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Digital Divide: Causes and Initiatives to Bridge
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Introduction
India is a country rich in natural resources,
inhabited by the poor. The poverty is its chronic melody,
40% of its population is living in poverty, 35% (male 54%
female 46%) are illiterate and 20% people hardly get one
meal a day. The basic infrastructure for development like
roads, electricity, health care services, educational
institutions, banking, telephone, etc. is still absent in
remote areas. The caste system is still followed in
villages, malnutrition, hunger, health care, education are
major problems of low caste people who form the majority
of the rural community.
The phase digital divide refers to the unequal
and disproportionate pace of development in society
having access to digital infrastructure and services. This
gap is the digital divide, threatens to cut off population
from good jobs and chance to participate in affairs of the
broader society. For some citizens, technology brings the
promise of inclusion, opportunity and wealth for others
greater isolation and increased poverty. The key
demographic variables, such as income, education and
ethnicity are important as they are likely to have a
differential impact on the consequences of interactive
electronic media for different segments in society.
Hence, there is a concern that internet may not scale
economically; leading to what many have calls a 'digital
divide' between information haves and have-nots.
Origin and Use of the Term ‘Digital Divide'
The term ‘Digital Divide' came into regular
usage in the middle of 1990s, though the term had
appeared in many news articles and politicians speeches
1
as early as 19952. Though there are controversies existing
as to who first coined the term, but it is true that there is
a wider acceptance on the increasing gap between
information haves and Information have-nots. Probably
the term 'Digital Divide' has its origin in the United
States of America. Many considered Andy Grove one of
the eminent personalities in the field of digital divide
network first coined the term5. Few others say the credit
goes to Larry Irvin, a former US Head of the National
Telecommunication Infrastructure Administration
(NTIA). Former President Bill Clinton first used the term
in the 1996 speech in Knoxville, Tennessee2. The term
‘Digital Divide' refers to the gap between people with
effective access to digital and information technology and
those without. It includes the imbalances in physical
access to technology as well as the imbalances in
resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a
‘digital citizen' or ‘Netizen'. It may be classified on the
basis of Gender, Income, Race Group and even by
Locations.
Meaning of ‘Digital Divide'
The digital divide is widening the disparities
between the developed and under developing world and
within a country among haves and have-nots, literate and
illiterate, in the Indian social context between
high–castes and low–castes, urban areas and rural areas
etc. Therefore, ‘Digital Divide' is an interdisciplinary
field bringing together experts in economics, population
studies, political science, communication policy,
education policy and many other social sciences.
The term ‘Digital Divide' describes the fact that the
International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology |January - March 2011 | Vol. - I | Issue - I
world can be divided into people who have and who do
not have access to or capability to use the modern
artifacts, such as telephone, television, or the Internet.
The digital divide exists between those in cities and
those in rural areas.
According to a recent OECD publication,
(www.oecd.org) the term ‘Digital Divide' refers to the gap
between individuals, households, businesses and
geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with
regard to their opportunities to access Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) to their use of
Internet for a wide variety of activities. The digital divide
reflects various differences among and within the
countries.
Nature of Division in the Society
From the very infancy of the civilized society
there are so many discrepancies prevailing in the society.
With the advancement of production system and
emergence of efficient technologies newer kinds of
discrepancies are coming out. And this twenty-first
century is no exception to that, new dimension of social,
political, economic as well as technological inequalities
and imbalances are cropping up; here are some glimpses
of that.
Persistent discrepancies likely to be continued
throughout the ages: These types of discrepancies are
among us and within us from almost dawn of civilization
and these are going to be continued eternally either with
present form or modified form.
1.
Gender Discrepancies: Most primitive and wide
spread form. Is not restricted to any particular
country, religion, society, language group and
time. It was, it is and it will be.
2.
Master-Slave: Persisted with society with
modified form, within ourselves, within our
genetic code. And in some parts of the world in
most dominant and cruel form.
3.
Rich-Poor: Better known as have and have not. It
has so many levels and forms.
4.
Casteism-Racism-Ethnicism: One of the
powerful curses to the society. Can destroy
humanity, society, country as well as whole
civilization. South Africa was probably the worst
example in recent times.
5.
Religion and Sects: How to get rid of that.
Probably no way. Most derogative proposition to
be a religious human being and spearheaded
enemy to humanity. It is absolutely independent
of space and time.
