|
Issues & Analysis
Developing e-villages ?
The Internet facility is spreading in Pakistan’s rural areas
in a significant way as 432 cities and towns have been
equipped with this facility instead of 39 within just eight
months and the target for the current year is to equip almost
700 city and towns.
The Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Attaur Rehman
disclosed that fast growing Internet facility was possible
only when bandwidth rates were reduced. It has been reduced
from $90,000 per mega byte to $15,000 per mega byte for the
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and $6,000 for the software
development, which is a 15 times reduction.
Earlier, on-line shopping, e-business and surfing the Net were
restricted to only urban areas of Pakistan. But now, the
Internet is finding its way into the lives of people living in
rural areas too. It seems that Dr. Atta’s team is trying hard
to bridge the vast “digital divide” existing between the urban
and rural areas of Pakistan.
Does rural areas really benefiting from the Internet? This is
a big question considering the plight of other facilities
being ‘enjoyed’ by the residents of the low lying areas.
According to the Government’s statements, 67 per cent of our
population live in rural areas while 99 per cent do not know
basic English. Among other hurdles which impedes the smooth
drive on the road to rural connectivity are literacy, poor
electricity supply and telecommunication infrastructure. The
big problem among others is that most villages still do not
have access to a telephone.
But in spite of the hurdles that appear to be insurmountable,
the answer is yes. Despite these hurdles, rural areas can reap
the benefits of the Internet. Small towns, tehsils’ young
inhabitants use to go to cybercafes to chat with their friends
and relatives. Though they are not enjoying the benefits as
youngsters use to go to cafes just to enjoy with porno
pictures and stories.
To get maximum benefits of the Internet use, the rural
Pakistan needs at least some of the tools and techniques of
the Information Age. Agriculture, the primary occupation of
the residents of the rural areas is dependent on updated and
accurate information of weather and the latest technology.
Many of the processes being adopted to promote sustainable
crop and animal husbandry are knowledge-intensive and thus
requires maintaining dynamic information links with markets.
The present government giving more importance to rural areas
besides urban so that our agriculture sector - which is the
backbone of our economy - could also reap the benefits of
Information Technology. Thanks to persistent efforts by
Government of Pakistan and various non-profit organisations
who take initiative steps toward bringing rural areas of
Pakistan closer to the ‘wired’ world.
To make farmers familiar with the Internet, the Ministry of
Science and Technology has ambitious plans to open Cyber
Community Centre in all Tehsils of Pakistan. The first CCC in
the country was inaugurated at Gwadar, Balochistan, in April
this year. In Sindh, first Cyber Community Centre has been
opened in Mithi to facilitate the rural areas of Mithi and its
neighbouring towns.
It is said that Cyber Community Centre at Mithi has been set
up by the Sustainable Development Networking (SNDP) of IUCN in
collaboration with a local NGO, Baahn Beli. It would certainly
serve the local community by providing them the opportunity to
access the rich information resources available on the
Internet. In addition, the locals would be able to communicate
with the rest of the world. More Cyber Community Centre should
be open within short span of time so that peasant could
harvest more benefits.
To equip more and more farmers with the latest news and views
regarding agricultural related fields, a web site has been
launched. The Pakissan.com is a first Pakistani portal
designed and produced by a private organisation to facilitate
local farmers for essential services like current prices of
agricultural produce, weather conditions and medical advice
for a couple of rupees worth of connect-time on the Net. The
site also highlights other related sectors like fishing and
technical help. The site has been launched just two months
ago. Though it is not being visited massively, however, in
near future the site will be attended heavily.
The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council has also its own
website. The website parc.gov.pk is massively visited by
progressive farmers who get and exchange information regarding
agriculture with their fellows. However, so far no website is
created to facilitate rural farmers with on-line shopping for
agricultural products and other services needed by rural
population.
No mention to say that these few websites do not cover such a
huge community. Numerous websites should offer weather
forecasts, commodity news, product availability, on-line loan
facilities, chat rooms and discussion forums for rural
population which could also enables farmers to network with
other farmers, suppliers and consumers across the country and
ultimately round the world. The Government should also take
initiative in setting up of Web sites for farmers to provide
agricultural advice as well as global commodity prices for
farmers in even different languages so that agriculturists of
Sindh, Balochistan, NWFP and the Punjab could equally get
benefits of the Information Technology.
Certainly there are numerous villages which have not
electricity facility and providing electricity supply cost to
much, the government should consult the consortium who could
invest in the solar energy. India with the collaboration of
the United States has launched its first solar powered
Internet community centre in Parvatapur village, 150 kms from
Hyderabad, enabling e-commerce services and offering
agricultural information, health care resources, educational
programmes, fax, e-mail, and voicemail to facilitate rural
inhabitants.
Recently, the President Pakistan General Pervez Musharaf,
while inaugurating an IT Park, said that planned e-commerce
and Internet usage will help create jobs in the rural areas in
the form of staff needed to man cybercafes and kiosks and
Internet community centres as it had created jobs in urban
areas where short courses in the Information Technology field
have generated jobs. He mentioned about the recent jobs
offered by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA)
and said that about 10,000 young boys and girls who were
recently inducted are earning about Rs 5000 to Rs 8000 per
month.
Minister for Science and Technology always says that he is
optimistic regarding alleviating poverty in the urban as well
as in rural areas of Pakistan. But so far no positive result
are being seen except NADRA project.
Over the years, farmers have failed to get benefits from
technological advances to produce maximum product and hence
increase income. This is not solely due to a lack of
investment in technology but lack of awareness of how
technology can be utilised or because technology is not being
made relevant to the lives of the people in rural areas. The
true test of the reach of the Internet in rural areas of
Pakistan lies in whether it will helpful to a farmer living in
a far-flung areas to cultivate maximum crops with minimum
labour . Syed
Mohammad Tahir , the nationDotCom
Aug 28
|
Other News
|
