International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)
ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-8 Issue-3S2, October 2019
Impact of Information Technology on Indian
Politics
Meenakshi Bansal
cardboard, fibreglass and plastic used in polling
Abstract: Over the years, the Indian politics has gone through equipment.”3
tremendous transformation. Amidst these, some changes are
positives while others end as bittern experiences. The most positive In India, information technology is used on large scale in the
changes in the Indian political system with the advent of political arena. But political communication has always
information technology are transparency and accountability. been burdened with many obstacles. It is inherently intricate
With the help of IT, now public has become more aware about
due to elections and large scale communication. For this,
their role as the citizens. People know about dos and don’ts in
political system. The technology has changed the life of many and communication technologies are used at every level.
makes it simple and more responsive. The main objective of this Generally, communication technology is a broad concept
paper is to analyse the impact of information technology on which is used as a medium to communicate with voters with
Indian politics. The research methodology is explanatory in the help of television, radio, telephone, internet, etc.
nature and for data collection; it is confined upto only secondary
sources which includes journals, websites, etc. After going Over the years, the Indian politics has gone through
through the detailed analysis on the impact of information tremendous transformation. Amidst these, some changes are
technology on Indian politics, it can be said that there are both positives while others end as bittern experiences. The most
positive and negative impacts. The need of the hour is to minimise
positive changes in the Indian political system with the
the negative impacts and maximise the positive impacts. As in the
age of digitalisation, we cannot ignore technology. We should try advent of information technology are transparency and
to use the information technology to make the Indian politics accountability. With the help of IT, now public has become
more responsive not to degrade it. more aware about their role as the citizens. People know
Key words: Impact, Indian Politics, Information technology about dos and don’ts in political system. The technology has
(IT), Technology. changed the life of many and makes it simple and more
responsive. Although,these positives vibrations are only one
I. INTRODUCTION side of the coins as stated earlier. The dark side is really
pathetic. No one can deny that the information technology
Technology is the advancement in stream of science. It “can
has bring positivity to Indian politics but on the other side, it
be defined as anything involving the application of science
has bring some negativity also as now social media has
and engineering.” 1 Technology is a vast subject. Literally,
become a platform to influence prospective voters. Things
information technology is a technology which involves
are exaggerated unnecessary with the use of information
computers and many other devices for getting and passing
technology where as many times grounded realities are
information. Indian information technology industry
different. If we gaze upon literature available on the same
consists of the two major components i.e. IT services and
then, shortage of relevant literature is the first hindrance that
business process outsourcing (BPO). The United States
author went through. Although, enough literature is
accounts for 2/3 rd of India’s IT services exports. 2
available on information technology and also on Indian
As India is a diverse country, it is hard to manage it with one politics but when we tried to study the impact of information
kind of technology. For this various types of technological technology on Indian politics then, sufficient literature is not
interventions are applied in Indian politics specifically in available. Although, some articles and papers are there but
the today’s age of digitalisation. As we know elections are there is shortage of research papers on the same. Here, the
the basic of politics. It is like a food to the body of politics. author has tried to fill this gap by systematically study this
If we combine the term technology with elections then, topic and providing the fruitful insight into the impact of
elections and technology can be referred to “software information technology on Indian politics.
programs and electronic equipment, such as computers,
I. OBJECTIVES
printers, scanners, bar code readers and the Internet. But
there are other technologies used in elections that do not The main objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of
directly involve computers, but rather new materials, such as information technology on Indian politics
Revised Manuscript Received on October 22, 2019.
Dr.Meenakshi Bansal, Faculty, Dept. of Political Science , J.V.M.G.R.R.
College, Charkhi Dadri, Haryana,
Email Id: meenakshibansal0601@gmail.com
Published By:
Retrieval Number: C10351083S219/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI:10.35940/ijrte.C1035.1083S219 189 & Sciences Publication
Impact of Information Technology on Indian Politics
II. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY candidate of his choice on the screen of VVPAT
The research methodology is explanatory in nature and for machine after casting his vote by pressing the button
6
data collection; it is confined upto only secondary sources of the EVM.” This underlined the fact that Indian
which includes journals, websites, etc. politics is committed to SMART elections. Here, the
Limitations: There is a large scope for doing active research abbreviation SMART means Simple, Moral,
on the information technology and Indian politics as here, the Accountable, Responsive and Transparent.
author has focused only on impact. E. Change the methods of targeting voters: The
advancement of technological interventions has
III. ANALYSIS altered the methods for targeting voters. The image
given below show the difference between traditional
To analyse the impact of information technology on Indian method and new methods of targeting voters:
politics, the author has presented the description with the
help of different headings and sub-headings. It contains both
positive and negative impacts. The detailed analysis is as
follows:
Positive impacts
A. Technologically mediated communication channels:
In Indian Politics, information technology is used
widely on every level of communication.
“According to Author Bruce Gronbeck, the various
functions of campaigns—winning the battle of ideas,
converting and mobilising supporters, providing
supporters informational claims and topics, and so
forth—are normally carried out through
technologically mediated communication
4
channels.” This shows that technology has
simplified the political communication. It has eased
the channels and made tangible things simple.
