Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the key driving forces, in the 21st century. It transforms the way we live, learn, work, and play. Advances in computing and communication technology have created a new infrastructure for business, scientific research, and social interaction. This expanding infrastructure is providing us with new tools for communicating throughout the world and for acquiring knowledge and insight from information. ICT provides a vehicle for economic growth. Information and Communication Technology penetrated all activities of human life. It acts as a link to the development of the society. The management of developmental activities and government programs require generating, collecting, storing and retrieval of a large volume of data. The ICT has been employed for the effective manipulation of data and information. ICT started to play a crucial role in increasing the overall efficiency of the economy and its own growth. Application of knowledge or information and its production-processes has brought change in socio-economic cultural progress, in any part of the world. But what about rural development? Can the application of ICT help to improve the conditions of the rural people? Well, one of the major components and driving force of rural development is communication and information. Right information to be made available to the right person at the right time at low cost is possible only through the new communication technology. Information and Communication technology is a device which is used to accelerate the process of the development and expected to bring maximum social advantage for the benefit of the society in rural India. Conventionally, communication includes media, human communication & now information technology (IT). All these forms of communications have tremendous potential to influence the development scene of rural areas, by communicating the required information necessary for bringing about desirable social and behavioural change among the most vulnerable rural poor and women. The role of communication technology for development must be viewed in this context. IT and ICT programmes (panchayati raj institutions) have a vital role in bringing awareness and disseminating information for the upliftment of the rural people.
In this paper, an attempt has been made to study the application of Information and Communication Technologies in rural areas of South Assam, and its impact on the progressive and professional life of the people of rural areas.
