Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre · In addition, ITC is planning to extend its...

Towards a RuralKnowledge Revolution

Mission 2007:Every Village a

Knowledge Centre- A Road Map

Organised by

M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation

With support from

Tata Social Welfare TrustIDRC and CIDA

MSSRF/PR/04/53

Copyright © June 2004 by the

M S Swaminathan Research Foundation

M S Swaminathan Research FoundationCentre for Research on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development

3rd Cross Street, Institutional Area

Taramani, Chennai - 600 113, INDIA

Tel: +91-44-2254 1229, 2254 1698

Fax: +91-44-2254 1319

[email protected]/[email protected]

www.mssrf.org

Design and Printing: AMM Screens, Chennai

While the economy has done well and there is justified optimism on its overall growth,

incidences of acute distress and deprivation in parts of rural India point to the need

for more equitable growth and particularly for a greater focus on the rural and

agricultural economy. The Government of India is committed to developing and

implementing a strategy for ensuring food, nutritional and income security with a

decisive thrust on improving access to health care, ensuring compulsory primary

education, training in market-driven skills and enhanced higher education

opportunities, thereby catalyzing sustainable livelihoods for marginalized and

vulnerable communities. In order to steer a job-led growth in rural economy from a

job-less growth, the Government recognises the importance of developing an

information and knowledge-led rural economy, especially among the ultra poor and

socially underprivileged sections of the society. It is therefore important to ensure

demand driven and value added information which is time and location specific -

knowledge transfers between and across rural communities, scientists, educators,

administrators, health care providers, technology enablers on local agro-ecological

and socio-cultural conditions of each village, and also relating to various farming

methods and techniques, health issues, livelihoods, health of livestock/cattle and

market-led entrepreneurship opportunities for the poor and the marginalised in rural

India.

There is need to promote principles of social inclusion, gender equity, reaching remote

areas and remedying regional imbalances. Information Communication technology

(ICT) provides an excellent means of reaching these goals quickly, even as it serves

as a tool for empowerment of the disadvantaged. ICT will be used for this and for

promoting sustainable livelihoods and addressing basic human needs. Efforts have

to be directed towards achieving convergence and synergy among all on-going

initiatives in order to generate a critical mass of inter-institutional efforts and learning,

with the goal of reaching every village in the country by August 2007, through the

power of networking and partnerships.

The emergence of Rural Knowledge Centres and info-kiosk movement in our country

has demonstrated that the local panchayats and self-help groups can take advantage

of appropriate information and communication technologies and that they can easily

access the scientific and technical knowledge they need to solve local problems and

Preface

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7

E V E R Y V I L L A G E A K N O W L E D G E C E N T R E

4

enhance the quality of their lives, as well as to communicate their own insights and

needs back to Government departments and scientists. A national movement of

knowledge centres needs to be established in mission mode to ensure quick

implementation at the local level, create information infrastructure and locally

appropriate and relevant content for rural economy through active involvement of

Gram Sabhas, Local Self-Help groups and NGOs. For this a Rural Knowledge Centre

Fund may be established by NABARD to cover 100,000 villages within 3 years. To

provide the fillip the Government of India may provide necessary matching

assistance to NABARD to the tune of Rs. 300 crores a year. These NABARD supported

knowledge centres should work towards creating sustainable livelihood

opportunities, and also serve as service providers and communication enablers for

the landless and the poor, especially those belonging to the Scheduled Castes,

Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes, women and the disabled - the most

vulnerable groups in rural India. They will work on the Antyodaya Principle of

Mahatma Gandhi. Establishment of 100,000 knowledge centres will lead to direct

employment, income generation and entrepreneurship opportunities to more than

100,000 rural poor and indirect employment, income generation and entrepreneurship

opportunities for about 1 million people. In addition, ITC is planning to extend its E-

Chaupal programme to another 100,000 villages.

In each of these villages, atleast one woman and one male can be selected as Fellows

of the National Virtual Academy. There is need to select one million Fellows of NVA

by 15 August 2007 through a peer review process. They will serve as the torch-

bearers of the Knowledge Revolution in Rural India.

