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Mobiles and development policy
Dr. Amir Ullah Khan
With mobile telephony the big hurdle in reaching to the targeted population also gets solved and the subsidy debate which often ends with the clinching argument that all subsidy goes to the undeserving can be put to rest
One of the most fascinating applicators of the mobile phone to Governance is the lowly camera that comes attached to almost every instrument now. See someone taking a bribe; click. Some hapless citizen being denied entry where he has a right to go; click. It’s really amazing how the camera works.
You can massage someone’s ego by asking him for a picture to be taken and can scare someone by threatening to click. I have seen toughened policemen desist from kicking the daylights out of people they have always done, just because some person has a camera there. Now everyone has a mobile. The photograph may not constitute evidence, a smart lawyer can always claim it was doctored, but it is enough to scare official and politicians who dread the bad publicity, because they know this pictorial evidence can reach newsmagazines, Television channels, their bosses and even their wives.
Bangaru Lakshman will never do a prison term but a really bright political career got stamped out by people using really poor quality cameras and putting out acutely hazy images. The various Godmen claiming divine powers will get bailed out, but there reputation, on which their livelihood rests, can get devastated.
Where there is no video evidence of malpractice, misgovernance or corruption, the mobile phone has another feature that helps; a recorder that can store audio bytes. This can now be used to explain to a superior why his junior needs to be reprimanded for false promises, delaying tactics and rude behavior. The mobile is indeed a really powerful instrument, and like all technology can be misused. This misuse lends itself to skepticism among those who historically have made spurious correlations between technology and illegal or immoral behavior. Evidence of this being the sporadic banning of cell phones and SMSs in Kashmir, while encouraging BSNL to increase number of its towers in Chattisgargh.
Despite this anomaly, it is the mobile phone that is empowering those who are often poor, illiterate, have no access to roads or to doctors and have little power to even use a most friendly Right to Information Act. With innovation, convergence and the freeing of spectrum, mobile usage will only deepen and get more accessible. Its application to high end services will enable the PURA that Kalam has talked about, the provision of urban facilities at least virtually in rural areas. Economists argue that what really exploits a section of the population and keeps them deprived is the lack of free and perfect information.
With mobile telephony the big hurdle in reaching to the targeted population also gets solved and the subsidy debate which often ends with the clinching argument that all subsidy goes to the undeserving can be put to rest. With mobile density now at one phone for two individuals in the country, there is no excuse any more to reach out exactly to the person who is the rightful recipient of government assistance. With government offices at all levels mobile enabled, the SMS, armed with voice messaging capability, becomes a most convenient, non intrusive, quick, inexpensive and pervasive tool of development policy.
Dr Amir Ullah Khan is economist and a passionate teacher. He is currently Dean & Research Director at Bangalore Management Academy. He can be reached at amir@bmaindia.com
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