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The Government it would appear is determined to launch Sri Lanka into the Brave New World of digital technology. It was a previous UNP Government under President J.R. Jayewardene which proclaimed its intention of making Sri Lanka leap-frog into the 21st century. Now that this brave millennium is with us the challenge is to advance further although the cynics might query whether we Sri Lankans have quite been able to get out of our frog-in-the-well mentality.

Launching the e-Sri Lanka ICT Road-map at the Colombo Hilton on Wednesday night Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasised the importance of over-all development which would involve the development of agriculture, manufacturing services and the social sector.

The Prime Minister did well to set technology in such an over-all developmental perspective for in a still developing country such as Sri Lanka there is the constantly present danger that the new technology, whether they be computers, e-mail or the Internet, can well become the playthings of the rich. Needless to say this will be counter-productive for this can only lead to the breeding of a new class. What is necessary is to ensure that all classes have equal access to the new technology.

Not even the cynics will dismiss the importance of technology in linking us to an ever-shrinking world. For the harsh truth is that however poor a country it might be it will sink without access to technology in a world where whether one likes it or not machines are more and more doing the work of men. There is no reason why Sri Lanka should lag behind in this regard although we might lack all the necessary resources in this sector at present. Sri Lankans have always been a technologically-oriented people.

We have even shown uncommon signs of ingenuity in this regard. After all it was a common Sri Lankan bus conductors who was able to demonstrate that a ticket machine which French experts swore was full-proof was not so supposedly by inserting a piece of wire into the brand new machine.

The challenge as we have already observed is to make the new technology available to all. After all how many schools in the countryside are still starved of computers? On the positive side, however, as this newspaper reported on Wednesday planners have noted the signal success of the 'Sanasa' credit co-operative societies which have been able to make use of advanced technology to mobilise their one million members, extend micro-credit and generate employment in village Sri Lanka.

Needless to say this is of the utmost importance for the regeneration of the village should be at the heart of any developmental plan of whatever Government since as the late President Premadasa was fond of saying 'Sri Lanka lives in the village'.

A key factor here is language. English still remains the world's lingua franca although not necessarily in the form of the Queen's English. (In fact it is becoming more and more the language spoken or written by Uncle Sam) In such a context where does Sri Lanka stand? After decades of teaching English in schools we have abysmally failed to extend the teaching of English beyond the boundaries of a few major cities. There is no new bi-lingual generation which has sprung up as a result in the way a new bilingual generation was produced by Free Education in the decades following the 1930's.

English still remains the monopoly of the rich and the elite as demonstrated so cogently by the expression 'kaduwa' used by the non-English educated to denote those proficient at such swordsmanship.

So the rapid expansion in the teaching of English will have to accompany the spread of new technology if it is not to remain a plaything of the rich. In the meantime the Government appears hopeful of establishing tele-centres across the country so that all citizens will have low-cost access to information technology. Given the resources and the commitment there is no reason why this system should not succeed in the same why that it has done in Bangalore in neighbouring India.

So e-mail is the name of the game and the country is all set to begin its ride on the information super-highway. Nobody in today's world would gainsay the importance of information (not merely as news but also business news and scientific information) but the challenge as we need not stress again is of making this information available to the broadest swathe of society as possible.

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