It will be useful if Government can proactively promote public-private and

institutional partnerships facilitating outreach of the knowledge centres to cover the

unreached villages in rural India. The active participation of this elected women and

men members of local bodies crucial for the success of this movement. An integrated

use of the Internet and Community Radio will be an effective means of reaching the

unreached and voicing the voiceless. Seemingly impossible tasks can be

accomplished through unleashing the power of partnerships. This is the goal of

Mission 2007.

M S Swaminathan

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


5

Introduction

Technological divide has been an important factor in widening the rich-poor divide

both among and within nations since the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Europe.

With explosive progress in many areas of technology, like information, space,

bio- and nano-technology, this divide is increasing. The challenge now is to enlist

technology as an ally in the movement for economic, social and gender equity.

Therefore, MSSRF chose the imparting of a pro-nature, pro-poor and pro-women

orientation to technology development and dissemination as its main mandate when

it started functioning in Chennai in 1989. In order to assist in the articulation of

concepts, opportunities and operational strategies which can help to reach the

unreached in knowledge, skill and technological empowerment, an annual

inter-disciplinary dialogue is being organised since 1990, under the generic title,

“New Technologies : Reaching the Unreached”. The first in this series was on

Biotechnology. The recommendations made at this Dialogue resulted in the

organization of Biovillages. The second dialogue held in 1992 was on Information

Technology. This led to the establishment of Rural Knowldege Centres or Information

Villages.

...drawing on the concept of

the Information village project

of the MSSRF, I envision a

global electronic netwrok that

connects scientists to people of

all levels - farmers’

organizations and village

women for example.

The network will allow them to

easily access the scientific and

technical knowldege that they

need to solve local problems

and enhance the quality of

their lives, as well as to

communicate their own

insights and needs back to

scientists...

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5

- Bruce AlbertsPresident, National Academy of Sciences,

USA

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6

The Information Village Research Project

The Information Village Research Project was initiated in 1998 in the Union Territory

of Pondicherry, with financial support from the International Development Research

Centre (IDRC) of Canada.

To be of value to rural women and men, information provided should be location-

and time-specific. The term Knowledge Centre was used to stress the need for

converting generic information into location- specific information and for training

local women and men for adding value to information. Value-added information is

appropriately referred to as knowledge and hence the title “Knowledge Centre”.

MSSRF’s experience in bridging the digital divide in rural India has provided the

following guidelines for harnessing this powerful tool for alleviating poverty and

for ensuring sustainable, ecological food and nutrition security:

Connectivity and content should receive concurrent attention

Constraints must be removed on the basis of a malady-remedy analysis; for

example, wired and wireless technologies could be used where telephone

connections are not adequate or satisfactory. Similarly, solar power can be

harnessed where the regular supply of power is irregular. The principle should

be that there is a solution for every problem.

The information provided should be demand-driven and should be relevant to

the day-to-day life and work of rural women and men.

The Knowledge Centres should operate on the principle of social inclusion,

thereby presenting a win-win situation for all.

The programmes designed to empower rural families with new knowledge and

skills should be designed on the Antyodaya model, where the empowerment

starts with the poorest and most underprivileged women and men.

The local population should have a sense of ownership of the Knowledge Centre.

...as scientists, we need to

study and learn from these

experiments - so as to make

a science out of connecting the

world to knowledge resources.

With the technology moving

so fast, it is critical to

‘learn by doing’, in this way,

so that we can learn how to

make the next wave of

technology even more useful

for productive and sustainable

economic development...

- Bruce Alberts

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


7

It should be client-managed and controlled, so that the information provided is

need-based and user-driven.

The local population should be willing to make contributions towards the expenses

of the Knowledge Centre, so that the long term economic sustainability of the

programme is ensured. Financial contribution generates a sense of ownership

and pride.

To be effective, the following linkages will have to be developed:

Lab-to-Lab: This will involve organising a consortium of scientific

institutions and data providers.

Lab-to-Land: This will involve symbiotic linkages between the providers

of information and the users, so that the information disseminated is relevant

to the life and work of rural families.

Land-to-Lab: There is considerable traditional knowledge and wisdom

concerning the sustainable management of natural resources, particularly

water. Therefore, the technical experts should not only learn from traditional

knowledge and experience, but also take steps to conserve for posterity the

dying wisdom and the dying crops.