Apart from these five, there are so many; some are social,
some are political, some are economic and some are
infrastructural etc.
From educational point of view there are two distinct
halves: Literate and Illiterate. More than half of the
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world's populations have been deprived from literacy.
Governments, NGOs etc. are trying their level best to
reduce the number of illiterate in the society. Within
literate groups there are again levels: people having
primary, secondary and higher educational background.
Within the literate group, whatever may be the level of
education another discrepancy is: access to Information
and Communication Technologies (ICT) popularly known
as Digital Divide.
Digital Divide: Causes
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Connectivity: Not only the telecommunications
infrastructure and teledensity but also
availability of state-of-the-art (or almost)
workstations, peripheral equipment and
software. A good computer environment will be
free from excessive heat, dust and humidity.
Access to these by the general population, not
merely urban elite, appropriate technology
should be arranged for rural and disadvantaged
communities.
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Capacity: Sufficient trained IT professionals are
required to install and maintain hardware,
software and networks. Professional information
workers who are able to interpret, provide
insight, motivate and train users are very
necessar y. Education and professional
associations of IT and Library/information
professionals can help to build the capacity of
human resource to handle the modern
technological artifacts/gadgets.
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Content: The issue of copyright starts becoming
more relevant when we move from the realm of
telecommunications to the problem of content.
The library and information professional should
take the interventions in the selection and
organization of the relevant information and the
vernacular. Quality of content is an important
aspect in this issue.
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Community: Clients and potential clients, client
base depends on literacy rate and level of
education access to resources for minorities and
disadvantaged groups, including rural
communities, women, children, the elderly,
persons with disabilities, the unemployed, the
rural and urban poor.
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Finance: Capital for investment in infrastructure
and implementation. This includes ongoing
revenue for sustainability of systems and
projects: maintenance, upgrading of systems,
license fees, personnel, etc.
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Affordability: Not everybody can afford new
communications technologies and the expenses
incurred in upgrading the equipment, software,
and training support. In most undeveloped or
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underdeveloped markets, the costs of hardware
and software and the connection fees are so high
that Internet access remains out of reach for
most people in those markets.
Adaptability: Access to information technology
and Internet content is essential. However, such
access is useful only if people are able to adapt to
the changing technological environment and to
use the new technological tools effectively. So
far, computer illiteracy, technophobia, and
cyberphobia have posed significant barriers to
participation in the New Economy.
Business Environment: Includes business
culture, adaptability, and entrepreneurial spirit.
Legal/Regulatory Environment: Legislation and
regulatory bodies impacting on
telecommunications, the flow of content
(censorship, intellectual property, privacy, etc.),
commerce, availability of foreign currency,
import duties and tariff barriers, flow of funds
between levels of government, budgetary
constraints (e.g. roll-overs), tender procedures,
competition (monopolies, etc.), nongovernmental organisations, inter-institutional
cooperation, etc.
Policy Framework: National information
policy/policies on education, IT, knowledge
society, e-government, technology transfer, rural
development, culture, language, literacy and
libraries. Articulation of such policies with
national development plans, etc.
Moral/Ethical Framework: Issues of
information sovereignty versus information,
media and cultural hegemony of the powerful
Western industrialized nations and use of
economic power to force principles of market
capitalism on small economies.
Bridging the Digital Divide: Necessity
The objectives of digital empowerment are to
transform the quality of development by reaching
services to people and enabling them to participate in the
development programmes, decision making and to
improve the quality of the life. The access to information
may revolutionize their thoughts, act as a resolvent
against their traditional poverty, and help them to learn
new skills, to conceive new ideas and wisdom in order to
lead them to their empowerment. The rural information
network can allow knowledge services and certain kinds
of products from node to node across long distance; each
node can serve as a community centre, a bank, a medical
centre, a government information centre, matrimonial
office, public telephone booth, a public library and
educational resource centre. Making new ICT relevant for
development will, in a broad sense, improve not only the
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productivity and competitiveness of ‘Third World
Economics', but also the life chances of less advantaged
groups and quality of social relations within society as a
whole. This requires a conscious effort on the part of
government and citizen.
