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t h r e e
G
ujarat has come a long way since 1947. The journey from the time of
Gandhiji’s salt satyagraha, to now when one’s talking about a cyber
satyagraha
—
has been packed with developments, achievements and stories of great
enterprise. Having come this far, Gujarat now stands on the threshold of its next
revolution. From the industrial revolution, the state has moved on to the Internet
revolution and today there is one large goal before us all
—
to proliferate information
technology within Gujarat and make the state an extremely IT-friendly one.
There are however, two pre-requisites for the achievement of this IT
nirvana
.
For
one, Gujarat has to move towards 100 percent literacy. For a second, the state has
to look at providing connectivity to its citizens, going right down to the grassroots.
Innovative methods can be employed to digitally empower Gujaratis and lead them
into the cyber age.
A viable alternative, and one that would get both the creative and gastronomic
juices going for Gujarati netizens, are cyber
dhabas
,
cyber PCOs and cyber cafes
that need to line the streets of the state. These options could serve the IT needs
of Gujaratis in the same way that STD/ISD booths did when even telephones were a
scarce commodity. Today, there are over 50,000 such booths in Gujarat, providing
employment to about two lakh people. Many of these booths could in fact be given
a cyber profile with the addition of an Internet connection. The ISD/STD booths,
in their new hi-tech
avatars
would not only push up the number of Internet users
across Gujarat, they would also usher in the culture of e-mail, making Gujaratis
e-nabled and e-savvy.
Cyber cafes could be Gujarat’s new recipe for IT success. A perfect blend of cuisine
and cyber connectivity, such cafes would serve as Gujarat’s next generation tool
for expanding the net of the Net! Here, the joys of veggie burger,
Fujarati thali
,
undhiyoo
,
keri ras
,
or
pao bhaji
could be enjoyed against the backdrop of high speed
connectivity. While the cyber cafes could dot the IT landscape of Gujarat’s key
cities and townships, it is the cyber
dhabas
across the state’s landscape that would
really take the Net to the common Gujarati Citizen.
The Times of India, Ahmedabad November 13, 2000
“
Gujarat Needs A Cyber
Satyagraha
”