Land-to-Land: There is much scope for lateral learning among rural

families; such learning has high credibility because the knowledge is coming

from a fellow farm woman or man who would have subjected the information

to an impact analysis from the point of view of its economic and social

relevance to the population.

The movement for establishing Rural Knowledge Centres based on an integrated

application of new and conventional communication technologies such as the Internet,

cable TV, community radio and the local language press, can become an effective

tool for harnessing the power of partnership among professionals, political leaders

and public policy makers, the general public and the rural families.

Self-helpRevolution

...by targetting banks and the

NGO’s in developing nations

as the main customers for this

effort, we should be able to

recruit important new

audiences for the sustainability

science goals outlined in

‘Our Common Journey’,

while also generating a much

wider appreciation around the

world for what science can do

for humanity...

- Bruce Alberts

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8

MSSRF - TATA National Virtual Academy forFood Security and Rural Prosperity (NVA)

Based on the above “learning” by MSSRF scientists, the application of ICT to meet

the food and water security as well as livelihood and health needs of the rural families

is being intensified and extended through a National Virtual Academy for Food

Security and Rural Prosperity (NVA) launched on August 23, 2003 with financial

support from the Tata Social Welfare Trust. It aims at bringing together experts and

grassroots level people in a two-way communication. The Academy enables the

farmers’ organizations and village women to easily access scientific and technical

knowledge they needed to solve local problems and enhance the quality of their

lives, as well as to communicate their own insights and needs back to scientists.

Agriculture, comprising crop and animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry and agro-

processing, is the backbone of the livelihood security system of rural areas, where

more than 70% of India’s population lives. A considerable proportion of this population

has no assets like land, livestock, fishpond or any commercially viable enterprise.

The poor are also often illiterate. Therefore the Virtual Academy lays particular

emphasis on fostering sustainable livelihood options both in the farm and non-farm

sectors. In addition, the five foundations of sustainable development identified at

the World Summit on Sustainable Development held at Johannesburg in 2002,

namely, water, energy, health, agriculture, biodiversity and ecosystem management

(WEHAB) receive particular attention.

What Next?

The pace of progress in harnessing the power of modern ICT and distance education

tools to achieve the goals of food, water, health, education and work for all needs

acceleration. This calls for programmes based on social inclusion and diversity in

pedagogic methodologies.

A national grid of institutional structures, which can help to reach the unreached in

terms of knowledge and skill empowerment is the need of the hour.

MSSRF’s experience also shows that bridging the digital divide is a powerful method

of bridging the gender divide in rural India. This is another reason why we should

accelerate our efforts to achieve technological leapfrogging in the field of ICT. The

experience now being gained in the country in the area of achieving a self-help

revolution based on micro-enterprises supported by micro-credit offers an excellent

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


9

opportunity for initiating community owned and managed

Rural Knowledge Centres, which can be linked together

in the form of a Virtual Academy using a hub and spokes

model of organisation.

A Growing Concern

There is a growing concern about the adverse social,

economic and political implications of the expanding rural-

urban divide in knowledge, skill and technological

empowerment. While there are many “hot spots” in terms

of ignorance, illiteracy, poverty, hunger and gender

discrimination in rural India, there are also several “bright

spots” in relation to the application of modern information

and communication technologies in helping village

women and men to leapfrog in the areas of education,

healthcare, nutrition, water conservations, gender equity,

agricultural advance and ecosystem management.

August 15, 2007 marks the 60th anniversary of India’s

Independence. The time has come to give meaning and

content to Jawaharlal Nehru’s concept of “India’s tryst with

destiny”, by ensuring that every child, woman and man in

all the 600,000 villages of India has an opportunity for a

productive and healthy life. Children should be born for

happiness and not just for existence.

A series of NVA meetings and consultations held in the late

2003 and early 2004 attended by experts from the private

sector, the government, civil society groups and the

academia, especially those involved in distance and virtual

learning using innovative methods brought in to focus the

need for a national strategy to reach the benefits of the

ongoing ICT endeavours to more than 600,000 villages in

rural India. An implementable and affordable strategy that

would make use of the marginalized and the disadvantaged

women and men in rural areas as key allies in knowledge

generation and utilization is the need of the hour.

