ICTs in Rural Poverty AlleviationDN,Economic and Political Weekly, March 17th, 2001

Sundeep Paulose,M.Phil (Planning & Development)Dept of Humanities and Social Sciences,Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Author’s Argument Social Structures are crucial in determining

who is able to access any technology and use it beneficially

While making new ICT will make them more accessible to the poor, there will be other factors which determine their impact.

The current low penetration of ICTs is a reflection of the digital divide in overcoming which there is no way to bypass a confrontation of low educational levels , which itself is linked to landlessness

Introduction

ICT as a new mantra Enthusiasm of ‘Technology as a Solution’ (the

last one being Green Revolution’)

Lot of Expectations from ICT – to solve variety of problems: from good governance to alleviating poverty

The paper does not criticize ICT but critically analysis the possible role and limitations of ICTs in poverty alleviation.

Poverty Alleviation

Poverty Alleviation is NOT a matter of service delivery. (Hence this language which is quite often used needs to be changed)

It is a matter of enhancement of agency of the poor, based on transformation of class, caste, ethnic and gender relations within which the poor exist.

Problem of ‘Technology as solution’ approach It ignores social structures that determine

both access and impacts. Social structures are crucial in determining

who is able to access any technology and use it beneficially.

For Example green Revolution: Punjab, Haryana, West UP (Stronger Presence of Family Owner Operators), vis-à-vis Bihar West Bengal and East UP (tenants)

Social Structure of poverty The ‘poor’ is not just one homogeneous group The two social structures of Poverty:

1. Communities of Indigenous people in the hill forest areas. Lack of property rights. “The black holes of Marginality” – Manuel Castells. Living under the influence of capitalism but largely excluded

from its benefits

2. Poor in the non Marginal areas of the plains. Largely Landless and Women

• Social Structures of Poverty are different in the two cases

How they are different?

Communities of Indigenous people in the hill forest areas. Marginality of the Community itself, and the extractive

relations through which it is embedded in the national structure

Nowhere near the dimensions of class contradictions in the plains

Poor in the non Marginal areas of the plains Marginality of the poor who are landless and women They are providers of labour, but are not counted in any

education or education based programme

What ought to be the role of ICT? In the first case, ICT programmes can to an

extent be , though; need to be specific targeting of women and other poor to ensure that access is not monopolised by the elite

In the second case, there will need to be specific structural interventions to ensure that the landless and women are part of any ICT programme

Hence Poverty Alleviation involves… Community securing adequate property rights

in forests The poor securing land Designated access to common property

resources and finance including microcredit To produce for self-consumption and for sale,

or increased wage employment

Problem with ICTs

In rural contexts, ICTs themselves provide very little employment and thus direct income benefits

ICT is not labour intensive like manufacturing or even GR which produced substantial employment

Access to productive resources is needed to be able to employ the increased information and knowledge made available by the ICTs

Information about market conditions for crops cannot enhance the agency of those who sell only their labour power

Positive role of ICTs in Rural Areas Information about market conditions have

helped price realisation at the village level IFAD’ Oxbow Lakes Project in Bangladesh Usage of Telephones in Africa have reduced the

differential between village and town prices. The Anand experience of computerised butter fat

assessment has improved prices realisation at producer level

Tele-Marketing by FOOD, an NGO, lead to high price realisation

Positive role of ICTs in Rural Areas Spread of Innovative production knowledge

Increased threat by MNCs of hijacking the innovation of Local farmers

Hence public registration can be used to oppose patent registration, while allowing the knowledge to spread

Use of Video or audio capabilities enables these innovations to be accessible to those who cannot read text.

The hurdle

All these ICT based measures have helped producers who already have gained rights over productive resources.

The spread of price information and innovative production knowledge can enable higher income realisation by those who have these resources

A significant proportion or rural poor, particularly in the plains, belongs to those who do not have land , either owners or as tenants

The Big Question: Can information and knowledge help them acquire access to land?

What’s the solution?

Most states have laws about land ceilings and redistribution of surplunss land. Hindu law in India also provides for distribution of property including land,

among daughters and sons Knowledge about these laws and transperancy of land records would help the

landless including women, to assert their rights to land The computerisation of Land records in A.P does not mean that the landless will

get their lands! What such ‘transparency’ can do is to promote the process of mobilisation of the

poor in asserting their rights to land and other productive resources While mobilisation must necessarily have a local character, there are wider

dimensions to the process of support and formation of solidarity opinion in the civil society.

ICTs have enabled the linking of struggle centres with global society Examples; Thailand, Lua people’s struggle against eviction Police firing on protestors against the Koel-Karo dam in Jharkhand

Thus increased information does help gain access to productive resources.

Case Study: Knowledge centre MS Swaminathan Research Foundation(www.mssrf.org) Knowledge Centre: Information about government programmes Role of mobilisation of the poor was very crucial Resulted in higher demand for access to these facilities from the poor Lesson Learned: Increased Information and knowledge can aid the process of

mobilisation, but they cannot substitute for it, whether in securing land for the landless or more transparent government.

Developed as common property resources for the village Placed in low caste(dalit) settlements, hence customary social exclusion was

weakened Further management was given to women and women were trained, thus the

exclusion of women was also attacked.(MSSRF tained fisherwomen to use ICTs for downloading weather information of relevance coastal fishing)

In a Pondicherry village, the MSSRF ICT centre was located in a temple. In the process a strong superstition was broken – the strong temple norms about exclusion of menstruating women.

Thus the poor and women could become the power centres within the village, breaking older monopolies.

What is needed to increase access to necessary Info and Knowledge? Answer of the Market: develop cheaper

technology(eg. Wireless solutions) The problem with market Solution:

Density and intensity of ICT use in rural areas cannot rival that in urban areas.

Poor will still be excluded by virtue of their lack of education and their extreme low income

As with rural electrification and road communication, rural connectivity will necessarily involve some level of subsidy.

Technology for development

Substantial public investment Providing electricity to rural areas Software to be developed in various Indian languages, other than

the hegemonic english Rural education is related to Land reform

Eg; Success of South East Asian Countries Superior literacy rates was achieved in states where land

reforms were implemented successfully( Kerala, West Bengal) AP Govt’s approach: importance of spreading education without

land reforms. ( Agricultural labourers account for almost 41 per cent of main workers). So it is a forced ‘Trickle down effect’, which never trickles down.

Introduction of ICT in a village could be done through SHGs rather than progressive farmers.

To Conclude

Overall penentration of ICTs, whether in PCs, internet connections or mobile phones, in India is far less than China.

Lower levels of poverty and higher levels of literacy both combine to provide a higher user base for ICTs in China, which is at least 5 times more than in India

The low penentration of ICTs in India itself is a reflection of the digital divide in overcoming which there is no way to bypass a confrontation of low educational levels , which itself is linked to landlessness