GD-005 Corporate Social Responsibility towards urban-rural digital divide

Indian IT Industry has been harbinger of indian economy, bringing home revenue in billions of dollars. On the other hand millions indian poor are surviving on a mere $1 per day. There is an urgent need to address this indian urban-rural digital divide. Have indian it industry taken enough steps to ensure they fulfill their obligations towards indian society. Where does it lag behind? what needs to be done to bridge the growing urban-rural digital divide? lets discuss


[B]Indian IT Industry’s corporate social responsibility towards urban-rural digital divide[/B]

yes the gap is widening a lot! i think it is need of the hour to bridge the gap! But i feel along with the corporate society, govt too should take necessay steps!First of all, education should be accessible to all i.e even to poor people(irrespective of caste)!
Vocational training will surely be very handy here!so such institutes must be there!It will surely help many to earn soem good amount

Well, first of all IT population of India amount roughly to 1.5-2 million (Direct employment). That's way too low compared to 100 crore population of India. It is not true that all Indians other than It are living at 1$ a day. No. Even the "kooli" workers who do any job will earn 3$ a day. (That too in my village). And in India a lot of things are available for cheap. Cost of living in villages is way too low. Sure enough, people can't afford luxury, but there is enough job for a man who is willing to do any honourable job.

In fact, Rural - Urban bridge is [B]REDUCING[/B] because of IT. I belong to a rural area and IT has just changed the lives of my entire family. There are more stories like this. A lot of guys in IT are from rural areas and are from lower-middle class families. So, once the guy(When I say guy, I include females too) gets a job, the lives the entire family changes as every Indian values his family a lot.

Because of IT our GDP is booming and hence, government can spare more money towards uplifting the poor. Remember they are doing it. This way indirectly all the IT companies help in poor man's growth.

Let us come to government and infrastructure of India. Sure enough, we don't have enough doctors here, but medical expenditure is one of the lowest under sun here. Can you imagine an average American undergoing a by-pass surgery without insurance? He will have to shell out his fortune. But, here that's way too cheap. In fact if one wants to have root canal done to two of his teeth, it would be cheaper for him to fly from US to India and do it here and return. (Can one imagine that total expenditure including doctors fee for doing this would be 20$?).

Also our education system is extremely good. Where else can you get such cheap education? (I finished my entire BE, staying in a hostel without any sponserors, within 3000$. ). Ever bothered to check the education fee in other countries?

Can yuou name a country where mobile phone tarrifs are as low as India? The coverage of network is amazing. This is the prrof that technology IS reaching the rural parts.

Even corporates actively try sponsering bright candidates. Arrange talent hunts, adopt villages for upliftment of porr etc etc. YES. Everyone here is trying to reduce the Urban-Rural gap.

Infosys EX-CEO, Narayan Murthy once said, "I want to see more middle-class Indians become millionairs". We all know that he has lived up to his dream.

-Cheers!
Kalayama