B. Helps in decision making: Politically, every decision
should be correct if any political party want to
survive in the long run. One wrong decision can ruin
their image. As for Congress, the Bofors deal done
decades ago has become irksome for them even
today. Now, “political parties use communication
technologies to not just solicit votes, but also help
their core committees make important decisions
based on public mood. Therefore, it would not be
far-fetched to conclude that politics itself is
changing thanks to advancements in communication Figure 1: Methods of targeting voters
5
technologies.” This shows that communication
technology is helping the politicians in taking right Source:
decisions at right place on right time. https://ourdataourselves.tacticaltech.org/posts/overview-
C. Technological intervention in Indian Elections: india/
Indian elections has underwent a major changes with
the usage of technology as “a major push to use of This indicated that things have changed in terms of
technology in the Indian elections came with the use methods also.
of electronic voting machines (EVMs). It entirely F. Use of technology in connecting to people: In the 21st
disrupted the way the elections were conducted. …It century, political leaders of India are
was a paradigm shift for everyone including the techno-friendly. They understand the significance of
i
political parties, candidates and the voters.” This information technology in their victory. That is why;
indicated that EVM has replaced the earlier ballot they always try to discover new tactics to attract
system and also helped in ensuring transparency in voters. The same is done by BJP in General
Indian elections. Now, every election whether Elections. With the help of technology, they created
General elections or Legislative Assembly elections NaMo number to get in touch with more and more
all are conducted with the help of EVM machines. peoples. To spread information about the same, they
D. Use of technical device: To ensure, fair elections, “An took the help of information technology. The image
additional technical device called VVPAT mentioned below provide an information about
(Voter-verified Paper Audit Trail) machine has been NaMo number:
introduced to instil the confidence among the
stakeholders. The voter can view the symbol of the
Published By:
Retrieval Number: C10351083S219/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI:10.35940/ijrte.C1035.1083S219 190 & Sciences Publication
International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)
ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-8 Issue-3S2, October 2019
wrong or incomplete information about the
political parties and their leaders.
C. Invitation to trouble: in India, illiteracy is still there.
Sometimes, information technology creates a
negative impact on the citizens as they are unable to
get check the authenticity of information and invite
trouble for themselves.
D. Require Skill: “The skills needed here are graphic
design, basic web design (which has declined thanks
to tools like Squarespace, Wix, etc.), and
copywriting, and then applying that to social
locations as well (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and
8
Snapchat profiles).” It is difficult to find suitable
person.
E. Emergence of fakeness: due to paid digital media, the
information technology also hampers the path of
clean politics. As, these days “paid digital media on
places like Facebook, visitors on campaign websites,
social audience engagement, and even email
Figure 2: Details of NaMo Number marketing all is full instrumented, this provides for a
Source: feedback loop that warrants analysis and appropriate
https://ourdataourselves.tacticaltech.org/posts/overview- action - whether further investment, or to cut bait on
india/ a message that doesn’t work, which allows focus
iii
It can be said that indeed this number has helped elsewhere.” This shows that politics is losing its
a lot the party in gaining popularity among the purity.
common masses. IV. CONCLUSION
G.
Fundraising: Finance is the backbone of nation
After going through the detailed analysis on the impact of
economy and we cannot deny the prominent role of
funds in Indian politics. Here the technology helps in information technology on Indian politics, it can be said that
fundraising in both online and offline mode. “In the there both positive and negative impacts. As, the massive
case of offline fundraising, list enrichment and technological intervention in Indian politics has certainly
segmentation can be very helpful in targeting made it more transparent. It helped in conducting fair
audiences for different asks. And email marketing elections for a true democracy. The need of the hour is to
and marketing automation skills, and paid digital minimise the negative impacts and maximise the positive
media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) can be
impacts. As in the age of digitalisation, we cannot ignore
helpful in driving “e-commerce”-style fundraising.”
7
This shows that technology has helped in getting technology. We should try to use the information technology
financial support. to make the Indian politics more responsive not to degrade it.
India politics is complex to understand as on the upper level,
Negative Impacts it seems that we have adopted democracy and things are
A. IT sector more driven by politics than technology working as per the provisions of Indian constitution. But due
today: Things used to occur in two-way process. If to corruption, the politics has lost its charm. Politicians should
we are creating impact on anything in present time
try to bring this charm back with the proper, efficient and
then, that thing will surely leave its impact in nearby
future. The same incidence is happening with IT effective use of information technology in Indian politics.
sector. Initially, it was IT which impacted the Indian
politics but now due to political uncertainties of
other parts of the world, Indian IT sector is getting
affected. As “The Indian Information Technology REFERENCES
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Published By:
Retrieval Number: C10351083S219/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI:10.35940/ijrte.C1035.1083S219 191 & Sciences Publication
Impact of Information Technology on Indian Politics
6. Jitendra Sinha(4 January, 2019), “ Technological intervention in
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7. Ibid.
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Author Profile
Dr. Meenakshi Bansal is working in the Post
Graduate Department of Political Science at JVMGRR College, Charkhi
Dadri (Haryana), India. She is a motivated professional and an ambitious
academician. She has an excellent academic record and received University
Research Scholarship (URS) from M. D. University for a Ph.D. degree for
the years 2012-15.
She is Editorial Board Member as a reviewer for many International and
National Journals of repute like Politikon, publication of the International
Association for Political Science Students (IAPSS), Netherlands (ISSN
1583-3984) and Asian Social Science, Canada (ISSN (online): 1911-2025).
She is a member of International Political Science Association (Canada) and
Indian Political Science Association. Her areas of expertise are Indian
Constitution, Public Personnel Administration and Gender Studies.
She is continuously working in the research field and has written extensively
on various subjects which have not only presented in various National and
International seminar/ conferences in India and abroad but have also been
published as research papers and chapters in the journals of National and
International repute.
Published By:
Retrieval Number: C10351083S219/2019©BEIESP Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI:10.35940/ijrte.C1035.1083S219 192 & Sciences Publication
