Committed to connecting the World
World Telecommunication and information society Day is being celebrated today
Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit
World Telecommunication and information society Day will be celebrated today. This year, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, which has been celebrated annually since 1969.
It is said that “Communication is the real work of leadership and any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to the magic.” In November 2005, the World’s governments took a meeting on Information Society called upon the UN General Assembly to declare 17 May as World Information Society Day. It is to highlight the role of Information and Communication Technology in today’s world.
This day was declared to focus on the importance of ICT and the wide range of issues related to the Information Society. World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is even celebrated by organisations like UNESCO, with a different theme every year. Prior to World Information Society Day, people and organizations such as ITU celebrated World Telecommunication Day, which was first held in 1969, on May 17. The arrival of new horizons in the fields of telecommunications and information technology has taken the mankind into the realms hitherto unknown to him. This it also means to celebrate the creation of development oriented, and people centered information society, which is a basic human right.
The purpose of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide. World Telecommunication Day has been celebrated marking the founding anniversary of International Telecommunications Union (ITU) which was founded in 1865. Though the International Telegraph Union has since changed its name to International Telecommunications Union, it still remains the most important entity in the field of communications, thus remaining in the spotlight at World Telecommunications Day. There are several ways of communication available such as letters, telephones, mobiles, telegraphs but the internet is the widely used for communication and spreading or collecting information.
The use of internet and other Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) can bring societies, economies as well as one of the ways to bridge the digital divide. A positive relationship exists between economic development and infrastructure investment, including telecommunications in particular. Even with a strong positive correlation between telecommunications investment, it alone is not sufficient to ensure economic growth.
However, lack of telecommunication investment can prohibit or significantly constrain economic development. The world is rapidly moving toward an economic system based on the continuous and ubiquitous availability of information. Recent advances in telecommunications technology have been an important vehicle in permitting information exchange to develop as a valuable commodity.
The adoption of wireless communication & information technology is an encouraging option and need of the hour for the students is to carry on higher studies in present scenario of competitive world. Telecommunications infrastructure investment and the derived services provide significant benefits; their presence allows productive units to produce better. Telecommunications policies affect not only telecommunications, but also the economic development and social, cultural and political growth.
The theme focusses on the power of Big Data for development and aims to explore how to turn imperfect, complex, and often unstructured data into actionable information in the context of development. The celebration of this day increases awareness of the positive communication technology among people. It has the purpose to make the information and communication accessible easily to more people in remote and rural areas. Let us spread awareness of the importance of communication in our lives, to educate people how communication affects and exists in our lives.
(The writer is based in Ahmadabad and contributes to ‘Kashmir Vision’)
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