INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Vs KNOWLEDGE REVOLUTION – AN OVERVIEW

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Vs KNOWLEDGE REVOLUTION

– AN OVERVIEW

By K P C Rao., LLB.,  FICWA., FCS

Practicing Company Secretary

kpcrao.india@gmail.com

Information Technology - Legal Framework

‘Information technology’ (IT) continues to have an ever-growing impact upon society and the way that society conducts its affairs. Information and communications technologies have permeated almost every professional, commercial and industrial activity. Now a days, all most all the organizations, would find it difficult, if not impossible, to function without relying heavily on these technologies. They have become indispensable tools, allowing the use of massive information storage, processing, dissemination, searching and retrieval. On the one hand Information and Communications Technologies have posed and continue to pose novel and complex social and legal problems, on the other hand, the Law has been found wanting when dealing with the issues raised by these constantly evolving technologies, and legislators and the courts have often struggled to come to terms with the challenges raised by them. An understanding of the legal issues involved remains of key importance to persons and organisations concerned with information and communications technology, and it is only armed with such understanding that they can satisfactorily address and cater to the problems raised by the development and use of these technologies.

‘Cyber Law’ is the law governing cyber space. Cyber space is a very wide term and includes computers, networks, software, data storage devices (such as hard disks, USB disks etc), the Internet, websites, emails and even electronic devices such as cell phones, ATM machines etc. Cyber law encompasses laws relating to: 1) Cyber Crimes 2) Electronic and Digital Signatures 3) Intellectual Property and 4) Data Protection and Privacy. The primary source of cyber law in India is the Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act) which came into force on 17 October 2000.

The IT Act, 2000 is India’s mother legislation regulating the use of computers, computer systems and computer networks as also data and information in the electronic format. The said legislation has provided for the legality of the electronic format as well as electronic contracts. This legislation has touched varied aspects pertaining to electronic authentication, digital signatures, cybercrimes and liability of network service providers. The inadequacy of the IT Act, 2000 to address some of the emerging phenomena, challenges and cybercrimes, led to voices clamouring for change in the Indian Cyberlaw. Consequently, the Government of India brought the Information Technology Amendment Bill, 2008 in Parliament, which got passed by both the houses of Parliament in the last week of December, 2008 and received President’s assent on February 5, 2009. The I T (Amendment) Act, 2008 has come into force from 27th October 2009. The  Act   brings about various sweeping changes in the existing Cyberlaw and  provides legal recognition for the transactions carried out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication, commonly referred to as "Electronic Commerce", which involve the use of alternatives to paper based methods of communication and storage of information ,  facilitates electronic filings of documents with the Government agencies and amended  the Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, 1872,, The Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891, and the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and the  matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Knowledge and Information Technology

An essential requirement for envisioning India’s future is to recognise that the equations which determine national development have changed in recent years, opening up greater possibilities than before. The same factors continue to be at work, but their relative contribution and importance is rapidly shifting along several dimensions as shown in the hereunder.

Shifting Determinants of Development
Manufacturing		Services
Capital resources		Knowledge resources

              

The sectoral composition of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) changes with economic development. The  predominance of agriculture in the least developed economies is reduced by the increasing importance of manufacturing, and subsequently, services, as they move up the ladder of development. As this occurs, the rates of economic growth tend to increase. This transition is now occurring globally and is reflected in the explosive growth of the services sector, especially in the fields of financial services, information and communication technology (ICT), insurance, education and health. India’s services sector has already become the dominant contributor to GDP, accounting for 46 per cent of the total, but its share is still far below the UMI (Upper Middle Income countries) reference level of 60 per cent. The country very soon will get the opportunity to skip the long slow phase of industrialisation that the

most developed nations have passed through, and transit rapidly into a predominantly service economy by 2020, creating services that meet human needs, generate employment covering the large unorganised segment of the economy, raise incomes and increase purchasing power. Even our notion of services may need to evolve further to recognise the importance of the emerging knowledge-intensive services.

