Print

Comment

Email

Digg

Del.icio.us

Reddit

Twitter

The first major discontinuity in modern politics was introduced by the advent of television; televised debates to be precise. Although Scotsman John Logie Baird first transmitted television signals on 2nd October 1925, and licensed commercial broadcasting began in the United States from the early 40s, it was only in the 60s that politics discovered television as a medium of public communication. Till then, a politician was someone that one read about regularly, and occasionally heard, but rarely met one-on-one. Television brought politics to the drawing room and showed politicians at close quarters, goose pimples and all. The 1960 US presidential election was a landmark as far as television-based political communication goes. The contestants were Richard Nixon of the Republican Party and John F Kennedy of the Democratic Party.

The television became the chief medium of reaching out, and successful performance on the studio floor became de rigueur for politicians. Currently, another major discontinuity seems to be emerging over the political firmament. And that discontinuity is being caused by information technology. If the first half of the 20th century was dominated by the mass media, and the second half by what is called the electronic media, then what we are seeing is the dawn of what is being termed as the new media. A clutch of new technologiesthe Internet, mobile telephony, CD-ROMs, electronic kiosks, etcare redefining the whole tenets of communication. And, in the process, impacting the political process as well! At least in the developed countries of the West, IT has brought about a tremendous change in the transparency, urgency and responsiveness in the way politics is conducted. Factoring in the time lag in the adoption of technologies between the West and India, there is a fairly good chance that IT would play a significant role in Indian politics as well.

IT in Indian Politics
Or would it? I am given three reasons why IT does not make sense in the Indian political context:

• In a country like ours where a vast majority of our people do not even get electricity for the greater part of their waking hours, not to talk of the levels of literacy, it would be too much to expect the average citizen to use any IT tool. What has the aam aadmi got to do with it?
• For many others, tutored in the extreme utilitarian school of thought, the first question in a discussion on IT and politics is: Will it get us votes? Can it help us win elections? Unless one is ready with a straight yes for an answer, the discussion runs the danger of being snapped straightaway.
• For many others not connected directly with the political process, the images of the Indian politician and IT are so disconnected as to provoke downright derision, if not indifference. New media does not go with old politicians, they say.

To my mind, all these arguments reek of extreme prejudice and ignorance. Part of the problem is of course the whole image of IT itself. The visuals associated with this wordof smart western-attired, English-speaking, professionals hunched over computer terminals in swanky glass buildingsare so remote from the heat and dust and sound of mofussil India that one is tempted to go along with the popular opinion.

Page(s)   1  2