Triple Stream

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (I.T.)

IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

The world is changing at an incredible pace. The agricultural revolution and the industrial revolution are followed by information revolution and knowledge revolution. Today the disparity is not between those who “have more” and those who “have less” but between those who “know more” and those who “know less”. It was Peter Drucker, the great management expert who coined the term ‘knowledge workers’ several years ago. Knowledge is doubling in every two years in almost all occupations. That means we have to keep pace with it by doubling our knowledge every two years even to stay where we are! Otherwise instead of forging ahead we fall behind. Instant Communication across the seven continents has become a common day-to-day experience. Distance is abridged and the world is shrinking. The Global Society which was envisaged by our ancient seers and visionaries in the concepts of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and Sarve Jana Sukhino Bhavantu can have become a reality today on account of T.V., Internet, Web and other tools of Information Technology.

Miracles have become daily happenings. If a button is pressed, E-mail is transmitted in a few seconds from Computer to Computer anywhere in the world. A simple hair-thin optical fiber can transmit the content of the Encyclopedia Britannica - all 29 volumes - in a second. Every student (if he cares to read) has immediate access to the cultural and knowledge resources of the world’s greatest libraries. Satellite technology facilitates instant visual communication from Hyderabad to Honolulu! Millions of people can watch a Cricket match anywhere in the world by turning on their T.V. sets. Research projects that used to take months will take minutes for completion. Every day three to four million people travel from one part of the world to another, what ever their purpose. We produce three times the output with half the work force, because software has become a superior substitute for manpower. It is as if time itself has become faster than it used to be! Like Shakespeare’s Ariel in `the Tempest’ we can girdle the globe in a jiffy.

Information covers voice as in telephony, text as in fax, images as in Video and data as between computers. The new generation computers can think like human beings. Computerised diagnostics is possible in well equipped hospitals. We can buy our required goods directly from the manufacturers through interactive T.V., bypassing the intermediaries like wholesalers and retailers. Marketing is done through the internet and payments arranged.

Information technology has brought substantial benefits in several sectors of human activity - Banking, Trade, Industry, Teaching-learning, Entertainment, Management and Government. In management and government, information technology has helped in securing speed in decision-making and delivery systems, efficiency, transparency, feed-, easy access and control of corruption. The internet has impacted the lives of a lakh of people opening up new vistas of information and amusement, facilitating the performance of mundane chores and serving as a launching pad for a new style of life.

However every lute has its rift. We notice a few social consequences and economic repercussions, which cause alarm. I.T. has led to unemployment because it can manage every level of operation with fewer people and lesser human effort. Automation is gradually reducing low skill repetitive jobs. Even semi-skilled, clerical and middle-level management jobs are eliminated. It is not difficult to understand because the pressure of competition makes it necessary to take hard decisions in spite of social awareness and good intentions of the management. As a result more than 50% of jobs in cities and industrialised towns are likely to be affected by retrenchment. In America itself 30% jobs are at risk. For example we hear that G.E. down-sized from 4,00,000 employees in 1981 to 2,30,000 in 1993 although it tripled its sales in the process. Perhaps more hands were affected during these seven years.

Yet another consequence is that there will be a glut of production and the market is flooded with too many goods, when the buying power of the consumers is limited. The rich are becoming richer. According to the 1996 U.N. Report the World’s 358 billionaires have more assets than the combined incomes of countries representing 45% of the world’s population. Enormous increase in production has led to excessive profits by the affluent but it has adversely affected the interests of the consumers and the workers. It is not a healthy trend that just 1% of Americans own about 40% of all shares.

According to the survey conducted by an organisation called Bread for the World even in America there are three crores of hungry people! John Maynard Keynes called it “technological unemployment”. Although it is true that new jobs are created, automation is causing unemployment faster than innovation is finding new jobs. The time gap between the two is disadvantageous to the job losers. Government is already indebted to the World Bank, the I.M.F. and other loan-giving agencies. These are disturbing trends, indeed.

On the knowledge front emphasis is shifting from memorisation of facts to critical thinking and creativity. This is a good sign. In his book ‘The Road Ahead’ Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corporation, says, “In a changing world, education is the best preparation for being able to adapt. The premium that society pays to skills is going to increase. So, my advice is to get a good formal education and then keep on learning. Acquire new interests and skills throughout life”. But skills should be controlled by values, which are sadly neglected today.

Economic liberalisation and globalisation go hand in hand with Information Technology. Let us not forget that market is a pitiless mechanism. It has no tolerance for inefficiency, social philosophy and egalitarian values. Therefore a developing country like India with dense population and deep-rooted corruption requires proper safe-guards, timely precautions and corrective measures. As Swamy Vivekananda said, “If information alone is education, our dictionaries are our gurus and our encyclopedias are our Rishis!” Wisdom and Character should handle information and direct the skills. Pragmatism requires that we should `adapt’ but not `adopt’. Our goal should be education and health for all and elimination of poverty while producing new wealth. Otherwise the following lines of Oliver Gold Smith will be true:

“Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey
where wealth accumulates and men decay’.

All things considered, the new Millennium is an age of dazzling opportunity and daring adventure accompanied by uncertainty and insecurity.