Information Technology and Development: Foundation and Key Issues

This volume is an attempt to document successful use of information and communication technology (ICT) for rural development in India so that lessons can be drawn on the type of applications that are likely to create a developmental impact and the efforts that will be necessary to implement such applications. To put the case studies and the lessons that have been drawn in a perspective, this chapter traces the history of ICT use for rural development in India. It begins by defining the kinds of activities undertaken by government and nongovernment agencies that are taken up as a part of the developmental process. It examines some of the problems that implementation of rural developmental programs have been afflicted with, and argues that ICT applications could overcome some of the weakness in implementation. It then goes on to assess the early efforts in ICT use. Finally, the paper proposes a scheme by which to classify ICT applications and identifies the key issues in implementing these applications.