India
Rural ICT Network
In an experiment in electronic knowledge delivery to the poor, ten villages near Pondicherry in southern India have been connected by a hybrid wired and wireless network - consisting of PCs, telephones, VHF duplex radio devices and email connectivity through dial-up telephone lines - that facilitates both voice and data transfer. Information shops or knowledge centres, operated by volunteers, act as a human interface between information and rural people by assessing local information needs and linking research to local people. Value addition to the raw information, use of the local language (Tamil) and multimedia (to facilitate illiterate users) and participation by local people right from the beginning are the noteworthy features of the project. Most of the operators and volunteers providing primary information are women, giving them status and influence. All centres were created due to community demand.
Project results indicate that information can be practical; for example, local workers have used market information on commodity prices to bargain for higher wages for agricultural labour; increased knowledge and access to government entitlements has benefited local residents. The capacity to learn to use new technologies is high, especially among women. Youth and children in particular have proved highly interested in ICTs. The high levels of community interest and input show that ICTs can be relevant and important in day-to-day rural life.
Community Information Centres
In order to enable rapid socio-economic development in the North-East of India and bring the area closer to the national mainstream, in April 2000, the then Ministry of Information Technology launched a project to establish Community Information Centres (CICs) in all blocks in North-Eastern States. Under this project CICs are in the process of being setup in all 487 blocks of the North-Eastern States in local schools, colleges or government buildings. In order to ensure uninterrupted communication, the Centres are connected through a satellite-based computer communication network. Each CIC is equipped with a VSAT, computer systems, printers and networking equipment. VSAT was considered to be the best suited connectivity option for the hilly eastern terrain where terrestrial modes are too expensive. Also VSAT combines high reliability, capacity and reach, as well as central network management.
The project will support the establishment of a database of information on topics including drinking water, education, health, population statistics, and court decisions. Highlighted goals are computer awareness and literacy for government workers and a means of connectivity for research and educational institutions. So far, experience has been very encouraging. Many of the CICs receive over a 100 visitors every week who use e-mail facilities, word processing applications, browse the Web, attend training sessions and generally improve their familiarity with computers and awareness of IT.
Sustainable Access in Rural India
The SARI (Sustainable Access in Rural India) project is dedicated to demonstrating that the creation and deployment of information and communication services and technologies in poor rural areas leads to improvements in health, empowerment, learning, and economic development amongst the poorest and most disadvantaged communities. The project focuses on inventing and deploying innovative and context-appropriate technologies, applications, and highly localized content that lead to economic and social development, and then conducting in-depth social and economic impact assessment research of these technologies. The initial pilot phase will provide Internet access and applications through roughly 1000 connections in 350 villages in the Madurai District of the southeastern Indian State of Tamil Nadu.
Budhikote Cable Radio Network
Thirty-six women’s self-help groups in the Indian village of Budhikote are running a cable radio network, originally set up by UNESCO. With a contribution of 50 rupees every month from each woman, the network has grown to cover 250 of the 750 households of the village. The audio programmes are narrowcasted from the Budhikote Community Multi-media Centre, where the women use computers to edit and produce the radio programmes on relevant issues, such as organic farming, sericulture, health, local electricity and water problems. The Budhikote project site is among the seven sites selected by UNESCO to assess the impact of ICTs on poverty reduction.
Baatchit: rural empowerment
Baatchit is a Media Lab Asia project, led by the Jiva Institute, that aims to facilitate information access, communication, entertainment and socio-economic opportunities (ICEO) within villages, while promoting Indian heritage and cultural values. Aiming to empower villagers by providing them with easily accessible information through the Baatchit Community Software (BCS), Baatchit was conceived as a technology research programme with the objective of rural empowerment. The research team is focusing on priority areas such as government, schemes, employment, animal, agriculture, banks, vehicle, health, and housing, transcribing into the local language, so that the literate villagers can understand the information being provided to them. Audio-visual presentation of the information helps the illiterate users. The development of modules for awareness workshops for the rural people is also in the pipeline.
Gyandoot Project in Madhya Pradesh
This project began in November 1999 and is serving more than 500,000 people. Important information of this population such as income, caste, domicile, land ownership and records, and loan records is computerized. An intranet network connects the computerized system from the district headquarters to 21 privately-run cyber-cafes (called Soonchanalays, meaning information centres) across the rural tribal district of Dhar. The cyber-cafes, easily accessed at the roadside of the central villages where people normally pass, offer villagers a number of different services, such as the provision of domicile certificates, land-ownership certificates, and the most up-to-date prices of agriculture products.
With the availability of cyber-cafes, people can get the required papers for only Rs15 each. Farmers can get daily updates on market prices of locally produced food grains and vegetable crops from various markets around the district for Rs5. Similarly, Rathod, a 35-year-old illiterate woman from Dehrisarai, and other vendors in her village keep track of the latest rates of fruits and vegetables in the wholesale markets in the neighbourhood of her village cyber-cafe. If the prices are lower than in the village market, they pool their resources and catch a bus to the place with the cheapest price and then resell them in their home market.
Infothela Mobile Telecentre
The Infothela was designed to deliver information and spread knowledge at the village level where fruits of modern technology have not yet reached. The unit is basically a pedal driven vehicle just like a common cycle rickshaw but with a personal computer on board which will be connected to Internet using wireless technology. An added pedal generator is designed to recharge the battery pack which powers the computer while the vehicle moves from village to village. The unit serves a variety of purposes including education or entertainment applications, and providing agricultural, weather and government information. It is also designed to accommodate diagnostic equipments like blood pressure testing machine, blood sugar testing machine, and some other primary health diagnostic and testing equipments. Designed as a self-sustaining project, the thela will generate a self-employment avenue for urban and village populations.
Community radio in Andhra Pradesh: local women broadcast for development
Mana Radio is a community radio station run by members of the women’s Self Help Groups (SHG) in Orvakal village, Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh. Realizing the role that Community Media can play in development, empowerment and the right to information, SERP (the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty) decided to set up community broadcast centres under the World Bank funded Velugu programme. With the help of CALA (Cultural Action for Literacy and Awareness) an NGO, SERP organised a three-day workshop on issue identification, confidence building, voice modulation, and scripting for radio, at the end of which the women wrote and recorded their first programme. Programmes include news, a play, interviews, songs and a documentary. The SHG members now actively involved in running the station are all from rural poor families, mostly Dalits and minorities. Despite the fact that many of these women are minimally educated and have had no media production exposure whatsoever, they are now capable of producing varied radio content.
The station promotes a feeling of pride within the community, provides a platform for local artists, activists and talent, as well as a place to find out about local news. Mana Radio broadcasts an hourly programme once a week and is currently working on scaling up its broadcasts. Follow up training for the staff continues.
CyberGrameen Telecentres
Indian NGO the Swarna Bharat Trust has sought to empower people at the grassroots by offering entertainment, edutainment and a host of services including healthcare through telecentres named CyberGrameen. Supported by a broadband network, the villages will have access to information on primary, secondary and college education, the latest updates on weather, technology and credit facilities, along with up-to-date information on insurance and banking services. The project aims to become financially viable and self-sustaining through revenues collected from entertainment and other services. The pilot initiative in the Venkatachalam village in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh will be tested for some time before replication in about 100 villages.