Bhoomi, Gyan Ganga, e-governance and the right to information: ICTs and development in India

The emergence of India as a global player in software development, IT, and call centre operations is one side of an information revolution that has also begun to impact on governance and development at a domestic level in areas such as e-governance, e-commerce and e-health. The state, private and civil sectors have invested in numerous initiatives throughout the length and breadth of India aimed at extending the benefits of the information revolution to rural and remote areas. These range from Reliance Infocom’s roll out of low-cost mobile cellular phones, to numerous civil society based initiatives aimed at establishing affordable access to information and knowledge. The state continues to invest in ICTs for development – from its support for Village Public Telephones (VPTs) to its enabling the computerisation of land records such as the Bhoomi project in Karnataka. The state’s recognition of the role played by private and civil society sectors in development marks a major and distinct change in attitude from one characterised by ‘tolerance’ at best for these sectors and belief in the self-sufficiency of a ‘dirigiste’ economy, to pragmatic accomodations with these sectors. This change is to some extent a reflection of post-SAP policies adopted by the state, best illustrated by its steady withdrawal of support from its welfare agenda.While the Bhoomi project is primarily a state-based project, the Gyan Ganga project is a joint state-private sector initiative aimed at the use of ICTs in development. Bhoomi, involves the digitalisation of all land records in Karnataka, and the provision of access to these records via information kiosks and fingerprint authentication systems. Gyan Ganga, is an ambitious project aimed at the provision of information, connectivity, education, e-health and e-governance broadly with in the parameters of the right to information, in the state of Gujarat. Whereas both projects have, at least on paper, tremendous potential – in the case of Bhoomi, to bypass corrupt land revenue officers and their power to control access to these records, and to bring some transparency in land revenue transactions and records, and in the case of Gyan Ganga to bring the multiple benefits of the information revolution to the rural masses, both projects, along with other similar ICTs for development projects in India, face a range of problems. These include issues related to replicability and content provision, but also a deeply rooted technological determinism that assumes that the layering of ICTs in development will automatically solve the many issues related to the provision of ‘access’ to this information. In this article I argue that the inability to factor in real-life contestations in the field, to deal with pre-existing constraints related to gender, caste, feudalism, privilege and traditional exercises of power, limits the real potential of ICTs in development. I also argue that the right to information movement in India offers pointers towards making e-projects relevant and responsive to people’s real information and knowledge needs.