ICT Initiatives in India to Bridge the Digital
Divide
ICT or Information and Communication
Technology refer to a broad spectrum of technologies that
allow users to get, produce, and share ideas and
resources. It is one of the key components of modern
society which facilitates the rapid growth and
development of a country, with globalization and
liberalization of the world economy. People from every
corner have got the opportunity to communicate among
each other and made the concept of global village a
reality, various programmes from central and state
governments and Non-Governmental Organizations
(NGOs) are involved in the development of rural areas
with the help of ICT tools.
Efforts are now being made in different parts of
the country towards developing the information
infrastructures, specifically suitable dissemination
mechanisms, utilizing Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT). These are being done by three types
of agencies viz.
u
Government (directly or indirectly/semi
government/autonomous agencies)
u
Non-Government Organizations (NGOs/
associations)
u
Corporate Agencies (i.e. corporate
organizations/ industrial houses etc.)
Some times more than one type of agency is also
involved in this work. Even a few international agencies
are also collaborating in some cases.
Government Initiatives:
Following are some government initiatives to
bridge the digital divide :
Andhra Pradesh: E-Seva, CARD (registration), VOICE,
MPHS, FAST, e-Cops, AP Online-One-stop-shop on the
Internet, Saukaryam, Online Transaction Processing,
OPEN, APSRAC (Andhra Pradesh State Remote Sensing
Application Centre) conducted research projects in the
areas like Agriculture, Energy, marine resources to rural
empowerment with the help of effective utilization of
Remote Sensing and GIS technology. In order to bridging
the rural digital divide, APSRAC has taken up Village
Information System (VIS) project under which a
comprehensive database on demographic details, No. of
hospitals, schools, electricity connection etc. has been
generated and touch screen monitors will be installed in
International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology |January - March 2011 | Vol. - I | Issue - I
strategic locations for villagers to utilize properly. Land
use, waste land mapping, monitoring of waste lands and
soil degradation mapping by effectively using Remote
Sensing and GIS based technology are the core activities
performed by APSRAC. General Resources and
Information Dissemination (GRID) Center, designed
and developed by the Indian Farmers and Industries
Alliance (IFIA) and the Federation of Farmers
association (FFA) has come up in Gummadidala village in
the Medak district of Andhra Pradesh. The GRID
centres consist of an information kiosks and a data bank
co-ordinating with government agencies. NIRD Scheme:
National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD)
Hyderabad has set up two public information kiosks with
Internet connections, one at Vikrabad in Ranga Reddy
district and the other one at Tenali in Guntur district.
These kiosks provide such information as examination
results, directories, agricultural prices, governmental
forms, land records, educational opportunities etc.
Bihar: Sales tax Administration Management
Information.
Chattisgarh : Chattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society,
Treasury office, e-linking project, Chhattisgarh
computerized paddy procurement & public distribution
system: Famous magazine 'PC Quest' organized
nationwide competition for best IT implementation
award. Govt. of Chhattisgarh received the award for the
year 2009 for its unique project computerized paddy
procurement & public distribution system. System
ensures that paddy is converted to rice and nearly 37
lakh (BPL) families get their share from fair price shop
every month. The whole system of procurement and
distribution is monitored from the top level thereby
ensuring that the system actually works and complaints
also get redressed on time. Government first
computerized 1577 Paddy Procurement Centres, 52
Storage Centres, all district offices concerned, 99 Civil
Suppliers Corporation Distribution Centers and 35 FCI
Rice Receiving Centre1.
Government of Chhattisgarh buys paddy from
7.5 Lakh farmers, converts it into rice, through millers
and then sells the same in Govt. owned fair price shop to
BPL families.
The entire program is executed through the cooperation of 6 different organizations namely
Department of Food Marketing Federation (MARK-FED),
Chhattisgarh State Civil Suppliers Corporation
(CGSCSC), Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central
Cooperative Bank, Primary Agricultural Co-operative
Societies. Feature of the project lies3
u
Unified ration card database & issue of PDS
commodities to FPS
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u
Website for citizen participation (they can
register their email ID/ Mobile No. in this site to
participate)
u
Call Centre and complaint monitoring system.
Many other states are now trying to replicate the same.
CHOICE: Chhattishgarh is one of the best states in the
country in telephone infrastructure facility connecting all
its districts with optical fiber cable. It has initiated egovernance project called CHOICE (Chhattishgarh
Online Information for Citizen Empowered) to provide
various government services under one umbrella
Delhi: A u t o m a t i c Ve h i c l e Tr a c k i n g S y s t e m ,
Computerization of website of RCS office, Electronic
Clearance System, Management Information System
(MIS) for Education etc.
