Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Technology Should Serve People

The developments and success in science and technology have changed the lives of human beings to a great extent. Now, human beings can take advantages of these development in both individual and collective lives and thus can solve their various problems. There are different technological inventions that serve humanity in various ways and will keep on doing so in the times to come. The developed nations of the world that have pursued science and technology are the ones that are basically controlling the world. They have not only benefitted their own people from the blessings of science and technology but have also made others take advantages of them.
It is a pity if a society tends to defy modern technology and tries to take human civilization back to stone age. In today’s globalized world of ours, neglecting technology means arranging for a suicide. There is no field of life now, where technology has not penetrated. It is in foods, in making cloths, building shelters, providing medical facilities and medicines, updating education, linking communication channels, constructing transportations system and many others.
Both the private sector and the governments of the world, therefore, make efforts that they take full advantages of technology in order to enhance their capabilities in providing different sorts of services to the people. That’s why it is no more a dream to travel distances of thousands of kilometers in just few hours; have communication with someone sitting in the other corner of the world with the help of technology; perform complicated surgeries with the help of modern robots with 100% precision; visit outer space and moon and even other planets without much difficulty; provide online services to the people so that they can have many of their problems solved without moving from their sofas; and enabling the people to search every information and knowledge that they desire only by few clicks of buttons.
People do not have to wait in queues for submitting their bills anymore as they can do the same online. Online information and booking for travel and transportation has solved a great problem of the people. They can know about the timings and schedule days before the travel and can even make bookings. Even for visa and passport they do not have to panic as they can access the websites of the relevant ministries and can solve their problems. Online banking has ensured that they get their problems of daily transactions solved with ease and convenience.  
Apart from that different technological improvements by governments have solved most of the daily problems of the people. From registration of the birth of their children to the booking of grave for grandparents, people take advantages of technological improvements instead of visiting different ministries physically.  
However, these blessings are only for the countries that have respect for science and technology and that have years of development in the same field. While, the underdeveloped and developing countries do not have the luxury of taking advantages of them. As, they have various economic and social problems, therefore, they have not been able to work on developing their different infra-structure on technological foundations; therefore, they fail to provide modern and easy services to their people.
Afghanistan is also one of the countries where technological infra-structure has not been laid properly because of decades of war and instability. Currently, there have been some private institutions that have been working on modern telecommunication and information technology and there have been some support from international community as well to bring technology to the Afghan society but there are many issues still unresolved.      
Government institutions have not been able to focus on this sector and they would require some time, marked with peace and tranquility, before they are able to make considerable technological developments. The Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology has, however, taken some leaps and the Ministry seems to have some ambitious motives. Few days earlier the Minister Abdul Raziq Wahidi said that the country’s e-government system would be 70 percent implemented in the next two years. He also told that the e-government system was being introduced for the first ever time in the country and it would accelerate services delivery to people. In this regard, his ministry has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the ministries of foreign affairs, interior, finance, information and culture, education, higher education, commerce and industries, public health, agriculture and Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission(IARCSC) and under the MoU the ministry would introduce advisors to the ministries for adoption of E-governance system. And the ministry has created 31 mobile applications for the e-government system to be used in IT sections of the ministries. This would diminish administrative corruption, bureaucracy and waste of time to a great extent.
This step is really a giant for a country that is still facing so many security, economic and social problems. However, the important factor is that it should be pursued with true spirit and the other government institutions should also make efforts to adopt technological developments so that they are able to serve the people of Afghanistan in true sense.