By Nyatum Doke
The juggernaut of Digitization is pervading every inch of our life. Off late, everyone has realized the importance of running in tandem with the ever-evolving technological development and the GoAP is not an exception. The first of its kind capacity building workshop on ‘emerging technologies’ was conducted for the officials recently by ATI under the aegis of GoAP recently. The rate at which technological growth is happening, is unanticipated and unprecedented. Every second, the world around us is changing, pushing our existing set of skills and knowledge towards redundancy. In this parlance where do we stand- are we running fast enough?
Charting the Path,: the efforts taken-
As per PIB report “Over 1,310 Gram Panchayats have been connected with optical fibre under Bharat Net scheme and over 1,156 more towers have been planned to bring digital inclusion”. To add, recently, dedicated 254 4G mobile towers to the state the towers will cover 336 villages. Also 1,156 4G towers planned under USOF, locations have already been identified.
As part of another scheme, i.e. 4G saturation scheme, 2,424 4G site sites are to be installed ,which includes 270 sites through OFC, 1,237 sites through microwave and 917 through VSAT to bring more connectivity. Also, under the Vibrant Village Programs and other schemes the government is looking forward to bridge the physical as well as digital gap, thereby ensuring inclusive growth and Inclusive development: reaching the last mile.
An Introspection: Is all well?
The efforts of the govt are commendable, however the installation of towers as we have seen on many instances does not ensure necessary service. The tower needs constant power supply and most of the time owing to erratic power supply the efforts get defeated. Then, the maintenance of the entire set up, be it a mobile tower station or a VSAT needs skills, even for minor maintenance work or defects the services get affected for months- same is the case with optical fibers- which is more delicate. Therefore, along with the quantity, ensuring consistency of the service and quality human resource is crucial.
Training the officers and the officials is a good step, but we also need to take up a bottom-up approach. Reaping the benefits of Digitization or Emerging technology would require an overhaul of our educational system. We need to revamp and take forward with vigor the programs like ‘Adhunik Shiksha Yojana (Smart Classroom)’ that was launched by CM some years back. The Smart Classroom if pursued in the true sense has the potential to bring great change- however we seldom find smart classrooms in schools.
Also, apart from just making the classroom smart we may also take up efforts to make the students smarter. We may encourage the students to look beyond the traditional subjects and learn basic computer Programming, Computer Language, emerging technologies etc by introducing it into the syllabus of the schools. I understand it sounds difficult- but the future will be a lot more difficult if the early initiation is not made. We may try to do it on a Pilot basis in a few selected schools. Then, the skill training being sponsored by Govt under various schemes should include training related to repairing and maintenance of V-SAT, Telecom towers, Computer Hardware and other related future proof skills apart from focusing on mundane skills. It will help in preparing a pool of future ready youths.
When will Arunachal be ready?
Though. Arunachal is in a nascent stage of digital revolution, and a discussion on emerging technology may look like a farsighted dream. But, given the present pace of growth, I am sure, we will be at the crossroads sooner than we are expecting. The questions like “ is Arunachal Ready for emerging technologies’’ or “when will Arunachal be ready” then, is a misnomer, as the digital revolution is already becoming a reality, it’s everywhere; as the saying goes “we are forced to love something that we would otherwise prefer to love to hate”.
With emergence of sophisticated and pervasive technologies- new cultural and social dynamics will evolve. We need to prepare and make ourselves ready for all the challenges that the emerging technologies may bring. Revolutionary beginnings have already been initiated by the GoAP. Surely, in days to come we will be able to embrace the forces of digital revolution along with the emerging technologies with fewer hiccups and less hesitations.
(The writer of the Article is DIPRO Longding)
