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The 'Information divide': strategies to bridge the gap?
Point of View
By Indira Kottegoda Gonsalkorale
Recently, several local experts have commented on the need for Sri Lanka to move, as one such expert puts it, "to bring the benefits of IT to the poor in terms of delivery of improved basic services like education, healthcare and equipping the poor with the necessary information and skills to bring them into the mainstream of society so that they can become a productive partner of globalisation".

Information divide
This discussion on the 'information divide' also known as 'Information-rich vs Information-poor', has been around for about 10 years now and some countries have attempted to meet the challenges this issue poses.

Airing public platitudes such as that above, in the English language newspapers is to stretch the sensibilities of Sri Lankans to the extreme. One only needs to look around the globe to see how other countries, some much poorer and less 'literate' than Sri Lanka have addressed the issue.

In Africa attempts have been made to take IT to the villages, and these attempts have included marginalised groups such as women and children. Indian farmers have been enabled via the Internet to access markets in the big cities, to bypass the 'middlemen' who have traditionally exploited the primary producers in that country.

In fact India, our closest neighbour, has used technology appropriate to that country's conditions. The lack of constant electricity, stable telephone connections and low levels of literacy have been circumvented and has enabled villagers to use technology to improve harvests, exchange ideas, and sell commodities, which activities when engaged in, themselves becomes an educational experience.

In Sri Lanka, we seem to be too focused on how we may apply the most current levels of technology to a country where infrastructure is lacking, funds are scarce, people with enthusiasm are many but those with training are few. Trying to use technologies that function well in first world countries is of little practical use under these conditions.

Looking to India for example, where the use of Wireless Access Technology had enabled farmers in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, to access the Internet at a low cost or the Madhya Pradesh government's intranet initiative of an experimental computer network in remote villages, would be closer to what we should consider viable options.

Simple packages
The Indian models have simple packages, with a Computer Kiosk, a wireless telephone line, a power backup, and sometimes, a printer.

Having packet switching centres, modems connecting servers, as suggested by one of the above authors in a planned project may work but a strategy, focused on connectivity dependent on services such as telephone lines and constant electricity supply from the national grid should be viewed with care.

English language
The English language dominates the Internet. Some countries have developed web pages in their own languages. The Indian farmers in Tamil Nadu have what they need on the Internet, in the Tamil language.

The Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Thais do so in their own. We need to address the issue of languages on the Internet using a two-pronged strategy.

Develop accessibility to the Internet in our own languages and begin addressing the teaching of English through the school curriculum.

Developing web design and coding skills in Sinhala/Tamil too is essential. However, much harder to implement is the goal to educate a generation in Sri Lanka, to learn a language that has long lost its place in the education system. To re-introduce the English language in the curriculum we require teachers with a sound and modern approach to teaching language.

One option may be to have teachers of English perhaps from India or Pakistan take on contract work in schools outside main cities so that the language may be taken to children all over the country. There would be a need to have people trained in how to design courses to be taught in Sinhala and Tamil at the 'National Centres' envisaged by the Skills Development Project and the various training authorities in Sri Lanka. It is only then that they in turn will be able to begin training others in using IT.

Troubleshooting
It will also be necessary to train people to use IT equipment, who would be able to troubleshoot if necessary at remote locations and have others offering a reference point/ help desk to assist those using IT, to solve problems across the country. Such a service would be essential to make any IT deployment a success.

This is the sort of challenge Sri Lankans need to face if they are to address the reality of surmounting the obstacles which face the majority. It will be required to move away from concentrating learning and new technologies in the cities and begin to see how to honestly share knowledge that seems to be stagnating among the economic and academic elite. Access to information is intrinsically linked to wider economic development issues and is a requirement for development as much as it is a consequence of development.

Those undertaking the promotion and introduction of IT in developing countries need to be politically aware and active. The issues need to be discussed widely, society made aware of it being a core facet in the development of a nation and consequently the importance of it moving to the top of the agenda of governments.

Otherwise we may just as well stay home as enunciated in this quotation from Aboriginal women in Australia, "if you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, let us work together".

Oil majors call for market regulator
By Akhry Ameer
Oil majors represented in Sri Lanka have urged the government to set up an energy committee to monitor and regulate the market without further delay.

Kishu Gomes, Managing Director, Caltex Lubricants Lanka Limited (CLLL), said the government and firms interested in entering the petroleum products market need to agree on a comprehensive framework, including legislation and regulations, before they can present expressions of interest.

Oil firms were awaiting the government's call for expressions of interest, he added. The government has agreed to industry recommendations to limit the market to three players.

The other two players are the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

The government must act fast in order to ensure fairplay as one of the industry players is in the process of setting up operations, Gomes said in an interview.

Once these steps have been taken the government can call for closed bids or sell assets on the stock exchange as planned, Gomes said.

Oil majors were unhappy with the manner in which the government suddenly struck a deal with the Indian Oil Corporation despite having had talks with them and agreed to their recommendations in principle, Gomes said.

Multinationals such as Caltex have several concerns in becoming an active player in this industry, he said, adding that oil majors might not find investments here attractive given the way in which government policies were being implemented.

The multinationals present in the country developed a framework for the liberalisation of the local fuel market during a series of meetings in June and July.

Thereafter, they made joint presentations recommending measures to deregulate and privatise the petroleum sector.

The participants in developing this framework comprised local representatives for Shell, Exxon, Mobil, BP and Castrol, Servo, Valvoline, and the local liquid petroleum gas (LPG) marketer Laugfs.

These proposals received a favourable response from the key people in the government and government institutions such as the CPC and the Public Enterprise Reforms Commission, he said.

In addition to the collective proposals, Caltex also presented a set of proposals on its own after an evaluation by experts from its global operations.

These were along the lines of the collective proposals with a few changes where Caltex may be interested in investing, Gomes said.

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