Goa:
Dharani Project
Gujarat:Mahiti Shakti: request for Government
documents online, Formbook online, GR book online,
census online, tender notice, OPEN.
Haryana: Nai Disha
Himachal Pradesh: Lokamitra Project: Himachal
Pradesh government has taken up Lokamitra Project to
provide the general public, especially those living in
distant rural areas of the Himachal state, easy access to
government information and the facilities of egovernance at their doorstep. The project was first
implemented in Hamirpur district, where a district–
wide Internet has been created. Lokamitra Soochana
Kendras have been set up in 25 Panchayat areas, which
are run by employed youth. These Kendras provide
current information relating to the district, govt. notices
and other citizen need information. The funds for the
project have been provided by NABARD. SMART: The
Govt. of Himachal Pradesh has developed Information
Technology Vision 2010 in collaboration with NASSCOM
to convert Himachal Pradesh into an IT destination. The
use of IT in governance is aiming at Simple-MoralAccessible-Responsive and Transparency (SMART)
government.
Karnataka: Bhoomi: 20 million records of 6.7 million
farmers spread over 9000 villages. Village Accountant
responsible for issue of certificates and mutation.
Certificate issue took 3-30 days and a bribe of Rs 1002000. Mutation could take up to 2 years (30 days).
Encroachment of public land. Bhoomi online kiosks for
issue of Record of Tenancy and Rights. All land records
converted to electronic form. 180 centers where
operators issue certificates online in 15 minutes for a fee
International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology |January - March 2011 | Vol. - I | Issue - I
of Rs. 15.00. Web enabled to provide access in rural areas
through kiosks (pilots). Mutation request filed online.
Incisive MIS reports for follow up on mutation. Improved
crop data for insurance claims. Besides this Khajane,
Kaveri, Teacher's Transfer projects.
Kerala: e-Srinkhala, RDNet, Fast, Reliable, Instant,
Efficient Network for the Disbursement of Services
(FRIENDS), Kallara Project: In Kerala, the Department
of Information Technology in association with the State
Library Council has launched the first computerized
Rural Information Center at Kallara Gram Panchayat
Library at Trivandrum District. There are 14 rural
information centers one in each district of the state have
also been established. These centers makes the rural
citizens have free access to the internet. A package
named 'Sevana" provides information on various Govt.
schemes, general information on local bodies, links to
important sites and other facts relevant to rural
population5, Akshaya Kendra: Kerala Government is
setting up information kiosks, named as 'Akshay Kendra'
in different villages. The scheme has been first
implemented in Mallapuram district, where over 600
such kiosks have been set up as every two kilometers by
the entrepreneurs, with the assistance of the
government. The government jointly with Tulip IT
services is setting up rural broadband wireless network
eliminating the need of telephone lines to run internet in
those kiosks. Other 13 districts of the state are expected
to have such Kendras by 2005. The villagers can make
payment of electricity bills, get birth certificates and
contact police stations by e-mail.
Madhya Pradesh: Gyandoot: Gyandoot is basically a
community owned technologically innovative and
sustainable information kiosk. The project covers 20
village information kiosks in five Blocks of Dhar districts.
The entire network of 31 kiosks covers 311 Panchayats
over 600 Villages nearly 50% of the entire district. The
scheme has won several awards including Stockholm
Challenge IT Award in 2000. There is a plan to employ
Wireless Local Loop Technology to reach interior villages.
Besides this, there are Gram Sampark, Smart card in
Transport Department, Computerization MP State
Agricultural Marketing Board (Mandi Board) etc.
projects.
Maharashtra: SETU, Online Complaint Management
System – Mumbai, Wired Village Project: 54 Village
information kiosks have been set up in kolhapur district
of Maharastra under this project. The project aims at
increasing the efficiency and productivity of the
sugarcane co-operatives of Warna and also provides a
wide range of information and services to 70 villages
around Warna village. The villagers get access to
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information in their local language about crops and
agriculture market prices, employment schemes and
educational opportunities through these kiosks. The
project was initially formulated by the Information
Technology Task Force under the Prime Minister's
Office.
