Do programs really work?

Do bridging programs help or do they increase the divide?

Many researchers believe that bridging the digital divide will help in the development of a country. They conduct programs that may help to bridge the digital divide and then measure the changes in the development of the country.
http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/29/6/869.abstract

One such example is the Passenger Reservation system in India.
The Passenger Reservation system for Railways in India was one of the first successful projects in India that aimed at bridging the digital divide. It made travel and its bookkeeping easier. According to an article by SS Rao, this system made life easier for the common man.
www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1718896&show=pdf

Lately, the computerization of the reservation system has extended itself to online reservation of tickets. Prior to this, the ticket could only be reserved at the counters. However, with the advent of the World Wide Web and the Internet, the existing system has tried to improve itself. It has incorporated the new technologies in order to make life easier for the consumers. This post will discuss whether this advancement is helping bridge the digital divide or expanding it.

I want to point out that people in villages are not technically educated to reserve/book their tickets through the Internet. Also, most villages do not have Internet connections or even electricity to run the technologies (Rao, 365). While people in towns and cities can easily avail this service, people in villages have great difficulty in achieving the desired result. This in itself defeats the whole purpose of using technology to lessen the divide.


A few weeks ago, some relatives of mine were traveling from Patna (the capital of a state in India) to a small town in West Bengal. After waiting for a while at the railway station, they realized that there was no information for their designated train. They went to the railway administrator who informed them that the train had been canceled a few weeks earlier and that no such train was on the timetable anymore. The information on the website was not only incorrect, it also made a vital mistake of accepting reservations for a train that did not exist. The refund process took about 3 months. This process is known for its delayed response.
http://hubpages.com/hub/Now-you-can-plan-your-railway-travel-in-India-from-your-home-How-to-book-your-e-ticket


So, any person who is economically unable to afford another ticket would have to wait until the refund from the prior cancellation was received. On the contrary, people who are affluent can reserve their tickets again, without waiting for the refund. They can also ask agents, who take a higher premium, to reserve or cancel by making a phone call. In my opinion, this is reestablishing a bigger digital divide based on financial status rather than helping the issue.

Another problem with the online system is that the website does not provide comprehensive information. Users do not have enough information about various seat options etc. They may pay a higher premium for a seat that they may have to share with 4-5 other people (RAC). Also, these tickets are non-refundable. Purchasing the tickets at the counter have more advantages than purchasing them over the internet. Even though the users have to wait in long ques to buy their tickets, they still possess the opportunity to ask questions about the type of ticket/seat.

http://www.indiamike.com/india-articles/indian-railways-rac-and-indian-railways-waitlists/


Also, many travel agents buy the tickets before hand in order to sell them at a higher commission, making it difficult to find tickets. The affluent can again afford the tickets. However, it is tough for the lower class to buy such highly priced tickets from the agents.

The system faces other technical difficulties. It has a very slow interface and hangs frequently. Many users believe that this is purposefully done. According to these users, the incompetence of the system renders the users to buy the tickets from travel agents at higher commissions. However, this accusation has not been proven.

http://www.inewsindia.com/2010/06/02/is-tatkal-railway-reservation-system-working-for-common-people/

These programs are genuinely trying to make a differences but they face problems due to restricted resources (making good interface or spreading the programs to other parts of the country) and corruption (agents, politicians, and bureaucrats reserve a large number of seats beforehand and make it difficult for common people to find vacant seats). My next post will discuss new ways by which such discrepancy can be countered.