Knowledge has replaced capital as the most important determinant of development. In a path breaking study in mid-1950s, Nobel laureate economist Robert Solow showed that seven eighth of the growth of US from 1900 to 1950 was accounted for by technical progress, while only one-eighth was driven by capital. A study by Denison, of factors contributing to the growth of the US economy from 1929 to 1982, attributes 94 per cent of that growth to factors relating to knowledge generation and dissemination: 64 per cent of this is linked to advances in knowledge generation (i.e. R&D) and another 30 per cent to advances in education. Better resource management, which is an application of knowledge, is also identified as a more important factor than capital. This fact bodes well for countries whose economic planners are able to escape from their earlier faith in capital and fully tap the enormous productive potential of non-material, knowledge resources.

India’s Green Revolution is a dramatic example of how the input of greater knowledge in the form of improved production technologies can rapidly increase the productivity of scarce land resources. India’s IT Revolution is a striking instance of how the importance of human capital has come to acquire a higher position than that of material plant and machinery. All efforts to project India’s future progress get at times blinded by the question of resources, more specifically, the financial resources needed for all plan activities. We start with the conviction that financial (capital) resources will not be the key factor that decides the course of our future progress. If we fail, it will be mainly for want of a vision of what is possible, knowledge of how to realise it, belief in ourselves, commitment to achieve, will for the effort or skill in implementation — and not for lack of finance. The knowledge revolution is not just a short-term blip on the radar screen which peaked in 2000 with the boom in dot com companies. It is a real and profound opportunity for countries.

Knowledge Revolution

 Ø  By one recent estimate, 50-60 per cent of all industrial output is based on information.

 Ø  Modern manufacturing industries depend as much for their success on the management of information relating to quality, cost and scheduling, as they do on the management of materials and production processes.

 Ø  The services sector, which has the great potential for creating new employment opportunities and economic growth in the world economy, is essentially knowledge-based.

 Ø  The phenomenal growth of employment potential in this century has been mostly driven by the rapid expansion of small and medium, technology intensive sectors and services around the world to increase the pace and scope of the benefits of development. It marks a significant shift in the relative importance of different resources or factors of production in the development process.

This shift from material to knowledge-based resources opens up vast opportunities for the developing countries to accelerate the pace of development. India’s rate of economic growth can be substantially increased if the country becomes a superpower in knowledge and if the potentials of information and information technology are fully understood and exploited.

Thus far, the potentials have been narrowly focused on the export potentials of the IT sector.  But far greater potential lies in the extension and application of IT to stimulate the development of other sectors of the domestic economy. Information is a revolutionary force in bridging the digital divide that currently separates the advantaged and the disadvantaged of our nation. Apart from generating new employment opportunities, the application of IT can vastly extend access to education, health care, markets, financial services, vocational skills, administrative services and other aspects of modern society, to many more people at far lower cost. It can dramatically reduce the cost of communications, improve access to technology and marketing capabilities for the rural poor, eliminate intermediary exploitation in the production and distribution chains, increase government accountability and stimulate democratic participation.

Knowledge Resources

There are a host of non-material, knowledge-based human resources that we possess in abundance and can apply to achieve far greater results. The significant contributions made by IT Sector under different headings, like employment, education, infrastructure and governance are discussed below:

1)     Technology

Knowledge in the form of information technology (IT) has opened up the opportunity for India to become the premier, low-cost provider of computer software and IT-enabled services to the industrialised world. It can not only provide high paying jobs and rising exports, but also transform the way we educate our youth—increasing the speed, quality and efficiency of learning manifold. In addition, it can and is already transforming the way we communicate among ourselves and with the rest of the world, shrinking the distances between hemispheres, providing instantaneous access to the whole world’s knowledge base and customer base. Knowledge in the form of biotechnology offers not only a lucrative field for employment and economic growth, but a means for improving the health of our people and the productivity of our fields. In the form of agricultural technology, knowledge can increase crop yields from the present level, which is far below world averages, to levels two, three or four times higher. Pioneering Indian farmers have already achieved it for a variety of crops. What they have done individually, we can do as a nation. Finally, knowledge in the form of manufacturing technology will raise the competitiveness of the Indian manufactures to international standards of costs and quality.

