Slide 1: Title page

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Colleagues and Eminent Guests, Greetings!

 

I am Ramachandra Byrappa from the E?tv?s Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary.

 

Before starting my presentation on the topic of Human Rights and Technology in India, I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to this conference, my special thanks to the Honourable Professor, Gerd Kaminski. Since I have only 10 minutes to present my topic, I will be brief what I would like to do is to transmit a message on this vast topic.

 

Slide 2: The Brahmin and the Broomstick

 

The message is that the Brahmin is still unwilling to lend the stick to create a broomstick, for empowering the majority of the Indian people. The Brahmin’s stick is the technology and broom is the creator of a clean Human Rights environment. And both have a difficulty to come together.

 

Slide 3: Human Rights and Empowerment

 

In my opinion, in the debate on Human Rights and Technology in India, it is important underline the fact that India’s level of development is low. In this situation Human Rights remain a legal framework without much impact on the everyday life of an average Indian. What the average Indian needs is sufficient food, clean water, a proper dwelling, regular work and a safe environment.

 

The priority at the moment should be Empowerment, an effective economic environment which can provide a basic minima that will safeguard the physical existence of an individual.

 

In this consideration, Human Rights are very important, but the priority should be given to economic empowerment.

 

It is my belief that technology can help empower the Indian people.

 

Slide 4: Caste, Technology and Empowerment

 

Technology has the power to create empowerment and progress, as it is the case in China and other well-developed economies.

 

But in India there is one big problem that can slow down both of these: It is the Caste System, which is still very strong in India.

 

In economic terms, Caste is about a graded system disempowerment and the creation of base inequality, thus creating dysfunctionality in the application of Human Rights.

 

This means that the introduction of technology will mainly benefit the upper castes and not the majority of the economically disempowered castes.

 

Slide 5: Rural-Urban Divide and the trickle-effect

 

Apart from the oppressive caste system another factor that should be noted is the rural-urban divide.

 

After independence Mahatma Gandhi preached against ‘invasive’ technologies that would upset the rural harmony and the system of village self-sufficiency.

 

For his part, Nehru deemed it necessary to develop the Urban economy in order to strengthen the position of the new bureaucratic middle-classes.

 

The result was a very low level of use of technology in the rural areas.

 

Added to this, the reliance on the private sector for technological development means that this development is concentrated in the lucrative urban areas and not in the rural areas where revenues are still very low.

 

But there is a chaotic trickle-down effect and mobile communications are making headway in the rural areas. Which is very positive and an empowering factor for the poor people of India.

 

Slide 6: Relative high cost

 

However, these services cost disproportionately high to the rural residents whose average monthly income is around 130 US dollars.

 

Slide 7: Blind eye to technology in certain spheres

 

Hundreds of millions of Indians live and work in an environment where technology is not present. Technology is not used for providing for basic needs like water and electricity. As you can see in this picture, the young woman is forced to carry two big metal pots of water and also carry a child on a rocky path back home, sometimes several kilometres.

 

In certain states like Maharashtra in India, a man can have extra wives just to carry water the whole day. They are called the “water wives” by sociologists and journalists.

 

Slide 8: Photo of water wives

 

This photo shows a group of water wives who sometimes make a journey of several kilometres to the well and back home. There is no effort to reduce their burden. Empowerment is clearly lacking.

 

Slide 9: British NGO – Wells on Wheels

 

After hearing of this phenomenon of water wives a charity was created in Britain, called “Wells on Wheels”. And they came up with an ingenious idea to help these women: Wheel well 

 

Slide 10: Photo of women with wheel wells

 

Here is a photo of the happy few who got a wheel-well from the British charity. This is a very good example of empowerment, which led to the improvement of human rights. By the use of a simple concept that existed in China for thousands of years.

 

Slide 11: Digital revolution and risks

 

The digital revolution has taken many governments by surprise, across the world. It is no different in India, reaction and regulation is too slow to prevent the Indian citizens from the mounting risks of digital crime and abuse.

 

Another notable risk is that the majority of the digital empowerment in India is coming from the American social platforms. Here the risk is that all the private data collected on these platforms is made available to foreign governments. And there is a real risk that these services are monetized in the future, meaning that they will not be free. This means that the current digital empowerment disappears very quickly.

 

Slide 12: Positive impact of technology on Human Rights in India

 

One emphatically positive impact of technology concerns loneliness in India. There are millions of old people left behind in villages by their children who move to urban areas. Traditional means of communication like fixed telephones were difficult to access but this has changed with the arrival of cheap smartphones. Families can stay in touch with video chats etc. And in most cases these are free.

 

Slide 13: India is a digital feudum of the USA

 

All these make India an uncontrolled paradise for American digital corporations, as these numbers indicate. The number of subscribers can be counted in hundreds of millions. This means that part of the sovereign control over the people now belongs to the US corporates. And since there is very little effective control, the users become a feudal domain for them. This has to be more balanced and risk free.

 

Slide 14: Will is there, but no capacity

 

Legislative and executive branches are doing everything to address the situation, but India is suffering from a problem of capacity, there is not enough of it.

 

The judiciary needs more human resources and technological modernization to reduce the burden. It has already started, and hopeful progress will be made.

 

Slide 15: Conclusion

 

In conclusion: Technology will help empower the people of India. Serious efforts are made by the government to modernize India. I am very hopeful that it will be successful, in the near future.