British Medical Journal 1998 ; 316:1111 (11 April )
Richard Smith talked to India's premier information scientist, Subbiah
Arunachalam, about whether the internet will solve the information
problems of the developing world
Subbiah Arunachalam, India's most distinguished information scientist, is a gentle fellow
with a gift for controversy. When the New York Times covered a speech in 1982 by India's
prime minister, Indira Gandhi, it quoted extensively from an article that Professor
Arunachalam had written entitled, "Why is Indian science mediocre?"--just at the
time that Mrs Gandhi was telling the world that India would soon catch up with the
advanced countries with the quality of its scientific research. She was of course wrong.
Now Professor Arunachalam has been asked to go to Germany to debate with Nicholas
Negroponte, the guru of the digital age, on whether the digital revolution will solve the
information problems of the developing world.
Professor Negroponte thinks it will. Professor Arunachalam says it might eventually,
but first it will increase the gulf between the haves and the have nots.
Professor Arunachalam, who shares his time between the Indian Institute of Technology in
Madras and the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, has also made himself unpopular with
those running research in India by pointing out that much Indian medical research is not
relevant to the needs of the country. The major health problems faced by India are
diarrhoeal diseases, diseases of children, infectious diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis,
while Indian researchers are mainly active in general medicine, pharmacology, tropical
medicine, neurosciences, radiology, and oncology (National Medical Journal of India
1998;11:27-34, and Current Science 1997;72:912-22). At least two funding agencies have
responded by turning down his requests for research grants. In particular, his request for
funds to set up an Observatory for Science and Technology in India has been turned down.
But many Indian scientists agree with him.
Professor Arunachalam became an information scientist when he switched from being a
"not so successful chemist." It was while he was a student of the Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore, that he discovered that he had a flair for finding
information that others could not find. "The tall man in the library will help
you," researchers would say. And the two years that he worked for the Indian Academy
of Sciences--1973 to 1975, as editor of publications and secretary--gave him ample
opportunities to watch men who managed Indian science from close quarters. His new found
interests led him to science writing and scientometrics.
Researchers and doctors in India are, he says, deprived of information: "There
are some universities in the developed world that receive not less than 50000-60000
journals. No academic or research library in India receives more than 2100, and most
receive only a few hundred. So access to information is a major problem in India. And for
individual doctors it's even worse. Honest doctors have so many patients to treat that
they have little time to do research or read. Other doctors are more interested in making
money than reading. Many doctors are happy with the free pamphlets that drug companies
give them."
So will access to electronic information help? "Probably not yet in India because
very few doctors have access to the internet or email. And often medically trained people
are not good with communication technology and computers. They take time to learn. Very
few doctors use computers. Plus they have not been made aware of the benefits of using
computers."
Of course, there are agencies in Mumbai, Professor Arunachalam points out, which use new
technologies to provide information to doctors, but their clients are mostly
pharmaceutical companies. The internet may eventually be a great equaliser for research
scientists around the world, but in the early days, says Professor Arunachalam, it will
widen the gap.
Many researchers in India cannot access the technology for various
reasons. "The government is not making it easily available. The telecom regulating
agency and the only internet service provider do not get along well with each other. Cost
is another factor. Telephone lines are very poor and connections are not stable. This
means that even those who have access to the internet must spend hours downloading
material that would take only minutes for those in the developed world with the best
access."
"But," Professor Arunachalam continues, "it's not just a matter of
resources. India has enough resources to provide access in the major
cities where higher education institutions and major research laboratories are located.
But it takes time. That's what makes us third world. The major difference between the
first and the third world is the time it takes to transfer something from the realm of
possibility to reality."
There are examples of where new technology has been introduced quickly to India--for
instance, the green revolution and the installing of telephone lines to make long distance
and international calls in small towns and villages throughout India. "But,"
says Professor Arunachalam, "they are far too few."
"The internet will grow in India, but I'm concerned that my countrymen are taking too
long to recognise its importance. Many scientific journals now are purely electronic, and
many Indian researchers simply can not get access to them."
Last updated on 5/31/98 by Dirk Staatsen
