Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 13:07:14 +0530
From: Subbiah Arunachalam
Friends:
Here is a short piece from today's SciDevNet.
Arun
http://www.scidev.net/Editorials/index.cfm?fuseaction=readEditorials&itemid=
115&language=1
India's new challenge on technology policy
David Dickson
17 May 2004
The surprise defeat of the BJP in last week's Indian election appears to
reflect widespread resentment that the benefits of rapid technological
innovation have reached only a relatively small section of society. This has
implications for the whole developing world.
A few weeks ago, a leading aid expert described how, in the 1970s, he had
spent three years in India working for the United Nations Development
Programme. At the time, he had been engaged in helping India set up its
first microelectronics research facility. But he became convinced that the
country's real needs lay at the other end of the technological scale, in the
diffusion of more effective agricultural techniques and other innovations to
help the rural poor. Yet given the country's success in turning itself into
a major industrial player in a range of key technologies, he admitted that
he now felt he had been wrong.
Last week's surprise success of the Congress Party, headed by Sonia Gandhi,
in India's general election suggests that he may not have been as wrong as
he thought. For, according to many commentators, the rejection of the
incumbent government - headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - appears
to reflect widespread disillusionment with the way that the country's recent
rapid economic and technological growth has been enjoyed unequally by
different social groups.
It would, of course, be na�ve to pretend that this is the whole story behind
the election result. The success of the Congress Party in some of India's
largest cities, including Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, immediately challenges
the argument that it is the votes of excluded rural communities that have
brought the Congress Party - the dominant political party in India since it
achieved independence in 1947 - back to power after a gap of eight years.
Conversely there are several states that still face massive social and
economic problems, but that voted for parties belonging to the ousted
National Democratic Alliance, rather than opting for the pro-poor messages
offered by the Congress Party. Those living in the world's largest democracy
appear merely to have been exercising their right to protest against
mismanagement by voting their rulers out of office.
Balancing innovation with basic needs
Despite all this, it would be equally na�ve to believe that rejection of the
BJP was a conventional protest vote against an incumbent government. There
is considerable evidence to back the claim that many of those voting against
the party and its political allies were expressing resentment at their
exclusion from the country's economic miracle of the past decade.
Deregulation and privatisation, central planks in the BJP's economic policy,
have certainly led to a boom in several new technology areas, and left many
Indians considerably better off - some extremely. But relatively few of the
benefits have filtered down to the rural poor, many of whom continue to lack
basic human needs, such as clean water and adequate food.
To some extent, the protest was relatively apolitical. It is significant
that two south Indian states threw out ruling parties of differing political
complexions. Andhra Pradesh, with its capital Hyderabad, and Karnataka, with
Bangalore, are vying to become global information technology (IT) powers. In
doing so, however, both have become excessively focused on IT development,
ignoring the conventional rural development that should have gone along in
parallel.
The need for the latter is plain. For example, both states have experienced
periods of severe drought over the past three years, with farmers committing
suicide because of mounting debts. Voters in both states threw out their
ruling party, underlining the need to focus on basic issues such as water
for irrigation, rather than on attracting multinational investment and
creating software parks.
The various platforms on which the Congress Party and its political allies
appear to have won the election do contain various measures designed to
redress this balance. And there is some evidence of its success in doing so.
It is notable that in Delhi, for example, the local Congress Party
leadership that was re-elected has recently been responsible - actively
prompted, admittedly, by campaigning groups such as the Centre for Science
and Environment - for the introduction of rigorous new regulations on
vehicle emissions. These regulations have already significantly reduced the
city's air pollution problems, as well as the incidence of breathing
problems and other associated diseases.
Such outcomes point towards a new form of participatory politics. Indeed,
the Indian electorate's rejection of the self-congratulatory modernism in
the BJP's election slogan, 'India shining', is eerily reminiscent of the
rejection by the British electorate in the 1970s of a Labour Party that had
raised the flag of "white hot technological revolution", and the subsequent
growth of the environmental movement as a new political force.
The outcome has important lessons for other developing countries. For it is
a reminder that although technological innovation is a necessary condition
for social and economic progress, it is not a sufficient condition. Equally
important are accompanying policies to ensure that the benefits of
successful innovation are widely shared and experienced.
Forging an alternative development strategy
Last week's election poses an important set of challenges for the new Indian
government. The country is not short of ideas about alternative technology
strategies aimed directly at meeting the needs of the rural poor - or
charismatic individuals to promote them.
During the political struggle for independence, for example, this was a key
concern of Mahatma Gandhi. Today a wide range of organisations continue to
pursue such strategies, ranging from the M. S. Swaminathan Research
Foundation - which is already doing much to explore the potential of
computers in rural development - to groups such as Development Alternatives,
equally committed to exploring ways in which technology can directly aid the
poor.
The task is to find ways in which such initiatives, many of which continue
to operate on an essentially local scale, can become better integrated with
the scientific and technological institutions that, in recent years, have
been increasingly taking on the characteristics of Western industrial
research systems.
Nor is the task unique to India. It would be an exaggeration to say that
there is widespread disenchantment with the global knowledge economy.
Nevertheless, it is true that there is growing resentment among those being
asked to help share the costs of participation in such an economy, yet at
the same time are excluded from its benefits. In issues that range from the
application of intellectual property rights to the integration of
biodiversity concerns with development strategies, there is growing evidence
that solutions designed by the North are not always applicable in the South
- and that alternative approaches are needed.
If India can now explore and develop some of these alternatives, ensuring
firstly that they are based on a thorough comprehension of the underlying
science, and secondly that they are capable of meeting the basic needs of
the country's rural poor, it will have made a substantial contribution to
the whole development community. Conversely there is a strong case for
reviewing the future direction of IT policies in India, ensuring that these
effectively complement and support rural development and poverty-reduction
strategies, and not substitute for them.
And if the Congress Party can successfully tackle these two central issues,
it will have demonstrated that last week's election was not merely a protest
vote, but a democratic endorsement of a viable alternative development
strategy that will be eagerly watched. And it might even see itself
re-elected for a second term.
