Business IT

Lanka placed 86th at global IT ratings

Sarath Malalasekera

Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Switzerland, Netherlands, United States, Iceland, UK and Norway have been ranked as the top ten IT sawy countries according to Global information technology report for 2006/07.

Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) President Nihal Jayamanne said at the Lawasia ICT Conference held at the Trans Asia Hotel recently, that Sri Lanka has been ranked 86th.

Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva PC was the Chief Guest at the Conference. Lawasia ICT Conference President Mah Weng Kwal also participated.

BASL President, Jayamanne said that India is placed 44th, China 59th, Sri Lanka 86th and Bangladesh 118th.

The ratings are based on how many persons in a country have access to various high-tech IT equipment and how many persons have access to the internet and how many transactions are carried out using the internet.

But if ratings are based on the volume of software generated and on the basis of the volume of out sourcing of IT processing, handled by countries such as China, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh the ratings are bound to change.

“It must however be conceded that the percentage of people in a country who have access to computers and the internet is a good measure of a country’s development and affluence,” he said.

The BASL President emphasised that an enlightened Chief Minister of Andra Pradesh brought about an IT revolution in that State.

“Perhaps, it is only in Hyderabad, there are separate police stations for cyber crimes, Water bills, electricity bills, rates and taxes are paid and accepted through the internet in Hyderabad. But still it benefits are less than 10 percent of the population of the State,” he said.

“This internet business model has become possible due to a local internat connection known as cordetc. Cordect was developed by the Indian Institute of Technology. By European standards this “Indian net” may be considered a gravel road leading to the information super highway, but nevertheless it gives access to it, he said.

The technology is the same as that used by wireless phones. In villages where there is no electricity, it is supplied to the internet cafes by battery.

It is predicted that in the next decade, the most explosive growth in information technology will come from the 5 billion people who do not have access to the internet. Of the world’s 6.6 billion people only 1.2 billion currently use the internet, i.e. the wealthiest 1.2 billion. There are also 4 billion people in the world who live on less than 2 dollars a day.”

The rich countries have come to realise that these 5 billion poor are the key to the next stage of trade and prosperity. There are also non-profit making enterprises in the US working from basic offices, to revolutionalise the high tech industry by making computers that will cost less than 100 dollars.

These computers powered by a cheap operating system hope to bring computing and the internet to people who have never touched a keyboard, in places as remote as the refugee camps in Uganda and other poor and strife stricken countries.

These cheap computers will definitely close the digital divide and give the poor villagers of the world a chance of emerging from poverty to relative prosperity.

“The IT giants Microsoft, Del, Intel and Lenovo do not want to be kept out of this revolution and have invested billions of dollars to start projects aimed at bringing Information Technology to schools in the developing countries. The business aphorism which is in vogue is “do well by doing good”.

It is in the context of this new revolution which will bring IT technology to all parts of the world and to all segments of the people that the National IT Conferences which was for the first time organized by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka last year, and this year’s conference which we inaugurate this evening become important.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka being aware of these developments want the professionals, businessmen and the academics to have the benefit of the latest developments in information technology, so that they can use it in their professions and business, so as to give the people of this country a better and effective service.

Local Commercial High Court, the District Courts of Colombo and Kandy have the latest digital equipment which makes it a pleasure to appear in these Courts.

It is necessary that this technology is installed in the Appellate and Supreme Court.