Information Infrastructures in India

Reviews / Votes

Information Infrastructures in India untangles the tangled histories of infrastructure in the country, from the colonial railway and the telegraph to the post-colonial modernization projects, including satellite broadcasting and the much-hyped Digital India initiatives. Drawing from an impressive array of theoretical frameworks from critical media studies, techno-policy studies, and anthropological perspectives on the state, Pradip Thomas, one of the leading scholars of the political economy of media and communication in India, urges the reader to understand the contemporary digital approach to nation-building in India as the latest phase in the evolution of information infrastructures that are intricately tied up with neoliberal economics, the surveillance state, and exclusionary social hierarchies.
Vinod Pavarala, Senior Professor of Communication & UNESCO Chair on Community Media, University of Hyderabad, India Pradip Thomas has been one of the most consistent, incisive and original thinkers about communications and media developments, trends and histories in the Global South for years. This new book continues in that vein. In it, Thomas deftly weaves together the historical intersections between communications infrastructure (e.g. telegraphs) and media (e.g. broadcasting) in India from the British imperial era through to the sweeping developments that are taking place now. His treatment of both eras is panoramic. Later chapters in this book explores the infrastructure of oceanic cables and satellite networks and the infrastructure anxieties faced by India. It highlights the fact that the India government is becoming more and more dependent on a relatively small number of privately-owned, for profit global digital platforms to meet the needs of the citizens and society they are supposed to serve and represent.
Dwayne Winseck, Professor, School of Journalism and Communication In Information Infrastructures, Pradip Thomas sets his attention here to the multi-layered material history of media in India, detailing the imperial visions and national achievements, along with the political contestations, social fissures and inevitable shortfalls that have arisen with each wave of media technologies. Firmly grounding media systems in their material conditions, social responsibilities and political compromises, Thomas expertly weaves together a narrative from the days of the Company and the telegraph to the consecration of Digital India and the rise of Reliance Jio. In each era, Thomas excavates the hubris and anxieties of the state, the national and international impetus of media economy, and the aspirations and ingenuity of India's people.
Adrian Athique, A.Prof., School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland