I was listening to Sam Pitroda, the bundle of energy, and feeling how useless am I! The interviewer just put a question, and in reply, Sam talked for about 20 mins at a stretch with passion of a child. I talked like that when I talk about the need of "Idea of India."
But, this line, "Technology is the biggest social leveler, second only to Death!" just struck me so hard. I just repeated that sentence several times in my mind, and it only made me feel brighter. It was like a bright light of TRUTH.
Just few hours back, while commuting to office on my cycle, I saw the same scene repeated at one signal; a couple sitting on the footpath and enjoying their breakfast, with beautiful smile on their face. Everyday, I see them, and I feel happy that they are so happy. Imagine, great minds working out a solution where this couple do not have to stay on footpath without losing their smile. I guarantee that they do not smile because they are content, they smile because that they have nothing beyond that to lose or ponder about. While saying so, I am not saying that to be content, you need to be rich. What I am saying is that, somebody has to find a solution beyond designing a luxurious flat where the solution can assure a dignity of life under a shelter while ensuring a livelihood avenue nearby.
Look at the communication technology space in India's context. As I speak, we have 950 million people connected over the air at the press of a button; now a days we have gone smarter and we touch. :) Remember a land-line 20 years back, it used to be the symbol of LORDSHIP in society. Wireless technology has flattened the social disparity and made billionaires and daily laborers at the same level; at least as far as catching words from thin air is concerned.
Look at food security in India; till late 60s and early 70s our PM would go to developed countries and negotiate for food aid to feed India. What a Shame! Now, as I speak we export $ 20 billion worth food to world after feeding our 1.2 billion people. Do you think it happened because PC Sorkar waved his magic wand! No, it happened because of the technology assimilation through the program called Green revolution. That revolution coupled with White revolution has made India self-sufficient in food production. Now, we desperately need a technological revolution in the field of mechanized agriculture, food storage, processing and distribution. The technology is there but the design needs to be affordable and sustainable in a price sensitive market like India or say Africa.
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Look at the figure above. This happened because of the intervention of technology! India leaders are no more required to feel low for pleading for food at the doorstep of the developed world.
There used to be a time when India was home to the largest population of polio infected citizens anywhere on the earth. Imagine, the feel of standing straight on ones own leg and looking eye to eye. A pair of healthy legs is certainly a great social leveler. India recognized that shame as late as Rajeev Gandhi's tenure, when world was looking at us with a sense of frustration. That shameful situation forced us to go for Vaccination and that required India to produce vaccines in house. Imagine the benefit of that today; we not only are the largest producer of vaccines in the world, but also are Polio free for the last several years. That push in vaccine production also have made India the largest producer of generic producer in the world. India is in the middle of a bloody battle for bringing some parity and sense into the blood sucking world of pharmaceutical industry.
While I write, our PM would have repeated the same analogy of Auto fare/km vice versa the cost of a ticket to Mars to the world audience elsewhere without understanding the years of effort behind the same. ISRO is a fertile incubator of technological leapfrogging. We started getting into the space by trying to build simple solutions through remote sensing technology. ISRO is not the product of insane race to space; it is a sensible voyage to make the space useful to us. Be it tele-medicine, oceanography, earth survey for mining purpose, weather forecasting, connecting a billion through communication satellites, content delivery across universities through V-sat. You count, ISRO has done it for the betterment of society as a whole; from space world looks flat. :)
It is not possible to write in a single blog how technology is a great leveler. Look at me, a simple Technical Writer could express his views on a concept as vast as this sitting at his desk and expect the world reads it. So, that is the beauty of Technology; it flattens the world.
But, this line, "Technology is the biggest social leveler, second only to Death!" just struck me so hard. I just repeated that sentence several times in my mind, and it only made me feel brighter. It was like a bright light of TRUTH.
Just few hours back, while commuting to office on my cycle, I saw the same scene repeated at one signal; a couple sitting on the footpath and enjoying their breakfast, with beautiful smile on their face. Everyday, I see them, and I feel happy that they are so happy. Imagine, great minds working out a solution where this couple do not have to stay on footpath without losing their smile. I guarantee that they do not smile because they are content, they smile because that they have nothing beyond that to lose or ponder about. While saying so, I am not saying that to be content, you need to be rich. What I am saying is that, somebody has to find a solution beyond designing a luxurious flat where the solution can assure a dignity of life under a shelter while ensuring a livelihood avenue nearby.
Look at the communication technology space in India's context. As I speak, we have 950 million people connected over the air at the press of a button; now a days we have gone smarter and we touch. :) Remember a land-line 20 years back, it used to be the symbol of LORDSHIP in society. Wireless technology has flattened the social disparity and made billionaires and daily laborers at the same level; at least as far as catching words from thin air is concerned.
Look at food security in India; till late 60s and early 70s our PM would go to developed countries and negotiate for food aid to feed India. What a Shame! Now, as I speak we export $ 20 billion worth food to world after feeding our 1.2 billion people. Do you think it happened because PC Sorkar waved his magic wand! No, it happened because of the technology assimilation through the program called Green revolution. That revolution coupled with White revolution has made India self-sufficient in food production. Now, we desperately need a technological revolution in the field of mechanized agriculture, food storage, processing and distribution. The technology is there but the design needs to be affordable and sustainable in a price sensitive market like India or say Africa.
Look at the figure above. This happened because of the intervention of technology! India leaders are no more required to feel low for pleading for food at the doorstep of the developed world.
There used to be a time when India was home to the largest population of polio infected citizens anywhere on the earth. Imagine, the feel of standing straight on ones own leg and looking eye to eye. A pair of healthy legs is certainly a great social leveler. India recognized that shame as late as Rajeev Gandhi's tenure, when world was looking at us with a sense of frustration. That shameful situation forced us to go for Vaccination and that required India to produce vaccines in house. Imagine the benefit of that today; we not only are the largest producer of vaccines in the world, but also are Polio free for the last several years. That push in vaccine production also have made India the largest producer of generic producer in the world. India is in the middle of a bloody battle for bringing some parity and sense into the blood sucking world of pharmaceutical industry.
It is not possible to write in a single blog how technology is a great leveler. Look at me, a simple Technical Writer could express his views on a concept as vast as this sitting at his desk and expect the world reads it. So, that is the beauty of Technology; it flattens the world.
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