What can be more sad for Facebook than TRAI banning its "altruistic" venture to provide free Internet to billion Indians?
HRD ministry banning Facebook for wasting our youths precious time in only making friends and not learning skills to Make In India.
But since our PM himself is friend with Mark, Facebook may not have to worry about this in near future. But this friendship comes with a cost. There is something about our PM's corporate friends be it Ambanis or Zuckerberg people always find ulterior motive associated with their friendship.
Facebook started internet.org exactly a year ago to provide free access to few selected websites including it's own social network platform. But after the controversy of Airtel's zero rating it renamed it into Free Basics. As the saviors of Net Neutrality campaign to persuade public opinion against facebook's free basics intensified, Facebook used all it's might in support of it.
The most cogent argument in support of free basics was 'Those people who already have internet cannot decide how much should be charged form those who do not have it'. Even with billion mobile phones in India and rapidly falling prices of phone which supports internet, the number of people with internet connectivity remains at 30% of population. And as govt leveraging many developmental schemes with use of internet, this digital divide will manifest into to tangible deprivation.
The argument against Free basics is that the philosophy of differential pricing for different content will distort the internet. On internet we are not just consumer but also creator of the content and with the gatekeeper in the beginning of tunnel our content may not be able to see the light at the other end. With asymmetrical power between internet giants and budding startups, the new vernal sprouts will be nipped in the buds. The people who do not have internet connection, and will be introduced to this world via free basics, will have a illusion of being on internet but in reality they are accessing only few sites which are in good terms with facebook and not billion of others.
Government is doing it's best in bring Digital India Scheme to connect every village with broadband and laying down National Optical Fiber Network re branded as BharatNet. But similar to other government schemes this too is going to miss its deadline ( no finger pointing at government's planning and implementation because there are real challenges in the field). At this juncture when so much is at stake (It is the opportune time for India to go for that much talked about "take off " to lift millions of people out of poverty and transform country from developing to developed leveraging our demographic dividend) can we afford to delay the connectivity? And even with connectivity, the data price are so high can we ensure affordability?
Take the case of PDS (Public Distribution System) where government procure basics food items and distribute it at very low price to the poor people, who cannot afford to buy from market, through fair price shops. Fair price shops do not sell all food items but only limited basic items like rice, wheat, sugar etc.It does distort the market but that distortion is justified as we cannot let people suffer in hunger just to protect the market. People use PDS for basic items and as their affordability increases they do go to the market to buy other things. Why cannot the same logic apply to Free Basics provided by Facebook?
There is a enough evidence to support the claim that PDS has helped people fight hunger and starvation and helped them come out of poverty, and thus going by this logic TRAI banning free basics seems harsh.
But at a time when our PDS too is moving from fair price shop to actual market and the unaffordable price is credited back to the consumer using direct benefit transfer DBT. Facebook, if it is serious about helping people in poverty get connected, can use this route. Rather than creating separate platform, let the people use whatever site they want to use on internet and credit the amount they incur on data while visiting Free basics Sites in to their phone. Its not difficult to gauge how much data is being downloaded from a site, use this information along with data price in the area and credit the amount as their talktime balance.
This way they get to make money while making friends.
HRD ministry banning Facebook for wasting our youths precious time in only making friends and not learning skills to Make In India.
But since our PM himself is friend with Mark, Facebook may not have to worry about this in near future. But this friendship comes with a cost. There is something about our PM's corporate friends be it Ambanis or Zuckerberg people always find ulterior motive associated with their friendship.
Facebook started internet.org exactly a year ago to provide free access to few selected websites including it's own social network platform. But after the controversy of Airtel's zero rating it renamed it into Free Basics. As the saviors of Net Neutrality campaign to persuade public opinion against facebook's free basics intensified, Facebook used all it's might in support of it.
The most cogent argument in support of free basics was 'Those people who already have internet cannot decide how much should be charged form those who do not have it'. Even with billion mobile phones in India and rapidly falling prices of phone which supports internet, the number of people with internet connectivity remains at 30% of population. And as govt leveraging many developmental schemes with use of internet, this digital divide will manifest into to tangible deprivation.
The argument against Free basics is that the philosophy of differential pricing for different content will distort the internet. On internet we are not just consumer but also creator of the content and with the gatekeeper in the beginning of tunnel our content may not be able to see the light at the other end. With asymmetrical power between internet giants and budding startups, the new vernal sprouts will be nipped in the buds. The people who do not have internet connection, and will be introduced to this world via free basics, will have a illusion of being on internet but in reality they are accessing only few sites which are in good terms with facebook and not billion of others.
Government is doing it's best in bring Digital India Scheme to connect every village with broadband and laying down National Optical Fiber Network re branded as BharatNet. But similar to other government schemes this too is going to miss its deadline ( no finger pointing at government's planning and implementation because there are real challenges in the field). At this juncture when so much is at stake (It is the opportune time for India to go for that much talked about "take off " to lift millions of people out of poverty and transform country from developing to developed leveraging our demographic dividend) can we afford to delay the connectivity? And even with connectivity, the data price are so high can we ensure affordability?
Take the case of PDS (Public Distribution System) where government procure basics food items and distribute it at very low price to the poor people, who cannot afford to buy from market, through fair price shops. Fair price shops do not sell all food items but only limited basic items like rice, wheat, sugar etc.It does distort the market but that distortion is justified as we cannot let people suffer in hunger just to protect the market. People use PDS for basic items and as their affordability increases they do go to the market to buy other things. Why cannot the same logic apply to Free Basics provided by Facebook?
There is a enough evidence to support the claim that PDS has helped people fight hunger and starvation and helped them come out of poverty, and thus going by this logic TRAI banning free basics seems harsh.
But at a time when our PDS too is moving from fair price shop to actual market and the unaffordable price is credited back to the consumer using direct benefit transfer DBT. Facebook, if it is serious about helping people in poverty get connected, can use this route. Rather than creating separate platform, let the people use whatever site they want to use on internet and credit the amount they incur on data while visiting Free basics Sites in to their phone. Its not difficult to gauge how much data is being downloaded from a site, use this information along with data price in the area and credit the amount as their talktime balance.
This way they get to make money while making friends.