It is true that there are other priorities such as water supply, electrification, health and road networks. But one can not expect all these basic infrastructure to be first put in place and then provide access to internet for rural folks. It is not practical. There are many Sri Lankans who have now found a way to prosperity through the Internet. A man from Mannar makes coir products and sell them to a buyer in Germany using e-mail and Internet as his main business tools. A farmer in Dambulla and a Business man in Negambo export vegitables and crabs to Europe and Singapore using e-mail as the main source of communication with the buyers.

I am sure that there are many brilliant yong mindes waiting to be discovered in rural Sri Lanka. Lets give them a chance. Lets make e-Sri Lanka happen. Smart people in a Smart Island. Lets make this happen for Sri Lanka

This is more so for countries like Sri Lanka where we have loads of highly skilled and trainable human resources that could become valuable assets generating substantial income. Think of a group of CIMA qualified youngsters in Trincomalee doing accounts online for a supermarket chain in Austin or wherever you live in Texas. [Bush is all for outsourcing, as you I am sure are aware coming from Texas].

But we cant do this if Trincomalee is not connected, now can we? So, there we go. In this simple but potent example [no need to look far, just read up about whats going on in India] we have a strong case for the e-Sri Lanka backbone to connect Trincomalee to the global network, not on voice lines, but on extensive data networks, that are surprisingly affordable.

Trincomalee may not have good roads or good running water, but it has many CIMA graduates with nothing much to do. Think about it. Should we wait for the roads and water to be done first?

no loops are available in my village, 80 miles far from Colombo. they like INTERNET, some of homes has computers, no telephone lines. Some maxists think that vilages are only provided tanks, temple and paddy fields not today’s infrastructure.

Today village stidents get thier results over WWW, they don’t wait for snail mail.

“let me just say that the network based information technology we’re now seeing develop is in economic terms lowering transaction costs all over the place

1. Creating millions of markets
2. Decreasing geographic boundries
3. Intergrating growing markets
4. Increasing value of human capital (making more accessible)
5. Changing relative prices and growth dynamics.

It’s absolutely crucial that we not end up in a situation where those powerful forces are at play in one part of the world and not the other.”

….

As a personal note, steady Internet access has exposed me to so much knowledge, and being able to hack away at stuff has given me skills that make me employable. I teach a Photoshop class and I see people who are just as bright as me, but they don’t have Internet access at home. I know they could make themselves employable if they had steady Internet, I know they could learn Photoshop and HTML and php and represent Sri Lanka on the Net. But they don’t. The next Bill Gates could be here, but we’re not giving him/her the chance.