What about people?
Sometime back, I attended a session at IIT Delhi, which was one of the many reach-out sessions to invite IIT alumni to a major Pan-IIT session, to be held in IIT, Mumbai in December 2006. Lot of luminaries attended this session including Mr. Rajat Gupta of McKinsey fame. This was the first time that I attended any IIT alumni session.
During the session, I learnt that the objective of Pan-IIT is to bring the alumni of various IITs together to “transform the face of the country by involving common man”. Also, it was brought to my notice that a commonly perceived problem in the alumni members is that there is more talk than the action. Pan-IIT has tried to address this problem by starting some specific projects. They contacted a big chunk of alumnus and asked them the kind of projects they would like to participate in. During this session, the result of this finding was shared with the audience. I was amazed to see it – top slot was occupied by “creating new technology”. More than this, I was shocked to find “enabling common people” occupying last spot.
I am not sure what alumni members were thinking when they responded, but in my opinion, they are so far removed from the reality. Even though the technology revolution has definitely brought lot of ForEx and up-lifted the living standard of people in urban clusters, it is more or less useless for rural areas, which still suffer from the lack of basic amenities – clean drinking water, sanitation, electric supply, basic health care, approachable roads etc. The only technology revolution which has really affected the rural areas is telecom - mobile phones have penetrated quite deeply.
It seems that we always treat technology as a panacea for everything. It is amazing to see how easily we overlook the power of people despite the fact that we are a democratic country. If my memory is correct the mantra is - of the people, by the people, for the people - isn’t it? Or is it the problem of plenty? Many would say so. But this also doesn’t sound right – haven’t we realized that the much touted IT revolution happened only because we have so many educated, trained and English speaking people? Have we still not realized that the same population, who we always consider the bane of the country, has not only saved us from a serious financial crisis but also enabled us to go up to the next rung in the ladder of economic-independence?
I find it funny that people, especially techies, think technology is superior to human beings. In my opinion, it is just a tool, at the most, an enabler. The mere fact that technology can be misused for destructive purposes should tell people that it is a tool. It is the people who decide where to use what technology for what purposes. Therefore, I was very disappointed to see that “enabling common people” was put in the last spot, whereas, in my opinion it is the single most important thing which everyone should focus on. Once people are enabled, they, themselves, will find out what is the suitable technology for them, keeping in mind their environment, constraints and, obviously, requirements.
Wonder if IITians would realize it soon enough to focus their energies at the right place.
During the session, I learnt that the objective of Pan-IIT is to bring the alumni of various IITs together to “transform the face of the country by involving common man”. Also, it was brought to my notice that a commonly perceived problem in the alumni members is that there is more talk than the action. Pan-IIT has tried to address this problem by starting some specific projects. They contacted a big chunk of alumnus and asked them the kind of projects they would like to participate in. During this session, the result of this finding was shared with the audience. I was amazed to see it – top slot was occupied by “creating new technology”. More than this, I was shocked to find “enabling common people” occupying last spot.
I am not sure what alumni members were thinking when they responded, but in my opinion, they are so far removed from the reality. Even though the technology revolution has definitely brought lot of ForEx and up-lifted the living standard of people in urban clusters, it is more or less useless for rural areas, which still suffer from the lack of basic amenities – clean drinking water, sanitation, electric supply, basic health care, approachable roads etc. The only technology revolution which has really affected the rural areas is telecom - mobile phones have penetrated quite deeply.
It seems that we always treat technology as a panacea for everything. It is amazing to see how easily we overlook the power of people despite the fact that we are a democratic country. If my memory is correct the mantra is - of the people, by the people, for the people - isn’t it? Or is it the problem of plenty? Many would say so. But this also doesn’t sound right – haven’t we realized that the much touted IT revolution happened only because we have so many educated, trained and English speaking people? Have we still not realized that the same population, who we always consider the bane of the country, has not only saved us from a serious financial crisis but also enabled us to go up to the next rung in the ladder of economic-independence?
I find it funny that people, especially techies, think technology is superior to human beings. In my opinion, it is just a tool, at the most, an enabler. The mere fact that technology can be misused for destructive purposes should tell people that it is a tool. It is the people who decide where to use what technology for what purposes. Therefore, I was very disappointed to see that “enabling common people” was put in the last spot, whereas, in my opinion it is the single most important thing which everyone should focus on. Once people are enabled, they, themselves, will find out what is the suitable technology for them, keeping in mind their environment, constraints and, obviously, requirements.
Wonder if IITians would realize it soon enough to focus their energies at the right place.
posted by amAUzed at 7:26 PM
4 Comments:
Allow me to point to www.paniit2006.org/paniit/what.htm. That page states that the Vision is(quoting) "to help IITs and IIT Alumni achieve their full potential and be counted among the best in the world". The page also states that one of the PanIIT's mission is to "enhance the IIT Brand"- whatever that means.
May be the page I am linking to is PanIIT and the org you are talking about is Pan-IIT, they must be different :-).
-- Rajesh Babu
I read your blog today, and yes, I totally agree. Furthermore, the economic, intellectual and life style divide between some of the urban and rural populace has become so large in India, that it is positively scary! It creates a sense of uneasiness in people who have strong connection with some of the rural populace.
Neo-rich urban Indians (and Indian's outside India) are not 'team-playing'. They aren't 'stopping' and lending out a helping hand for their rural counterparts. Thats very sad.
But like you said, whats the use of all the talk. I am not doing anything for my people in Assam, so what the heck.
(I have a few plans though, if I can say that in my defence ;)
Great Stuff Rohit, I hope we had more people like you. Keep doing the good work you are one of those people who are leading by example
Vishal
Hey you.
Just heard about your new project and wanted to send my very best wishes and kind regards. I hope you find what you are looking for or at least enjoy the process of discovery.
John
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