Information and Communication Technologies Towards Sustainable Social Development in India

There is a divide that exists in India both digitally as well as socially. So the question that one may ask here is how to make technology really relevant in a country where over 70 percent of the people live in rural areas or in circumstances where social and developmental issues such as poverty, illiteracy and health problems are rampant. That is what has been asked by many academicians and researchers' alike, but no sufficiently appropriate answer has emerged. At the same time hundreds of Information and Communication (ICT) led development projects have sprung up around the country armed with the assumption that these tools carry with them at least a part of the solution to India's developmental problems. This research conducted over months of study in various villages around India aims to answer the question as to whether mere access to these tools is enough to make a real difference to a society grappling with a variety of socio-economic problems or does it take more than just that.

Having been brought up in West Africa, studied in Europe and worked in several countries around the world, Parvati?s life and work have been defined by her multicultural background. Since the completion of an Erasmus Mundus Masters Degree in Media and Journalism from the University of Hamburg, she has been working in India as a communications specialist.