The new agriculture paradigm in India will have to take advantage of knowledge availability to achieve the triple goals of increased income, jobs and food. The emerging ICTs have a significant role to play in evolving such a paradigm. It is having impact on our capacity to monitor the environmental impact on agriculture and degradation of natural resources through remote sensor data. GIS are opening new approaches to regional planning and to the management of natural resources.

In the context of agriculture, there are five key services or functions that are very closely related to ICT:

• access to information through different types of Agricultural Information Systems(AIS);

• monitoring the situation of natural resources and environmental impact through different Information Processing Tools

• Education and Communication Technologies that are playing a very important role in generating new approaches to learning and knowledge management;

• Networking where ICTs can contribute greatly to relating people/institutions among them and facilitating the emergence of ‘Virtual Communities of Stakeholders’ that generate and exchange information and knowledge among themselves.

• Decision Support Systems (DSS) through which data and information provide relevant knowledge inputs for informed decision-making.

These tools are playing an important role in converting information systems into knowledge systems.

Precision agriculture refers to exactness and implies correctness or accuracy in any aspect of production

The enabling technologies of precision agriculture can be grounded into four major categories: Computers, Geographic Information System (GIS), Global Positioning System (GPS), and Sensors and Application Central (SAC).

Various efforts are being made to improve the social and economic conditions of this class through ICT.

National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management has taken up a number of “CyberExtension” The Institute has taken initiative to provide linkages to the technical and other farmer friendly information through its websites contain very important information on district profile, land use pattern, district agriculture scenario, strategic research and extension plans, replicable success stories and information on important contact persons with their telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. These websites have improved information dissemination significantly

The Village Knowledge Centre Project has an operational centre additioncentre at Villianur The value addition centre in Villianur has generated a number of databases to fulfill requirements of the people in the villages

Some of the databases pertain to the followingentitlements to rural families: this database provides details of schemes,operational details families below poverty line:grain prices in region;

input prices (quality seeds/fertilisers);directory of general and crop insurance schemes;integrated pest management in cropsdirectory of hospitals and medical practitioners bus/train timetables-covering region

The above projects act as example of a creative projects in addressing the global information divide and use of ICT in agricultural development.

4a

E-panchayat software in Andhra Pradesh comprises nearly 30 main modules and 150 sub-modules in line with the 30 sectoral functions of the gram panchayats. Some of the important modules are explained below:

Gram Panchayat AdministrationThis module provides following information and services:minutes of meetings;schedules of Gram Sabhas;agenda update;certificates and licences;bill payments;attendance monitoring of Panchayat functionaries;gram Panchayat meetings management;gram Panchayat cleanliness monitoring;registration of births/ deaths/ marriages, etc.;issue of trade licences;pension schemes management system;self-help groups and other villagers welfare schemes management system;assets management, property tax assessment and management;property lost/found reporting system;law and order management system;encroachments checking and monitoring module;government orders searching and retrieval system;village statistics maintenance and reporting system; andintensive sanitation management information system.AgricultureThis module:facilitates educational services on the best agricultural practices to enhance the yieldand reduce expenditure and enhance the quality of produce for the farmers;facilitates agriculture and related departments to provide season-specific, regionspecificinformation services to the farmers;enables elected representatives of gram panchayats to manage farmers’ grievances;enables gram panchayat secretariat to report the details of agriculture production ofthe village; andoffers counselling services to the farmers by agriculture experts.Irrigation and Water Conservation

This module:provides information on irrigation canals to the farmers;facilitates education on various water harvesting and conservation schemes;enables reporting of problems on pipelines, canals, etc. and subsequent review ofproblems by Sarpanch (or the head of Panchayat or Village Council); andfacilitates the appraisal of the status of water cess payments and reporting on thedues.ElectionsThis module provides the following information services:registration of voters;objection to voters list;elected representative information;publication of electoral rolls; anddissemination of electoral rolls.HousingThis module provides information on:low cost housing techniques;application for housing scheme; andloan recovery statusAdult EducationThis module provides information on:enrolment of adults;schedule of education programmes;training kits for adult education;feedback on education programmes; andstatus monitoringCultural ProgrammesThis module provides information on:enrollment of artists;training of artists;schedule of programmes; andinformation on opportunitiesWomen and Child WelfareThis module extends information services on:immunisation schedules;nutrition programme;schedule of camps; andcounselling by health workersSocial WelfareUnder this module services available are:atrocities reporting;welfare scheme information;inventory of handicapped persons;donors information;counselling; andapplication for schemesVillage Accounting System (VAS)Following are the features of VAS:cash transactions;bill receipts;ODs and cheques receipts;automatic challan submission;

treasury payments;classified accounts;all kinds of taxes and fee collections;cheques/DDs reconciliation; andreports (Daily collection report)

EC expands the market place to national and international markets. With minimal capitaloutlay, a company can easily and quickly locate more customers, best suppliers and mostsuitable business partners world wide. In addition, it:

organization

reduces the time between the outlay of capital and receipt of products and services;supports Business Re-engineering Process efforts.

lowers telecommunications cost; internet is much cheaper than value-added networks(VANs);helps small businesses to compete with large companies;enables organisations to reach customers outside their immediate area at a minimumcost;allows organisations to reach a wide range of suppliers, thereby reducing the cost ofsupplies and services;permits the creation of efficient markets in an industry in which buyers and sellers canshare benefits;facilitates global trade, allowing companies to penetrate foreign markets.9.3.2 Consumers

provides customers with more choices; they can select from many vendors and frommore products;frequently provides customers with less expensive products and services by allowingthem to shop in many places and conduct quick comparisons;enables customers to shop or do other transactions 24 hours a day, year round, fromalmost any location;capitalises on the general movement from a market-centric to a customer-centricenvironment.

There are technical and non-technical limitations in the successful implementation of EC inthe country.

Technical LimitationsThe technical limitations are as below mentioned:there is lack of system security, reliability, standards and communication protocols;there is insufficient telecommunication bandwidth;software development tools are still evolving and changing rapidly;there are difficulties in integrating the internet and EC software with some existing

there is need for special web servers, in addition, to the network servers (additionalcost);accessibility to the internet is still expensive and/or inconvenient for many potential

customers.

Non-Technical LimitationsOther than technical issues, there are non-technical issues that centres EC. These issuesare given below:many legal issues are yet unresolved;customers resist change. To switch from a real to a virtual store may be difficult formany people. It seems that people do not yet sufficiently trust paperless, facelesstransactions;there is not yet sufficiently large number (critical mass) of sellers and buyers that isneeded for profitable EC operations; andEC could result in breakdown of human relations.

Despite these limitations, rapid progress is occurring in EC. As experience accumulatesand technology improves, the ratio of EC benefits to cost will increase, resulting in agreater rate of EC adoption.