Comment: This
note was written by Ram, Chief, SAMANVAYA.
Date: December 2003
For over 5 years now we
have been talking of India becoming a knowledge super power and emerging
as a knowledge society. Mostly, such claims and predictions have been
backed up by need to develop Information Technology (IT) infrastructure
and IT skills amongst our people, particularly youth and children. Somehow,
we seem to assume that once the IT infrastructure is provided and the
IT skills are developed amidst our people, automatically we will acquire
knowledge! Some with more superficial understanding even proclaim the
information deluge as knowledge itself.
The fundamental question that many such technocrats never address is
that 'what is the current knowledge in our society?'. Much of the technocrats
seem to assume that we live in a knowledge less society. Particularly
the rural society is bereft of any knowledge, hence, many of the IT
initiatives in rural areas are bringing in 'knowledge' or 'creating
knowledge'!!
Every functioning society has a knowledge base. Our rural societies
produce food or different kinds, rear animals, make pottery and artefacts,
weave clothing, work with metals, build temples, dig wells and tanks,
train their young at home in some of these, maintain common property,
can tell stories to their children, maintain much of the traditional
artisans and do many more things with various degrees of effectiveness.
One cannot call such a society either non-functional or devoid of knowledge.
Indeed the very bed-rock of this society is the traditional knowledge
that is passed from generation to generation, free of cost, with no
expectation more than that it would be passed to further generations
too.
Now, what is the 'knowledge' that is being provided by much of these
rural IT initiatives to such functioning societies. Lets look at couple
of the most common 'services' that are provided and who really benefits
from these.
Weather forecast - the claim here is that the farmer will benefit from
timely forecast. The people who seem to reap the real harvest seem to
be the advertisements that accompany the weather forecast on the web.
Radio weather bulletins, even today many farmers first listen to the
radio in the morning. Of course, on the ground most farmers would still
smell the air, look at the sky and predict the approaching storm or
rain. In a programme recently, where people from about 3 states gathered,
during a discussion in an hour, we came across about 20 different ways
in which people make out how much it would rain the next monsoon, all
through observation of animal behaviour!
Another popular service offered is agricultural consulting - the claim
here is that the farmer will benefit from the consulting. We know that
the agri-business companies, particularly multi-nationals who want to
dominate the market and who want to have complete control over it are
the real beneficiaries, these new media break the hold of traditional
forms of decision making and seeking advice and through their novelty
provide an attraction which perhaps they cannot do with their direct
sales. So, slowly declining will be the value for the neighbourhood
network of farmers and government agricultural officers. The neighbourhood
network that not only shares information, it also shares common seeds,
inputs and culture. This is exactly what the larger corporates would
like to get rid of.
It is clear from the above that the IT intervention through internet
in the villages benefits more of corporations and other agencies and
least of all the rural people. It is because of this that despite very
many ventures (one estimate puts it at about 150 different ventures
across the country), there is no initiative of significance that effects
an entire village, community or society. The 'anecdotal evidence' held
aloft by those who promote these interventions is only exceptional and
not a rule.
So, where do we look for a 'knowledge technology?' what is knowledge
technology? Does it mean IT is not useful at all in rural areas?
No. I am not against information technology at all.
One can say that where there are functional societies that create and
adapt technologies which are in part of its need to maintain, promote
and sustain knowledge and knowledge systems, there one should look for
techniques. Our traditional society had many of them, many have incorporated
modern gadgets into their technique, some are known, many are not. Here
are a few we have encountered -
- a traditional vaidy school in rural tamilnadu removes stones from
people's stomach by merely blowing and sucking through a pipe through
the person's mouth
- a coconut sales person in rural tamilnadu has come up with a simple
machine which uses a motor to de-husk coconut at a very high speed
- a farmer from gujarat has invented pulley locks for different types
of pulleys that draw water from wells, the problem was when rural women
draw water from deep wells, before they could reach the vessel, the
grip loosens, he found a solution
- another farmer from tamilnadu wanted to have hot food in the afternoon
at his field, but by midday when he had food, it got cold. He also found
that the hot fumes from his diesel pump set was going waste. So, he
designed a new pressure cooker which got heated by the hot fumes being
passed through it and heated his food!
- Another farmer from gujarat had a problem of high cost of hiring tipper
lorries for his field work, so, he invented a bullock cart driven tipper
lorry
- Recently, in the news was an item that in rural rajasthan some one
has developed a vehicle that carries up to 30 people at a very moderate
rate and this has become the popular public transport vehicle…
there are many more of such techniques being developed every day. Innovations,
creations, inventions, that will be unnoticed. Then there are historical
information of how traditional potters (the Khuvars) near Pune used
to do plastic surgery for the nose, metal workers in Kerala who used
to make metal works that could be used as mirrors! the scent makers
practicing even today at bhopal who can produce every scent on earth
through traditional means and much more.
Rural India is one of the most active functioning
societies, in many cases unfortunately, it has been pushed to the very
brink of survival. It today survives because of its knowledge institutions
- the families, the communication within and between families through
community kinship and culture, the discipline followed through a common
accepted code of conduct, the tradition to share their wisdom, knowledge
and information - and its techniques. The diverse skills they possess
enables them to think, perceive, work and share their wisdom in harmony
with nature. Whenever IT is used to carry, support and strengthen this
knowledge and technique to other parts of India, people have immediately
been able to relate, respond and initiate their own efforts.
Our technocrats neither recognise the existence of these knowledge infrastructure
nor such techniques. Hence the vast 'knowledge' and 'technique' that
pervade in our rural neighbourhood remain unidentified. Unless, such
local knowledge, the knowledge that is our very own (unless it is patented
by some multi-national already), is recognised, understood and ways
and means of promoting them and supplementing them in the rural societies
are made the principles of IT, most of the IT interventions will remain
just another fancy 'rural development' programme. Such an IT will really
strengthen the knowledge society, our very own knowledge society.