the various organs of society into a debate, the effort will not be fruitless.

The hesitation of the government to do even that bit is disheartening.

Ten years after the Internet changed Urban India, we require a similar revolution in the rural spectrum. Given the progress we are making in education with respect to rise in population, community radio is a information empowerment solution that the government must consider with absolute urgency.