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![[Four online projects take the power of the Internet to Indian villages]](06lead.gif)
Anita Bora
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In a remote village of Madhya Pradesh, a farmer goes online to register a complaint about the quality of drinking water and check the scholarship status of his son. He receives a reply within seven days.
Elsewhere, a villager teaches a bunch of children the intricacies of using a computer and accessing the Internet.
And in another corner of the country, a group of village women tune into their favourite songs online.
The Internet is going rural in India. Slowly, but surely. Four projects, combining the collective might of state governments, NGOs and corporates, are taking cutting edge communications and information technology to Bharat. Gyandoot, Tarahaat, Information Village Research Project - all winners of the Stockholm Challenge Award and Greenstar are taking the first steps towards bridging the digital divide.
Rediff Guide to the Net takes a peek at how they are doing it.
Tarahaat
Gyandoot
Greenstar
Information Village Research Project
Gyandoot, Messenger of Information
Dhar, a tribal district in Madhya Pradesh, is noted for its arts, soya markets and Pithampur, the largest industrial estate.
It's now also home to a unique e-commerce initiative. Gyandoot (Messenger of Information), kicked off in January 2000, helps the local government reach out to over half a million rural tribal citizens and allow them affordable access to various government and market related needs through an economically viable Intranet network.
How does it work?
Computers in 20 village centres in five blocks of the district were wired. These cybercafe-cum-cyberoffices are run by local rural youth. Network computers have been established in Gram Panchayats (Village Committees) and are called Soochanalayas (Information Kiosks).
The Soochanalayas provide user-charge-based services to rural people. There are 31 such wired village centres.
Being community-based, the network is highly cost-effective and financially self-reliant, as the people who run the centre take full charge of developing and supporting it. During the inaugural year, they do not receive salaries, and bear the cost of stationery, maintenance and electric and telephone bills. They also pay 10% of income as commission to the Zila Panchayat (District Council) for maintaining the Intranet.
Through the Gyandoot Web site, a villager can get rates of crops, immediate access to land records and online registration of applications for income/ caste/ domicile certificates.
A villager can even go online and register a complaint about the quality of drinking water and fertilisers and scholarships. A reply is given within seven days. Villagers can also participate in auctions for land, farm machinery and equipment, and consumer durables.
Outlook reveals how life has changed for some villagers. "Govardhan Angari lights a joss stick and offers a silent prayer to a computer in a poky 20-sq-ft room in Dehri Sarai, a village 40 km from Indore in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district. Beside the Pentium II machine on a creaky table, there is a modem, a sheaf of white paper and a battery back-up. This unremarkable paraphernalia has changed the life of the 21-year-old boy, who takes home Rs 40 on days when he finds work."
After the advent of these cyber kiosks, Govardhan earns up to Rs 3,500 a month by providing crop rates, e-mailing villagers' complaints and generating caste and land certificates out On the side, he also teaches computing to about 16 village children.
E-education is another thrust area for Gyandoot. Kiosks have already been set up in schools, and students can access educational content on the Net. Each school has an 'e-club' to promote activities related to information technology.
Resistance from villagers was a hurdle, according to program manager Naveen Prakash: "There was a little disbelief initially. But this was taken care of with publicity and awareness campaigns, like meetings with villagers and panchayats; posters and competitions. The early adapters were the relatively educated and economically better off people. Today, it caters to all sections of society - especially the socially deprived."
He's optimistic about its potential: "Today, on an average a kiosk manager makes Rs 3000 per month."
The beauty of the system, says Prakash, is that it is totally self-sustaining. "Today, we are expanding through private kiosks whom we charge Rs.5000 per annum as license fees. We also make money through consultancy and sale of software."
Currently, Gyandoot has over 38 kiosks and aims to raise that number above 100. In the future, Prakash sees all government departments getting computerised and making most of their information available through private kiosks.
Prakash is confident that the Gyandoot's business model will be replicated in more Indian villages. The Madhya Pradesh government has already decided to do so in all districts.
"We have been receiving trade enquiries from other states; and Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan have already taken steps in this direction", he says.
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| Greenstar introduces digital culture to rural India |
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