Rajasthan: Jan Mitra: UNDP supported scheme at the
remote areas of Jhalwar district of Rajasthan. The
scheme aims at providing access to information
pertaining to government services and availing of many
such services on-line in remote pockets of the country
there by bridging the gap between the local
administration and the people of the area. Besides this,
RajSWIFT, Lok Mitra (as Himachal Pradesh), RajNIDHI:
Raj Nidhi is a web enabled information kiosks system,
developed jointly by the Rajasthan's Department of
Information Technology and Rajasthan state agency for
computer services. The citizens are able to access
information/services relating to health, family planning,
immunization schedules for children, employment,
transportation, distance education, agriculture, water
and electricity connections, birth and death registration
etc. The first Raj Nidhi Kiosk was inaugurated by Bill
Clinton, the former President of USA on 23 March 2000.
Such kiosks are being set up in all the 9184 Panchayats of
the state, which will be finally connected in a network.
Tamil Nadu: Raj Maiyams – Kanchipuram: Application
forms related to public utility, tender notices and display;
The Sustainable Access in Rural India (SARI) is being
implemented in the villages of three Blocks in Madurai
District of Tamil Nadu. Under this project 38 far flung
villages have been wirelessly connected from a server in
Melur since November 2002. Information Village
(MSSRF): With a modest grant from IDRC, Canada,
M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai
initiated in 1998 an imaginative experiment in electronic
knowledge delivery in a cluster of villages and hamlets
near Pondicherry, to meet the local needs using a mix of
wired and wireless technologies and through local web
site. TRICGOS: TRICGOS is a co-operative venture of
Ministry of Social Welfare, Ministry of Local
Administration and Ministry of Education covering 29
districts of Tamil Nadu through network. TRICGOS start
digital mobile services, which will help to cover the
remote villages where public transport facility is not
available.
West Bangal: CLIC (Community Library Information
Centre) Projects: The Govt. of West Bengal has taken up a
project of setting up in phases around 1500 Community
Library and Information Centers in such villages, where
there are no public libraries. The centres providing
normal library services specially cater information
International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology |January - March 2011 | Vol. - I | Issue - I
relating to career and vocational opportunities, essential
data needed for regional planning and information
pertaining to developmental activities being carried out
by village Panchayats. E-District Project: For various
types of Allowance payments, Certificate (including
Caste Certificate), License, and Land Deed issue etc.
North-Eastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur,
Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland Assam, Tripura and
Sikkim): Community Information Centre (CIC): Ministry
of Information Technology, Govt. of India, launched this
CIC project in North Eastern States of Arunachal
Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, and Tripura including Sikkim to extend the
reach of modern technology even to the remote areas and
difficult mountaineering of these states in order to
enable rapid socio-economic development and bring the
area closer to the national mainstream. Under this
project community information centers have been set up
in all 487 blocks of the North Eastern States and centers
are connected through a satellite based computer
communication network. This centre provides e-mail,
web access services and data bases services also. Forms
available on the website under schemes related to social
welfare, food civil supplies and consumer affairs, housing
transport
C-DAC's India Development Gateway and Digital Mobile
Library Project
The Centre for Developing Advanced Computing
(C-DAC) is currently taking a lot of initiatives to bridge
the digital divide between rural and urban. C-DAC has
developed the search engine with help from the
Department of IT (DIT). The ‘India Development
Gateway' portal will help the rural population by giving
them information related to five important sectors agriculture, health, rural energy, education and egovernance. There are provisions for six languages
already and plans to add more in the future.
The Govt. of India with the collaboration of CDAC aimed at bringing about one million books of digital
library at the doorsteps of common citizens. Internet
enabled mobile Digital Library is brought for the use of
common citizen for promoting literacy. It makes use of
mobile van with satellite connection for connectivity of
internet. The van is fitted with printer, scanner and cutter
and binding machine for providing bound books to the
end users.
NATP Project
National Institute of Agricultural Extension and
Management, Hyderabad under its National Agricultural
Technology Project (NATP) has set up Internet kiosks in
24 districts in seven states viz Andra Pradesh, Bihar,
Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharastra, Orissa and
6
Punjab. In Andra Pradesh 10 villages in Ranga Reddy
district were selected for special study. Each village
received a complete computer system with Internet
connectivity. Responsibility was given to the society to
run the kiosks. Each kiosks has a CD containing
databases of Rayatu Panchangam, agricultural expert
system for diagnosis of pest related problems, e-books in
Telugu on child rearing, etc. These kiosks provide
facilities of e-mailing and information regarding weather,
IARP's (Indian Agricultural Research Project) Role Trust
for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS),
National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS),
Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics (ISAS) and the
Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research
Institutions (APAARI) jointly organized a National
Workshop on "Role of Information Communication
Technology in Taking Scientific knowledge/Technologies
to the End Users" on 10-11 January, 2005 at the Indian
Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Around 70
experts representing different stakeholders i.e. Public
Institutions (ICAR, DOAC, NIC, DBT etc.), NGOs,
Foundations, Private Sector, Farmers' Commission,
International Agricultural Research Centres etc,
deliberated on all relevant issues by which ICT can
become a catalyst of change in Indian agriculture9.
