MAIT White Paper on IoT and Some Concerns

While IoT adds potential advantage in data administration and risk management, it has also been critiqued by Data experts from many angles. This White Paper from MAIT was obtained and modified by Joyce Mary and the appraisal was developed by Dr. Archana Verma.

The Report

The Manufacturers' Association of Information Technology (MAIT) has unveiled a White Paper on "IoT for Effective Disaster Management" in presence  of the ministers, heads from the business and other government authorities including Dr. V K Saraswat, Member of NITI Aayog, R K Jain, Member Secretary of NDMA and colleagues from Accenture. The MAIT White Paper on IoT aims to highlight the potential use of IoT for various parts of calamity administration.

Dispatching the White Paper, Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs said, "Data Technology has assumed a basic part in changing the period of our nation and significant activities like Digital India are urging us to push the limits of development. MAIT has led the pack in helping the administration devise proactive approaches and recommend approaches to most adequately convey Information and Communication Technologies to moderate the impacts of debacles and enhance viability of administration conveyance for the administration's social welfare plans."

The white paper highlights a 'Seven-Point Action Plan' to move from a 'help and recuperation' model to 'hazard and defenselessness appraisal' and location key issues and difficulties identified with administration of characteristic and man-made catastrophes in India. In this hyper-associated time, Internet of Things (IoT) assumes an essential part by interconnecting savvy gadgets with the end goal of sharing data. It likewise gives early notices through sensor based advances, along these lines making inventive and compelling frameworks for calamity administration. IOT can help in various disasters like wild fires, earthquakes, cloudbursts and volcanic eruptions.

On the occasion, Deb Deep Sengupta, President and Managing Director, SAP Indian Subcontinent said, "The opportunities for application of technologies in disaster management are significant. One such revolution is IoT, which will help to not only respond but also predict and help react on a real-time basis. These predictions and correlations will be transformational. We are happy to have contributed to this initiative which is the first step towards managing future calamities and making lives better."

The Appraisal

India has been going all out for an extensive digitisation recently. For the large parts, this is good for the future development of India. However, we should take care not to blindly copy the industrialised countries and fall into the same problems that they have faced. In a sense, it is advantageous for us that we have begun a little later than them. It gives us the insight to develop on their technology and evolve a system that is more efficient than theirs, if we only keep our critical and innovative faculties open instead of blindly copying those who have gone ahead of us with all their benefits and side effects.

IoT has been hailed as a great way to store, retrieve and use Data and information using an inter-connected environment of machines, computers and living beings including humans. It can also help in risk management, as the MAIT White Paper describes. However, as this technology has evolved, the industrialised world has also faced problems and hence, experts have cautioned against excessive use of IoT.

One of the major concerns about IoT has been raised about the excessive reliance on technology for accessing and analysing Data in an IoT environment.

For one, the analytical process is excessively mechanical, which kills the innovative and creative thinking that is unique to human beings. Human civilisation has evolved using technological innovation and creative thinking and this important aspect should not be taken away from us. We should not become slaves of technology. Rather, we should use technology to our advantage.

Further, even advanced machines can malfunction, in which case large organisations using a high volume of Data can become severely affected in absence of human factor. In a study by the University of SUNY-Cortland, it was noted that this kind of technological malfunctioning can seriously jeopardise our future societies. It was also pointed out that there may not be enough space for storing all this Data in an IoT environment in which every living and non-living being is a potential Data storage "device" in this inter-connected environment. The enormous cost involved has also been a cause for concern.

In the light of the above discussion, it's imperative for the Indian government and the society to rethink the ways in which the industrialised world is evolving IoT and reshape this technology to avoid the kinds of concerns that are being raised there. A blind following of any trend is never a good idea. Learning from others' problems and advancing over them can keep India going forward.