[kictanet] India and ICTs

Fri Oct 25 06:19:55 EAT 2013

Dear Dr. Ndemo,

Thank you for this piece of report.

I captured your last words:  "Last but not least we
must do an impact assessment on democracy and ask ourselves questions such
as: Is too much democracy bad for development?"

This I believe, democracy has nothing to do with being righteous: a Key for
Development (Proverbs 14:34)! Hence it is ALWAYS NOT SAFE TO BE FREE! That
is the greatest a miss in our democracies! We cry for freedom, while
actually we thirsty to be righteous! It is a spiritual hunger!

Keep up thinking! keep up discussing...

Regards

__________________________________
*Eng. Dr. Zaipuna O. Yonah, PhD*
*Consulting Engineer in ICTs*
*P. O. Box 32736*
*Dar es Salaam*
*Tanzania*
*Tel: +255-784-786429*
*Fax: +255--732-920133*
*Email: **engzaipuna at ieee.org* <engzaipuna at ieee.org>
===============================
*It is About Engineering People's Lives! **& *
*Advancing Technology for Humanity!*
*===============================*

On Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 4:01 AM, Bitange Ndemo <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

> Listers,
> I am attending India’s Economic Times e-Governance Forum where several
> experts have gathered to chart the way forward for India’s Information
> Technology diffusion within government.  Attending also are ministers from
> the 29 states of India.  The Minister for ICT Mr. Ponnala Lakshmaiah,
> opened the conference challenging the experts to use ICT as a tool to
> eliminate poverty by enhancing inclusivity and equity within India.
>
> In his speech, the minister said, one in four IT experts globally is
> Indian yet India is ranked 124th in the diffusion of technology.
> Virtually every top university in the World has at least one Indian
> professor in IT.  MIT alone has several Indian professors heading projects
> in IT yet here at home we are still struggling to provide services to the
> people.  To change this he says, this year, India will connect 250,000
> villages with fibre optics.
> The Minister further said that technology has had a huge impact with
> respect to disaster management.  He says, the state of Ander Pradesh for
> example has seen reduction in deaths out of the cyclones.  In 1977 for
> example, he said, we lost 10,000 lives to the cyclone, in 1990 technology
> helped to lower the deaths to 1,500 and last year we only lost 30 he said.
>  Loosing 30 is still not good when we have technologies that help protect
> the lives of citizens, he said.  We must have high powered computing to
> deal with environmental disasters.
>
> Through public private partnerships with google, Ander Pradesh is mapping
> every village and tagging every house to ensure every citizen receives the
> services they are entitled to.  From such connectivity, service delivery
> to citizens will be made easier.  He finished his speech by stating:  ICT
> is a leveler – where every young woman or man will have an opportunity to
> succeed otherwise we shall have a violent revolution if the gap between
> the rich and poor keeps on widening.
>
> Indeed ICTs will create new opportunities as the senior advisor, Planning
> Commission BN Satpathy says.  Digitalization of government records
> globally created six million jobs and $196 billion in new revenue.  It is
> therefore important that India position ICT as key to economic growth.
> There must be a paradigm shift from classical economic thinking where the
> focus was on resources to modern ways where technology and knowledge is
> key.  This is the only way we can reduce inequalities between rich and
> poor and disparities between different states in India.  This is how we
> can build an inclusive country he says.  He emphasized that experts must
> look into developing applications in education and health to enable
> improved social services to the poor.
>
> The World Bank country Director, India Mr. Onno Ruhl concurs with Minister
> Lakshmaiah and Satpathy and moves to give examples from other parts of the
> World.  Norway has made Broadband a human right issue by providing free
> internet to every home.  Chile has made it possible for tax payers to pay
> online.  Several other countries are taking services to the people.  He
> gives Kenya as a model on mobile payments that has changed the lives of
> many people and created financial inclusivity within a short period.
>
> A panel discussion by nine senior government officials ranging from
> immigration, supreme court of India, health, education, ICT and some
> private sector from Wipro, National Innovation Council as well as World
> Health Organization reveal the elephant in the house – silo mentality or
> protection of turfs - that lead to corruption.  They were clear as to what
> needs to be done and how but there must be political will to move this
> forward. Public Private Partnerships have helped create the efficiencies
> they enjoy thus far.  Just like in Kenya each department does what they
> want without making reference to the other.  Multiple infrastructure such
> as data centers that should be shared is duplicated making seamless
> integration difficult.  For example, the passport department has biometric
> data but you find the electoral commission will also collect its own data.
>
> Rajiv Gauba, Additional Secretary, e-Governance emphasizes shared
> infrastructure and creation of integrated services to reduce cost but at
> the same time he is aware that ministries are not ready for this.  He
> feels that the National Government must mandate this in order to optimally
> utilize the meager resources.  He feels the Government must build a common
> gateway for all government services.  He wants a mandate to eliminate
> parallel government systems and putting most of the services on the cloud
> to eliminate multiple data centers.
>
> At lunch break I meet Pradeem Kumar, he has been to Kenya and tells me
> that everything that has been said here cannot be done in India.  You guys
> are lucky that you can learn from us and implement things immediately.
> Here we have very powerful and corrupt state governments.  This all talk
> that resources will move from the center to the goal is nonsense if
> kickers in the field are wearing shoes with nails such that the ball will
> never get to the goal.  It is always deflated before we can score.  Indeed
> all presentations that followed by the private sector did not mince any
> words.  Corruption starts from the specification such that you will never
> win.
> Professor Anil, a governance expert argued that India will never
> effectively deal with corruption until they set up schools of governance.
> Why is that the entire of India with thousands of higher learning there is
> not one of them teaching governance? We must go to the Kennedy School to
> learn governance? He posed.  In his view, there is sufficient political
> will but the wheels of government are stuck somewhere.  India has the best
> brains any country can have but they cannot put their finger on that
> thing.
>
> We have a lot to learn from India since we share a similar history having
> been colonized by the British.  In my presentation I made what I thought
> was a joke.  This is what I said.  The British ruled almost the entire
> world without a single computer.  Their secret I am told is that they used
> bureaucracy and when they left, we perfected it to the extent we now have
> analysis by paralysis.  One of the state representatives repeated my words
> and said this is it.  This is our problem.  We spend too much time doing
> analysis.  I was stunned.  I gathered myself to say that we do the same in
> Kenya.
>
> In my thinking, indiscipline is causing both India and Kenya a great deal
> of the future.  Like many developed countries, we need to establish a boot
> camp for the youth after high school.  Every class from high school
> through University must have an ethical component.  Last but not least we
> must do an impact assessment on democracy and ask ourselves questions such
> as: Is too much democracy bad for development?
>
> To be continued.
>
>
>
> University of Nairobi
> Business School, Lower Kabete Campus
>
>
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