ICAR can play a vital role for the application of
ICT through its wide network of Krishi Vigyan Kendras
(KVKs). The KVKs are responsible for vocational
training, on-farm research and demonstration of the
improved technologies. Through these KVKs rural
youths are trained in the areas of poultry, dairying,
piggery, bee-keeping, fisheries, fruit and vegetable
preservation, maintenance and repairing of farm
machinery and tools, and hybrid seed production. These
youths can be trained in the applications of ICT for rural
development through which farmers can benefit using
the digital technology. National workshop at IARI
strongly recommended setting up rural knowledge
centres using broadband connectivity with multi-media
interactive modules in problem solving mode by
developing a synergy among various stakeholders
involved. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)
and the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation
(DOAC) under the Ministry of Agriculture can play a
leading role in having a National Agricultural
Information System (NAIS) established.
It also suggests that networking of existing
knowledge dissemination agencies like ICAR Institutes,
SAUs, KVKs/ATICs, NIC, IFFCO, KRIBHCO, as well as
other non-government and private sector organizations,
capacity building of extension functionaries for the
transfer of knowledge without dissemination losses to
the end users, creation and management of Rural
Information Clinics or Rural Internet Chaupals by the
enthusiastic young entrepreneurs, development of
International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology |January - March 2011 | Vol. - I | Issue - I
National Agricultural Research System (NARS) as a user
friendly, need based and locally relevant version,
emphasis on gender equity by letting women have easy
access to ICT, strong participation of NGOs and Private
Sector to enrich ICT resources in terms of both hardware
and software, and the relevant content creation and
management might be beneficial and capable of
addressing the concern of digital divide that empowers
farmers to make them wise and competitive.
Dristee Project
Drishtee has been described as a platform for
rural networking and marketing services for enabling egovernance, education and health services. It runs with
the help of a state-of-the-art software that facilitates
C o m m u n i c a t i o n a n d I n f o r m a t i o n Te c h n o l o g y
interchange within a localized internet between villages
and district centres.
The Simputer Project
Scientist from Indian Institute of Science and
Encore Software brought this idea into practice. This
project grew out of the dare need for an affordable access
device for the rural population in the country. The
simputer is a low cost portable alternative to PCs, by
which the benefits of IT can reach the common man.
Corporate Initiatives
The motive of increasing market base has
prompted several corporate houses to take up projects
aimed at setting up information kiosks in rural areas in
different parts of the country. In most cases such kiosks
provide various information required by the rural people,
besides information relating to the products and service
offered by the respective corporate houses.
Amul's Disk Net
The well known dairy giant Amul of Anand,
Gujarat has developed a network of Dairy
Information System Kiosks (DISK). Till now
2500 village level kiosks have been connected
and while completing the project, the network
will cover 70,000 village milk societies. Apart
from milk accounts, the kiosks offer telephony,
market intelligence, Fund management,
information for best practices and innovations
and downloadable forms a dairyman needs.
Hindustan Lever's i-Shakti
Hindustan Lever Ltd, a corporate giant has
embarked upon a project, called i-Shakti, an IT
based rural information service to provide
information and services to meet rural needs.
The project envisages setting up of 1500 kiosks
by 2005, delivering information services to over
7
10 million rural people across 7500 villages in
Andhra Pradesh.
Ogilvy and Mather's Param
Param, sponsored by Ogilvy & Mather's, is an
innovative initiate in rural connectivity. This
project was originally conceived for marketing
communications. This electronic connectivity
network can reach the remotest rural area where
no land line or media based communication is
currently available. 'Connect the last mile first'
is the theme of the project. The Param Computer
interacts with the operator in the local language
in both written and spoken form.
Parry's India agriline.Com
EID Parry & Co., has implemented a scheme in
villages around Nellikuppam village in
Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, using
corDECT Technology developed by IIT-Chennai.