A Policy Makers workshop held at MSSRF on 8-9 October,

2003 recomended thus: “Every village a knowledge centre:

There is a need for developing a master plan coupled with

a business plan for extending the benefits of ICT to all the

600,000 villages in India by 2007, which marks the 60th

anniversary of our Independence. The master plan should

help to link technology-knowledge-rural women and men

in a symbiotic manner. The investment needs will have to

be estimated and business plans prepared. A National

Alliance for ICT for Poverty Eradication may be established

for launching the Every Village a Knowledge Centre

movement. Such an alliance should include the private

sector, cooperatives, NGOs, R & D institutions, women's

associations, mass media and appropriate government

agencies”. The first steering committee meeting of NVA

held on 21st February, 2004 endorsed this recommandation

and suggested that the Alliance should be set up in

collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Open

University (IGNOU), the 11 State Open Universities,

NASSCOM, IITs, MICROSOFT, ITC and other appropriate

Government and non-Government organisations. The

Alliance will benefit from the synergy among different

technologies, particularly between the Internet and the

community radio, and symbiosis among all institutions

engaged in the field of technological and skill

empowerment of the rural poor.

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10

Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre

Mission 2007 is designed as an offering of the S & T and academic

community, civil society organizations, private and public sector industry,

financial institutions, international partners and the mass media to the

nation on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of India’s Independence

on 15 August, 2007.

An independent rural India with broadband connectivity for every village at low

and affordable costs, and with integrated and diversified technological applications

that are relevant to their day-to-day lives, bringing them prosperity and happiness

is envisioned.

This could very well turn the information kiosk of tomorrow into a multipurpose

community centre to serve as:

a) communication hub - providing multiple telephone and communication services

to the village;

b) virtual academy and training centre;

c) support centre for rural entrepreneurship;

d) banking, financial and insurance services outlet;

e) trading outlet;

f) social empowerment outfit;

g) support centre for providing health, education and livelihood and access to

entitlements (i.e., all government programmes designed to assist the poor)

To provide the above services and facilities in rural areas, there arises a need for

multi-stakeholder partnerships bringing the private sector and the government for

infrastructure development; civil society organizations for community participation

and capacity building; academia for innovation and research, especially in harnessing

the potentials of distance learning techniques and possibilities; and banking

institutions for financing and scalability.

Enormous resources - human, technical and financial - would be required to achieve

the above goal. But, we must not forget the fact that such resources exist within India,

I was extraordinarily impressed. Most

moving for me was that in the middle

of a Dalit village, where 130 families

live on about $1 a day and the villagers

live in straw huts with dirt floor,

stands an information station with

several computers and many school

children inside working away. That

says something to me about the future

of those children. The success stories -

saving lives of fishermen using

weather information, improving the

price of selling rice using market

information, finding employment for

villagers as firemen using

employment information - were very

impressive. The focus on a bottom-up

approach, value-added information and

economic opportunities were obvious -

and obviously effective.

Peter Singer, Director,University of Toronto Joint Centre forBioethics

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


11

and the call by Professor M S Swaminathan to build a

National Alliance would help us leapfrog from a few

thousand kiosks to a knowledge-based rural economy

within the next few years.

India is rich in its institutional infrastructure in the area of

communication and distance education. In addition to

IGNOU, we have many State Open Universities and

numerous initiatives by the civil society, business and

industry, financial and academic institutions engaged in

the knowledge and skill empowerment of rural

communities by mobilizing the power of ICT. We are,

therefore, in a unique position to convert every village into

a knowledge centre through synergy and convergence

among all the on-going efforts, thereby unleashing the

power of partnership.

Children and TechnologyAzim Premji Foundation

If a child can be attracted to learn by the medium of

communication, what is the common factor that can

attract the largest number of children by the sheer

medium of communication? Computers

Child centered content, with the child at the center of

the story and cartoon characters animated to attract and

retain interest of children to engage children in learning

was the attempt to make “Learning Play”.

Over the years, tests have become standardized with a

single correct answer and evaluation based on memory,

speed and slickness.