2)     Organisation

Technology is not the only knowledge resource now abundantly at our disposal. Today we have access to the whole world’s experience in organisation. Organisation is nothing but the know-how for carrying out work most efficiently and expeditiously. India’s highly successful Green Revolution and White Revolution were the results of organisational innovations as much as technology. We have the opportunity to fashion new and better forms of organisation to carry out the tasks of education, health-delivery, governance, commerce, industry and social welfare.

3)     Information

Physical and biological reactions require the presence of catalytic agents to set them in motion and speed completion. Human social processes depend on a catalytic agent too and that catalyst is information. Free movement of information releases society from fear of uncertainties.

Information about prices and market potentials spurs an entrepreneur into commercial activity. Information about scientific and technological discovery prompts a scientist or an engineer to adopt new innovations and practical applications. Widely disseminated public information about proper health care and nutrition contributes more powerfully to the general health of the community than does a hospital or medical innovation. Information about government policies enables individuals and communities to fully exercise their rights and take advantage of public programmes. Information about distant places spurs tourism and trade. Information in all forms and all fields— administration, commerce, education, finance, health, science and technology—is the very source from which we shape our dreams, plans, decisions and actions. The more and better the quality of that information, the more enlightened, expansive, productive and effective will be our efforts at individual and social advancement.

Today, the average Indian citizen has access to a wider range of timely and reliable information than had the government leaders in the world’s most advanced nations a few decades ago. The fairly easy access to computers and the Internet has placed the world at our fingertips. Spread of information is further facilitated by the advancement of telecommunications technology, rapid expansion of cellular telephone networks, as well as the legalisation of Internet telephony, that makes live voice communication possible at a fraction of the cost, both within the country and internationally.

4)     Education

What is true of information is true of education as well. Dissemination of useful information can be said to constitute the so-called unorganised sector of public education. The formal educational system is its organised counterpart. Education is the process whereby society passes on the accumulated knowledge and experience of past generations to its youth in a systematic and abridged form, so that the next generation can start off where past generations have ended and move on from there. Today, through education we have access not only to the knowledge of our own direct ancestors but to the accumulated experience and wisdom of people the world over. With the development of modern media that brings sound and video images into every household, and with the advent of the Internet that enables us to reach out to sources of knowledge around the world, education offers both unprecedented richness of content and the capacity to deliver it. If only we could break free from the limitations of out-dated curriculum and out-moded delivery systems, we could utilise the opportunity to close the education gap that separates the world’s most prosperous communities from their poorer cousins.

5)     Skills

Productive skills form another component of the precious human resource that we can and must fully utilise as leverage for national development. Skill is the ability to direct human energy efficiently to achieve desirable goals. A large reserve of unskilled people may be perceived as a problem, but a large population of skilled workers is a huge asset. It takes both knowledge and skill to train people and we have these in abundance. Imparting employable skills to our entire workforce is not only highly desirable but highly achievable as well.

All the resources that we have enumerated—technology, organisation, information, education and skill—are knowledge-based resources. Knowledge-based resources differ significantly in character from material resources. While material resources are consumed when they are utilised, knowledge resources increase when shared. Material resources are costly to transport and store, whereas knowledge resources are easily transportable at rapid speed and can be stored at negligible cost.

Historically, development has occurred under conditions in which access to critical resources was restricted to a relatively small portion of the population. The distinct characteristic of knowledge as a resource makes it possible, for the first time, to spread and share a resource among the entire population. The pace of India’s future progress will depend to a large extent on its ability to make available the latest and most useful knowledge to vast sections of the population.

[Published in Corporate Secretary, Monthly magazine of ICSI, Hyderabad]