ICTs and Indian Social Change: Diffusion, Poverty, Governance is the first book of its kind that puts together the optimistic voices of techno-idealists, critical social science perspectives on technology and a range of empirical material on the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on the lives of people. The book traces these processes across urban and rural spaces of work, consumption, e-governance, and highlights the new kinds of social identities they are fostering in India. It opens up an arena for dialogue between activists, technologists, policy makers and academia on using ICTs for development.
The book is a logical sequel to ICTs and Indian Economic Change: Economy, Work, Regulation that addressed the implications of the growth of ICT-based sectors in India for macro-economic development and industrial efficiency. This volume views the diffusion of ICTs in India primarily in the socio cultural realm. In responding to the pioneering voices of innovators in ICTs, it provides empirical and theoretical assessments and critiques of some of the important though often latent, premises that underlie these powerful initiatives.
Saith, Ashwani: -
Ashwani Saith is concurrently Professor of Rural Economics at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, and Professor of Development Studies at the London School of Economics. He has taught and researched on a range of themes in development studies, with a focus on processes and policies concerning poverty and socio-economic vulnerability, labour and work in unorganized/informal economies, rural development, rural industrialization and non-farm economies, migration, information technology, reform and transitions, and globalization processes and patterns. Regionally, his work focuses on Asia, especially on India and China.
Dr Saith has served as a research analyst and policy advisor with several international development agencies, including ILO, FAO, IFAD and UNDP. He has been associated in an editorial capacity with several leading academic journals in the field of development, including Development and Change, Journal of Agrarian Change, Journal of Peasant Studies, Journal of Development Studies, Indian Journal of Labour Economics, and Labour and Development. He has published extensively in international journals, and also authored and edited several books.
Vijayabaskar, M.: -
M. Vijayabaskar is Assistant Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai. He has previously been a Visiting Fellow in contemporary Indian studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and a Research Fellow at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore.
In his professional capacity, Dr Vijayabaskar has been Project Leader, Diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies in India: Labour Market Implications for Developing Countries., funded by the International Development Research Center, Canada and the Asia-Pacific Development Informatics Programme, Singapore; and has served as a consultant for the ILO on several projects. His research interests are primarily in the area of political and social economy of development, with a focus on new organizational forms like clusters, processes of governance and technological change, and restructuring of labour markets and processes. He has contributed articles to several edited volumes, and to journals like Economic and Political Weekly.