The disparity in facilities between an urban and rural

centre is glaring. Can computers bridge the

disadvantage of the rural child by providing her with

the experiences of an urban child?

Azim Premji Foundation started creating 40 - minute

modules in multimedia format for the school child that

is child centric, self paced and non-threatening, in local

language with English and Hindi options to make

Learning Play, Assessment Fun and Equal Knowledge

for all. , The modules are on competencies that the child

is taught in school like language, math, and science

and co-curricular topics to provide the child with

exposure to urban environment like fans, telephone

and televisions. The modules are used as supplement

to classroom teaching, to reinforce concepts.

As of May 2004, there are over 40 titles for children in

the classes I to VIII in Kannada and around 20 each in

Tamil and Telugu. Children in over 600 schools in

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry and Tamil

Nadu use these titles.

www.azimpremjifoundation.org

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The National Alliance Towards a RuralKnowledge Revolution

The time is now. The mission: a brighter future, connected to the world of opportunities

and growth, for 600,000 rural Indian villages.

The participants of a Consultation held on 19-20 May 2004 decided to form a National

Alliance for Achieving Rural Knowledge Revolution. May 19, 2004 was chosen for

this important consultation since it represented the death centenary of Jamsetji

Nusserwanji Tata who showed that seemingly impossible tasks could be achieved

through vision, determination and dedicated work.

Vision and Mission

The National Alliance should help in the development of broadband connectivity

for rural homes at low and affordable costs with integrated and diversified

technological applications that are relevant to their day-to-day lives, especially for

bringing prosperity and happiness. Such bouquet of applications can very well turn

the info kiosk of tomorrow into a multipurpose community centre with the kiosk

acting as a) a communication hub, providing multiple telephone and communication

services to the village; b) a virtual academy and training centre; c) support centre for

rural entrepreneurship; d) a banking, financial and insurance services outlet; e) a

trading outlet; f) social empowerment outfit; and, g) a support centre for providing

health, education and livelihoods information and services.

Power of Partnerships

The National Alliance should act as catalyst for technology innovation for rural ICT

applications and connectivity by bringing the private sector and the academia

together with a strong support from civil society organizations for experimenting

every innovation among the target communities. The existing communication

networks such as BSNL, NIC and others have reliable connectivity up to taluk level,

and at times even at village level. A revolution similar to that of Sam Pitroda’s Rural

Switch RAX is the need of the hour to extend these networks to the village level.

JamsetjiNusserwanji TataVisionary Father ofIndia’s Steel, Textile,Power and HotelIndustries

Founder of the IndianInstitute of Science,Bangalore

“To Science, pilot of industry,

conqueror of disease,

multiplier of the harvest,

explorer of the

universe, revealer of nature’s

laws, eternal guide to truth”

Inscription in the dome of the

Great Hall of the US National

Academy of Sciences,

Washington DC

Death Centenary19 May, 2004

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Content

Content design, development and diffusion in rural areas

are key to taking information to villages. However, the

community-based organizations should be able to take

these content products to affordable services for the rural

ITC eChoupalCustomized knowledge for Indianfarmers

Indian Tobacco Company’s (ITC) trail-blazing ‘e-

Choupal’ initiative is the single largest Information

Technology(IT)-based intervention by a corporate

entity in rural India. This pioneering initiative, which

is getting scaled up by the day, is bringing about a

revolutionary paradigm transformation in the life of

the Indian farmer. ITC’s ‘e-Choupal’ is changing the

Indian farmer into a progressive knowledge-seeking

netizen. In this age of Intellectual Property Rights

(IPRs), it is enriching the farmer with knowledge and

elevating him to a new order of empowerment.

ITC ‘e-Choupal’ delivers real-time information and

customized knowledge to Indian farmers, in the

country’s native languages, to improve the farmer’s

decision-making ability, thereby better aligning farm

output to projected demand in Indian and world

markets, securing better quality, productivity and

improved price discovery. The model helps the

aggregation of demand by creating a virtual producers’

co-operative, in the process facilitating access to higher

quality farm inputs at lower costs for the farmer. The

e-Choupal initiative also creates a direct marketing

channel, eliminating wasteful intermediation and

multiple handling, thus reducing transaction costs and

improving logistical efficiency.

