Subject: The Internet and the Developing World BMJ 1998;316:1111 ( 11 April ) News The internet and the developing world 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 cannot get access to them."