- In the 1990s commercial value of sorghum grown in India, and the earnings of Santa Cruz Export Promotion Zone near Mumbai with gem and jewellery manufacturers and employing 50,000 to 60,000 employees was $2 billion a year.
- In the present day, Indian exports in the IT and ITES sector are worth about hundred million dollars a year and agriculture accounted for only about 13.7% of the economy in 2012-2013
- 107 million tonnes of rice and just about hundred millions of wheat was exported in 2013 roughly valued at $80 billion. Agriculture cannot be measured purely in terms of money as over 500 million people find employment here.
- It was predicted that by the end of 2020, the number of Indians working for the global market would be around 50 million. While achieving this would mean a 50% increase in our GDP, it can be safely said that Indian export earnings from the IT and ITES sectors would be way above $100 billion by then.
- Evidently Information Technology (IT) and IT Enabled Services (ITES) sector has gained a significant place, is continuously growing without any chances of saturation in the immediate future. Failure to recognise this large trend will result in India losing a tremendous opportunity to expand its global presence.
- In India by itself IT has impacted online railway reservations and access to banking. E-mail, the World Wide Web and smartphones have made a difference.
- Various questions that need to be addressed:
- What can we do to spread the benefits more?
- How can a larger number of Indians find their real economic worth by putting their services on the world market over the net?
- What about equity? Is IT only for some?
- Can we give away free access over Wi-Fi to restricted Internet domains like the education and government service domains (.edu and .gov.in) from every school,public library and panchayat office?
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-openpage/an-opportunity-seized-but-not-fulfilled/article5952218.ece
Exams Perspective:
- IT & ITES Services
- Export Promotion Zone
- SEZ
- World Wide Web (WWW)
- Service Economy