The facility is extended to 150 odd surrounding
villages falling within a radius of 25 kilometers,
which would benefit over 25000 farmers in the
region.
ITC e-chaupal
ITC launched e-chaupal project in 2000. Within
a span of four years, e-chaupal has become the
largest initiatives among all Internet based
interventions in rural India. Around 2700 echaupals provide services to more than half a
million farmers in five states (Madhya Pradesh,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and
Maharashtra states). Rural masses can access
information in their local languages on wealth
and market prices.
NGO's Initiatives
According to rough estimates, around one
million NGOs are functioning in India, majority of which
are working for the poor and the downtrodden. Some of
the NGOs have taken initiative in setting up information
disseminating centers in rural areas. A few such schemes
implemented by them are briefly mentioned below.
Other Concepts and Initiatives
Besides the above initiatives, some more new
concepts, e-resources and initiatives have been
developed and/or initiated, which are also very useful in
the context of information dissemination through
Community Information Services in rural India.
u
i-kissan.com {http://www.ikissan.com}
u
Greenstar {http://www.greenstar.org}
u
ICRISAT {http://www.icrisat.org}
u
SKS – smart card {http://www.sksindia.com/}
International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology |January - March 2011 | Vol. - I | Issue - I
u
PlaNet Finance {http://www.planetfinance.org}
u
nLogue
{http://www.digitalpartners.org/nlogue.html}
u
AgriWatch {http://www.agriwatch.org}
u
Website for aqua farmers
{http://www.cddc.vt.edu/aquachaupal.com}
u
Soya chaupal {http://www.soyachaupal.com}
Conclusions
Connecting the rural people by using ICTs has
been the major challenge today and thereby the Digital
Divide still exist in India. Some of the important issues
that hinder the technology connectivity are as under:
u
Public library systems and government policies
u
Lack of investment by reputed companies in
rural areas
u
Information and communication technology
infrastructure: A concern
u
Political instability and low literacy and
education.
u
Passive role of rural information centres
u
Economic and linguistic diversity
References:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Chopra, Anil et.al. Chhattisgarh Computerized
Paddy Procurement and Public Distribution
System. PC Quest, 2009, July. pp. 43-47.
Digital Divide. http://en.wikipedla.org/wiki/Digital
divides. (Visited on: Jan 7, 2009)
FA O . B r i d g i n g t h e r u r a l d i g i t a l d i v i d e ,
www.fao.org/rdd/doc/e-agricullure. 2001. (Visited
on: July 8, 2009)
Recommendations of National Workshop on Role of
Information Communication Technology in Taking
Scientific Technologies to the End Users.
http://www.iasri.res.in/TAAS/ recom.html. Jan,
2005. (Visited on: July 8, 2009).
Tharayil, Abdul Jaleel; and Rajeev, K R. Towards
Bridging the Digital Divide in India: Challenges and
Opportunities from a National Perspective.
http://drtc.isibang.ac.in/bit stream/handlel
1849/170/digitaldivide-rajeev.pdf. (Visited on: June
9. 2009)
FAO3 suggests that bridging the rural digital
divide requires an understanding of how persons in
different cultures learn to use and apply ICTs, access to
which is central to overcoming the divide.
In India and other developing countries there
are many constraints that create blockage in developing
e-agriculture. These include lack of sustainable ICT
infrastructure, absence of appropriate skills among
potential users of ICTs, lack of appropriate content
management, and lack of access to ICT facilities.
Therayil & Rajeev5 revealed that lack of
coordinated Government initiatives specially the famous
'red-thread' reveals the incredibility slow, inefficient,
highly complex and inaccessible system of operation.
Library & Information center specially
information professionals played a pivotal role in
disseminating need based information to the rural
people. Rural libraries in co-operation and co-ordination
with many institutions, State Agriculture universities,
KVKs can deploy significant services for betterment of
rural people dependent mostly on agricultural. But in
reality rural libraries remained as missing link or
forgotten asset in knowledge dissemination. IT policy
formulated in the year 2000 shown very little interest in
the development of rural libraries5. It may be due to the
policy makers who were not able to explore tremendous
potentiality of rural libraries in bridging the gap or same
time library professionals were unable to convince the
planners and policy makers about it.
8
International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology |January - March 2011 | Vol. - I | Issue - I