In India, according to anecdotal evidence, most Internet users tend to lurk silently on websites rather than actively contribute to blogs, Twitter updates or the more serious tutorials. This, too, is changing, as entrepreneurs come up with simple but effective strategies. "I saw a business opportunity in managing online content professionally," says Prashant Agrawal, a former McKinsey analyst in New York and Mumbai, who recently started up the networking portal Indipepal (www.indipepal.com) in Mumbai. "People are pulled to us by blogs of figures like Amitav Ghosh, Mukul Kesavan, Shashi Tharoor and Jagdish Bhagwati. Then they are hooked by the sections on civil society and the military—which interests many Indians," Agrawal says.
For many, Internet access has meant forging a new way of life. Like Abhay Tiwari, an independent filmmaker and scriptwriter based in Mumbai, who learned Persian using web-based resources. Abhay wanted to read Rumi's poetry in the original language, which he managed, and then decided to translate some as well. "There were no good translations available, I felt. Without submitting to the schedules of a language-training institute, I learned enough to translate some 20 poems. Another advantage is that I can now read Urdu. When anyone needs help with the language, such as a scriptwriter...they know whom to ask," says Tiwari.
It's been a long ride for Indians and the Internet—it took a decade of lobbying before the government decided to make voiceover IP calls "legal". But now, it seems, the e-learning idea has been embraced fully. The government-supported NPTEL programme is now getting into its second phase—an additional Rs 20 crore is likely to be spent on it, and 600 new courses added soon. The number of viewers is also likely to skyrocket as Net access grows.
The roadblock, if any, is that online courses are not recognised yet. The IITs, at least, are working on making this happen. "We're talking to certification institutes about this," says Moudgalya. For some like Madan Padaki, who runs MeritTrac, an online training and certification company, India shouldn't wait. In 2005, Padaki estimated that only around 25 per cent of Indian engineering graduates were immediately employable. It's 2009, says Padaki, but that statistic has not changed much at all. "Quality online courses will take some of the strain off regular colleges. Also, colleges must exchange courseware more freely within campus...that would be one way for students to combine a liberal arts degree with, say, engineering," Padaki says.
That may indeed be the final frontier—but it'll also entail a big leap of faith. To allow people to get recognition, and jobs, based on online certificates is one thing. To imagine that a fine arts student will sit through that lesson in calculus or a physics course is even harder. Maybe it will happen, let's take it one step at a time.
