Network Society (Stage 3)

India has a diverse society that is good place for growth in technology and learning. The population is made of a 250-350 million middle class workers.  This allows for a large percentage of the population to be educated and use technology in the home not just the office.  Though according to the Price Waterhouse Coopers survey current penetration of PCs is 0.4% and that of internet is 0.3% in India.  This figure is later slated to grow eight-fold during the next 5 years as follows:

Year	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Internet users (million)	3	6	10	15	20	25
Annual Growth (%)	-	100	67	50	33	25

Though India has a low telephone distribution it does have a high cable market.  There is a large potential for broadband access through cable modems and would increase internet use. Growth in the ownership of PCs and the introduction of a free access model as in Europe, are expected to aid it further. One of the factors in low internet usage is the fact that many of the information on web are not in the users local languages. This deters many people from viewing the information. There are some 1,683 'mother tongues' (official figure) and an estimated 850 languages in daily use in India.

The Internet in India was established almost 10 years ago, as ERNET. It was a joint undertaking of the Department of Electronics (DOE) of the Government of India, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which provides technical assistance to developing nations. ERNET was a successful operation. It established for India the idea that we can participate in the Internet. Currently ERNET operates many nodes and has a 64 Kbps link to USA via Mumbai.

The education in India produces more MCA degrees then it does MBA’s and engineers. They seem to have a lower proportion of management graduates. There are over twenty three universities that offer high level educational programs. A majority of them have Computer Science and Technology programs.  These programs have good job opportunities after they graduate with their degree. With the recent down turn in the U.S. economy, which greatly effects their positions, there has been a slowing down in the jobs they offer.

Indian Society does not have discriminate against the people they offer their jobs, either. Women are greatly encouraged to enter the market place.  Many of the women choose not enter the work force. The lack of women is not due to the lack of ability but the want to stay home. Women constitute over 19% of the total workforce at lower levels (up to three years of experience). The number drops to 6% of the senior workforce, which is with more than 10 years of experience.

It is also argued that a large number of women who start off on a positive note cease to take their careers seriously. Besides, one cannot deny that in most families, a woman’s income is still considered secondary to that of her husband. It is believed to start in the schools; there are far fewer women candidates as compared to men in engineering and management institutes. The majority of the women with multiple years of experience does not have any children and are not married.  The biggest problem is that many of the companies are not sensitive to the family and social pressures those women who work face. To increase the number of women in the workplace many of these companies need to start being aware of these pressures.