PAPER ICT IN BANGALORE

The ICT growth has many impacts. First of all it has increased the population of
the Urban Agglomeration Area. In fact it increased from 2.92 million in 1981 to
4.13 million in 1991 and to 5.69 million in 2001. Bangalore UAA recorded 5.79
percent annual growth rate of population during the period between 1971 and
1981, 3.52 percent between 1981 and 1991 and 3.25 percent during 1991 and
2001. Total area of Bangalore UAA increased from 365.65 sq. kms in 1971 to
445.91 sq. kms in 1981 and to 531 sq. kms in 2001 due to an increase in
urbanization of surrounding areas and also due to incorporation of surrounding
areas into the City on a continuous basis.
Internal migration is a major source for changes in net increase of the
population of Bangalore. For instance, net increase in population is equal to
1.21 million during 1981 and 1991 and 1.56 million during 1991 2001; in fact in-
migration contributed to this increase by about 54 percent in the first period and
about 76 percent during the second one. In addition to immigration,
jurisdictional changes contributed about 40 percent between 1981 and 1991
and 50 percent during 1991 and 2001. The rest of population growth is because
of natural increase.





The ICT growth has also influenced the economic growth. Bangalores GDI from
ICT sector increased from about Rs. 33 billion in 2000-01 to Rs. 47 billion in
2002-03 and to Rs.103 billion in 2004-05. Within the ICT sector, share of ICT
services went from about 75 percent in 2000-01 to about 80 percent in 2002-03
and finally to about 87 percent in 2004-05.
From the table below we can see also the output contribution of ICT sector for
Bangalore from 2001-02 to 2004-05. It is possible to check that ICT sector
contributed to the growth of GDI to the extent of 4.04 percent in 2001-02, 2.60
percent in 2002-03, 5.55 percent in 2003-04 and 16.11 percent in 2004-05.

Strictly correlated to the ICT growth is the problem of the digital divide.
The poor should be given the opportunity to master the skill to use this technology to
their advantage. For this reason Information and Communication Technology must be
used in order to reduce the gap between people living in the rural area with respect to
the people living in the urban area. We can define 4 main challenges: the most
fundamental one is to ensure that every child in this country receives at least basic


education. The next level challenge is to ensure that there is wide-spread of physical
access to information and tools and this could be done through the use of computers and
connectivity but the costs of computers in the Indian context is still too high. The third
level challenge is the issue of availability of local language. Still today India faces the
most difficult problems of any nation. In fact unlike other countries where almost all the
population speak, write, and read English, in India even basic literacy in one mother
tongue is available to just half of the population. The fourth of the challenges is the
aspect of connectivity. Apart from major centres in the country, the possibilities of low-
cost connectivity is still a big issue in the country and even if there have been some
recent initiatives with the use of wireless in local loop technology a lot of ground has to
be covered yet.




























REFERENCES
1) M.R. Narayana (2008). Globalization and Urban
Growth: Evidence for Bangalore (India)
2) C. L. Irving, Assistant Secretary for Information and
Commerce, US Department of Commerce (1999).
Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide