The digital gap between urban and rural areas should be bridged,
says an article in Shanghai Securities News. The following
is an excerpt:
A report about the quality of Internet services in rural China
by the China Internet Network Information Center shows that the
popularity rate of the Internet is only 5.1 percent in rural areas.
The rate in urban areas is 21.6 percent.
Meanwhile, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture said at a
recent press conference that the income gap between urban and rural
residents is growing. The income ratio between urban and rural
residents was 3.21:1 in 2004 and 3.22:1 in 2005. It rose to 3.28:1
last year.
The digital and income gaps are closely connected. Social and
economic development entered a new age in the 1990s as information
became one of the three pillars supporting growth, along with new
materials and sources of energy. The collection and analysis of
data, together with the production and transformation of
information, has become an engine for economic growth.
Efforts to obtain, define and utilize information are vital ways
to hone the country's human resources. And human resources will
play a decisive role in the long-term development of the economy
and in raising incomes for laborers. Low incomes have restricted
the ability of farmers to obtain and interpret information.
About 39.5 percent of the rural residents surveyed said the lack
of facilities was the major reason for their not using the
Internet. The lack of access to information and the inability to
interpret it have resulted in a kind of "information poverty" among
many rural residents that helps confine them to a vicious circle of
poverty.
Globally, the digital divide has fostered inequality in
international economic development, further marginalizing the
least-developed countries.
Efforts should be made to close the digital divide and narrow
the income gap in China.
Measures should be taken to boost the utilization of information
technology in rural areas. Besides providing fiscal inputs, the
government could draw up policies to encourage domestic computer
manufacturers to develop low-priced computers.
Increasing farmers' incomes is the most effective way to bridge
the digital divide. The cost of using the Internet is still a
burden for farmers. Though China is home to the world's second
largest Internet and broadband market, prices are still too high
for average residents. Low incomes have sapped farmers' demand for
Internet services.
Last but not least, education and training should be upgraded in
rural areas to increase rural people's awareness of information
technology.
(China Daily September 26, 2007)
