Any friends from India care to comment on this article (sent to me, not sure
what the source was)...
Peace
Al
----- Original Message -----
From: J.M.O. Dimaandal <j-mod@rocketmail.com>
To: <alalegre@codewan.com.ph>
Cc: <fmalt@codewan.com.ph>
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2004 10:23 AM
Subject: Narrowing the digital divide in India
> Narrowing the digital divide
>
> December 30, 2003
>
>
> The fear that computer-based information and
> communication technology may not work in rural areas
> because of illiteracy and other factors has now been
> dispelled.
>
> Recent attempts to push it to villages, even remote
> ones with low literacy rate, have all been a great
> success. First, the experiment in electronic knowledge
> delivery initiated in 1998 by the Chennai-based M S
> Swaminathan Research Foundation in Pondicherry was a
> success from the word go.
>
> Then came the launch of e-chaupals by ITC in 2000. And
> now it is Ogilvy & Mather's rural connectivity
> project, "Param", that is paving the way for narrowing
> the digital divide between urban and rural India.
>
> The MSS Research Foundation's pioneering project in
> this field was aimed at delivering need-based
> knowledge to villagers through a hybrid, wired and
> wireless, network consisting of computers, telephones,
> VHF duplex radio devices and e-mail connectivity.
>
> It operates in 11 villages around Villianur in
> Pondicherry, covering a population of about 22,000.
> The information required by the villagers is collected
> and suitably processed through value-addition by
> experts before being delivered in the local language,
> Tamil.
>
> The success of this project inspired others, notably
> the private companies dealing in agro-products, to use
> digital technology for reaching out to the rural
> areas, especially those not connected by other means
> of communication.
>
> ITC's e-chaupal (chaupal is the common place where
> villagers gather) has been the most elaborate and
> extensive venture in this field so far.
>
> Conceived by ITC's international business division and
> launched in 2000, the e-chaupal project has since
> grown to around 2,700 chaupals covering a population
> of around 1.2 million in five states -- Madhya
> Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and
> Maharashtra.
>
> The market-led business model followed in this project
> aims at facilitating productivity enhancement for
> higher income and better risk management for
> villagers. It offers services and information on
> subjects like weather and market prices, scientific
> farm practices, sale of inputs and purchase of
> produce, among others.
>
> The company now plans to extend the e-chaupal project
> to some 15 states, setting up about 20,000 e-chaupals
> in the next few years. That would provide electronic
> information access to around 10 million people.
>
> Besides, it proposes to channelise some additional
> services relating to micro-credit, insurance, health
> and education through the same infrastructure.
>
> The latest, and in some ways, innovative initiative in
> rural connectivity has come from Ogilvy & Mather.
> Called Param, this project was originally conceived
> for marketing communications but has evolved into a
> platform that can be shared by companies and
> government departments to reach out to the villages.
> Its details were presented in the recent international
> conference on e-governance at the Indian Institute of
> Technology, Delhi.
>
> According to Pankaj Baveja, the project head, this
> electronic connectivity network can reach the remotest
> rural areas where no landline or media-based
> communication is currently available. "Connecting the
> last mile first" is the theme of the project that has
> been successfully field-tested in villages located
> over 10 km away from a metalled road in the relatively
> backward Basti district in eastern UP.
>
> The Param is a multiple technology project (some
> off-the-shelf technologies and some specially
> developed in-house ones) to capitalise on the synergy
> between technology, software and communications. The
> computer interacts with the operator in the local
> language, in both written and spoken words, to
> overcome the literacy barriers and makes it highly
> user-friendly.
>
> As revealed by the pilot trial run, even children and
> women in rural areas were able to use these computers
> to seek the needed information. In fact, the pilot
> project brought out the self-learning potential among
> children who have had no formal education or training
> in operating computers.
>
> Significantly, the software used in the project is
> independent of network and technology, making it
> compatible with a variety of communication protocols
> and networks.
>
> Even when the technology gets upgraded, as is
> constantly happening in this field, the system would
> be able to adapt itself to the newer technology.
> Besides, it is designed in such a way that it can be
> used in any state merely by changing the language of
> communication.
>
> Thus, this new approach to rural connectivity is
> expected to open up new vistas not only for
> e-governance, but also for promoting education,
> healthcare, entertainment and other purposes. Private
> companies can use this system in business promotion in
> rural areas through mutually beneficial linkages with
> farmers, rural artisans and consumers.
>
> In fact, several companies and other clients engaged
> in different sectors have already shown interest in
> utilising this mode of information and communication
> by participating in the next phase of the Param
> project proposed to be launched in the first quarter
> of 2004.
>
>