ICT high flier

India's ranking in terms of the competitiveness of its information and communications technology (ICT) sector has gone up several notches, according to the latest Network Readiness Index prepared for the World Economic Forum.

This is both a reflection of the changes rapidly taking place in India as also the rest of the world's perceptions about it. Ironically, India's capabilities still remain below average in precisely the area where it has made the maximum progress in recent years.

It is still way behind its peers on its infrastructure environment for ICT (phone connections, PC penetration and broadband availability), although recent years have seen rapid progress in these areas. Notably, China scores better than India in telecom infrastructure.

The other area in which India fares poorly, thus bringing its overall rank down, is the quality of its public schooling. This measure has obviously been included to link competitiveness in ICT to the overall development effort.

Unless children receive proper schooling they will not have the literacy and numeracy required to make good use of ICT. This is critical because prowess in ICT should not just fetch export dollars but also be available as a tool for development.

This in turn is linked to the spread of e-governance""how well ICT is used by the government to reduce the cost and human stress involved in providing various services to its citizens.

Again, the good news is that governments, both at the Centre and in many states, have become acutely aware of the need to use IT. Budgets for IT are growing rapidly.

The only problem is that ICT may be adopted only in a token way, and not for real gains. ICT should also be used as a cost-effective tool to impart education and skills that help people earn better livelihoods.

This is a complex task and the soft skills needed for it cannot be developed overnight. But organised effort is on the way by institutions like the Azim Premji Foundation, which is doing pioneering work in making learning effective and joyful with the judicious use of IT.

India's score is near the top in other aspects of ICT like the availability of scientists and engineers (it tops the league table in this), quality of maths and science education, quality of business schools and priority given to ICT by the government.

But this has to be seen in perspective. India is able to meet a part of the outsourced global demand for scientists and engineers because it is too poor and its business processes too backward for it to make good use of its own ICT skills.

The imbalance is best underlined by the fact that the US is a major importer of software and India a major exporter. Ireland and Israel, on the other hand, are both major exporters and consumers of software.

Indians can justly take pride in their ICT prowess, but they need to find ways to rapidly increase their own use of it to better their lives.