Is Linux Improving Life Of Poor In India?

mood6 writes "Linux Journal has a nice article on Automating Government with e-Governance. It discusses Linux usage by the Indian government to improve the lives of the rural poor (interesting look at how the IT boom in India is benefiting the poor). The article covers some of the difficulties in deploying Linux in non-English languages for government usage. Good read for those looking at Linux in e-Governance projects and a good follow up to a previous article by Tom Adelstein. In support of full disclosure: I wrote the article and the platform was developed by Delixus, my current company."

Comments

Linux isn't all that common

[bobhagopian]

On a recent trip to India, I could not help but notice that not a single computer I encountered was running Linux, despite all the hype (and I saw hundreds of computers). They were all running pirated copies of Windows 95 and 98. When you have the ability to pirate software (without any real fear of prosecution), there's one less incentive to switch to free (as in $0, not as in freedom) software. Usability isn't a real concern to those at the lowest socioeconomic levels; what matters is the mere existence of computer technology.

Re:Prime Minister

[arvindn]

Nice theory you've got, but the reason for the election result has little to do with technology. The old government, apart from being Hindu nationalist, was obsessed with macroeconomic growth parameters (GDP, Foreign investment etc) with the result that wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few and the poor became poorer. To top it off, their main electoral campaign was called "India shining" in which they showcased their economic "achievements" which the rural folk felt was of no relevance to them. On the other hand, the opposing party promised free power, water etc. As a result the right wing parties received a sound thrashing.

I know people who've worked to bring technology to villages in India, and its my opinion that its helped the country a lot.

Re:Is Linux Improving Life Of Poor In India?

[acceber]

Is Linux Improving Life Of Poor In India?...Linux with its low cost, high security and open standards is rapidly becoming the driving force behind this revolution.

Although living standards have dramatically improved for all Indians, it is still widely considered to be a third world country.

Approximately 25% of the Indian population are below the poverty line

The water supply is so polluted that people must buy or boil their water.

The poor are discriminated against in education.

Health care in India? What health care?

If Linux claims to improve the life of the poor in India and proves it, even if it's "just" computers, then it's addressing the very real and continually growing division between the rich and the poor in regards to technology and computer use.

Hell, some people have never seen or heard of what a computer is.

India's poor and IT

[opos]

Ten years ago, I taught at the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, and met Prof. Kalyana Krishnan. At that time Krishnan was struggling with how to render characters on a web page so that he would produce Hindi, Tamil, etc web pages. Over the years, Krishnan's project has expanded, now has voice rendering of web pages and was recently recognized as a major innovation benefiting many in India. His project website will give you an idea of the tools he and his students are bringing to all of India. e-Governance is a small segment of the challenges facing India. Skilled practitioners, coming from the IITs in India are effectively penetrating the digital divide.