SABLOG

“Who will be included, and who will be left out in the IT race? Who will be the winners and the losers? And what will happen to the people of developing counters (80 percent of the world’s population) as global patterns of production, power and wealth shift?” These are some of the challenges we face today in the age of information revolution. Notwithstanding these challenges, it has to be acknowledged that today’s revolution in information and communication technology has the potential of changing the face of the enter world. In fact, changes can already be discerned and those are indeed very repaid. The above citations of the World Bank and the UNDP shed light on two very important aspects of today’s technological advancements-the access and the speed. The IT revolution has ensured not only easy and cheap access to information but also significantly enhanced the speed with which information can he accessed. It is expected that information Technology will change the world dramatically. It is, however not sure whether all parts of the world will benefit from these change equally or not.


1 Shamika Sirimanne, Information Technology Revolution: What about the Developing Countries. Edited version of the paper on the paper on the website of Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The challenge of us is: Can Bangladesh takes advantage of the coming IT revolution? “Of course we can. We can take full advantage of this IT revolution and pull ourselves right now to ride the wave of this revolution. “2 The reasons behind such and optimistic view are obvious. Although at its core IT is a high-tech industry, in very low-tech activities. This undoubtedly suits Bangladesh very well. Also, there is no reason why Bangladesh cannot participate in the core IT activities. In fact, IT is such an industry where real success depends on innovative ideas rather that giant investment. It is in this area that area that Bangladesh has a tremendous edge. Its people are learning to speak and write reasonably good English. It is now enjoying a demography bonus facilitating creation of a news class of young entrepreneurs who can invest in the knowledge industry. The potentials are indeed great

But are we heading towards the right direction? Have we prepared ourselves for this challenge? Unfortunately, the answer is perhaps not that much positive. “Bangladesh is still sitting by the window, and perhaps, not even watching the big march go by. What is stopping us from getting out and joining the march?” 3 The answer to this is nto so simple. This study does not go far enough to find the answer either. But it aims at revealing the realities that must be understood while looking for the answer. Weh musht know where we stand in the IT sector and, if we are prepared, how far can go. Before going in to any further details let us look at the background information regarding the status of IT in the country.

1.1 Emergence of IT in Bangladesh

1.2 .1 The Computer: in the socio-economic context of Bangladesh, IT is yet to emerge as a significant facto. But the journey started.

2 Mohammad Yunus, IT offers Bangladesh the Best Chance. Bangladesh Tech Transfer 2000, April 28-30, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

3 Ibind.

Quite some time ago. The telephone was there at the start, followed by telex, fax, computer, mobile and how the latest Internet. The computer was first introduced in Bangladesh in 1964, with the installation of an IBM 1620 computer at the Automatic Energy Commission. In the late 1960s a number of computers were also installed in the financial institutions. Since 1980, computers have been used commercially, though to a limited extent. In 1987, computers started being used in the printing a publishing industry. This sector has been pioneering multiple use of the computer. The high price and limited use of the computer contributed to the low popularity and awareness in this field during that time. PC started gaining popularity since early 1990s. Over the year, PCs have become user-friendly and more affordable, and awareness has as well increased. After the adjustment of taxes on PC and accessories, along with substantial reductions of price in these items in the global market, PC sales have climbed up very rapidly since 1998. The government of the time took some bold steps, particularly in tariff fixation that helped the rapid spread of computerization in many sector of the economy.