India At Inflexion Point: Sam Pitroda

With Indian IT service companies going gung ho in India and internationally, its about time the IT companies start delving where they have a role to play in national development. “If IT does not help in improving the standard of living of the under-privileged 300 million people, its of no use” said Dr Sam Pitroda, head behind India’s telecom revolution and chairman of India’s National Knowledge Commission.

Speaking through a video conference, Pitroda was of the view that the IT companies should see the about three hundred million people who are unable to get the basic amenities as a business prospect and drive innovation in how they can provide them with meaningful services. He said from 7 million mobile subscribers a month to a projected 500 million by 2010, similar telecom services could substantially help in improving the standard of living of the people.

As the chairman of the knowledge commission, he also spoke on some of the key challenges before India. Skill development is one of the major challenges. With India developing at 8 to 10% growth, there will be a huge need for engineers, doctors, economists, sociologists, and teachers. The present knowledge infrastructure will fall short of this.

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He complimented the Indian entrepreneurs for being ambitious and expanding their operations globally with the policy makers also giving the right support. With the fast pace of globalisation, going global will be a major challenge for emerging Indian enterprises.

Summarizing his note, Sam put forward three fundamental challenges to overcome:
• The disparity between the rich and poor, educated and the uneducated.
• The development challenge -economic and social. There is an urgent need for infrastructure improvement and providing the basic amenities for the population below the poverty line.
• Very soon nearly 550 million of the population will be below the age of 25.Do we have enough jobs and opportunities for them. All of the IT driven development would be useless if it does not prove fruitful to the 300 million people living at the bottom of the pyramid.