Just yesterday, we read an article in an Indian newspaper that 25% of Indians go to bed hungry every night.

And a few minutes back, we stumbled upon a Nielsen survey showing India with a low rate of smartphone penetration compared to the other BRIC countries.

(Nielsen map of India is erroneous as it chops off part of Kashmir)

Connected Stories?

Are the two news items connected?

Of course.

Countries where a large chunk of the population has access to latest technology tools like the Internet, e-mail, PCs, smartphones etc are at an advantage over nations where technology access is restricted to the privileged few.

When starving souls have no money for bread, where are they going to find money for smartphones, PCs, tablets or other technology goodies of life.

One of the great tragedies of the current Indian ‘development’ a.k.a ‘economic liberalization’ story is that it has lifted very few boats.

By adopting a hardware-centric export model suited for less-educated people, China is doing a much better job than India at raising income levels for large numbers of people.

If the mantras of “Shining India” or “Incredible India” has to mean anything other than silly shibboleths, India must endeavor to lift all boats.