The ITC ‘e-Choupal’ project is already benefiting over

2.4 million farmers with over 4,100 e-Choupal

installations covering 21, 000 villages in 6 states. Over

the next decade, the ‘e-Choupal’ network will cover

over 100,000 villages, representing 1/6th of rural India,

and create more than 10 million e-farmers.

ITC’s ‘e-Choupal’ project uniquely harmonizes the

pursuit and achievement of business objectives and

contribution to broader socio-economic development.

ITC’s ‘e-Choupal’ project is a convincing repudiation

of the traditional antipathy between the achievement

of business targets and objectives and endeavor for

broader social and economic development. ITC ‘e-

Choupal’ demonstrates that by scaling up to a critical

size and reach, one can create higher shareholder and

economic value, while at the same time enhance the

quality of life in rural India, home to 70 per cent of

India’s people.

www.echoupal.com/default.asp

communities. This would involve a detailed nationwide

plan for capacity building among the rural entrepreneurs.

The alliance should consider identifying organizations,

which have expertise in building capacity among the rural

poor for harnessing the potentials of ICT-based services

and applications.

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Content development is an expensive exercise considering

the fact that the generic content needs to be developed in

multimedia and distance learning formats. Experience

suggests that content, if interactive, yields enormous

learning opportunities for people. There are already a

number of actors engaged in developing content specific

to community needs. These include the Open Universities,

various foundations and the NGOs. The Alliance may

consider developing a repository of content products and

services aimed at rural people.

Content validation and accreditation are critical in a

decentralized content management scenario, especially

when multiple actors develop content. The alliance may

work out a strategy for content validation by bringing

subject experts and information consultants who can

undertake this task. A detailed methodology for this needs

to be developed.

Local content generation is equally important in rural ICT

endeavors as the people should not be seen as mere

consumers of information, but also providers of

information. Global-to-local information should be

complimented by local-to-global and local-to-local content

exchange mechanisms. Standardization of meta-tagging

and content formats should be worked out. The Alliance

should take up research on available standards for content

processing and offer advice on best of solutions. The local

language should be the medium of communication.

Geospatial empowerment among rural communities is key

to local resource planning. Spatial info connects every

citizen with natural resources to their native eco-systems.

Latest investments in satellite and remote sensing

technologies do offer enormous possibilities. The alliance

should lobby for empowering communities with

unrestricted spatial maps; and help government see the

rural people as mapping experts of their locations.

Connectivity

Existing facilities of various media and education networks

can be put to use for content dissemination and interactive

learning. These include the downlink stations of IGNOU,

the low power Doordarshan transmitters, WorldSpace

technologies, etc. The Alliance may like to develop a

strategy to use the unused networks and service entities

for content dissemination to communities.

Convergence of technologies is key for content

dissemination. The mix model of content dissemination

demonstrated by media organizations can be applied to

disseminating content in rural areas. The Alliance may

sensitize the need for using community/campus radios,

Internet/cable radios and similar convergence of print and

digital technologies for content dissemination.

Top priority should be given to the availability of electricity

and non-conventional sources of energy such as solar;

bio-diesel and other rural power generating enterprises

should be examined. There is an urgent need to explore

low-cost and implementable connectivity and to develop

a package of technologies including radio, spread

spectrum and wireless. Comfortable ICT bandwidth with

reliable energy source is crucial for this.

Scalability, Sustainability and CapacityBuilding

Piggybacking upon the existing and ongoing efforts by

the government and the private sector will help in creating

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


15

ICT infrastructure, human networks and political

institutions for providing the above multipurpose

community services and applications in rural areas. Such

networks would include: the Panchayat Raj institutions,

self-help groups, postal network and the government’s

NICNET, BSNL, VSNL, etc. Also, it is important to encourage

private sector-led ICT initiatives of ITC, ICICI, Microsoft,

Nasscom, etc. to such as those in social empowerment and

social entrepreneurship in rural areas. The Alliance

developed by MSSRF should call for all these parties to

OneWorld South Asia- a lobby for citizen’s right toinformation

One of the targets of the Millennium Development

Goals is to bridge the digital divide with information

technology. OneWorld South Asia is doing precisely

that through a number of initiatives like the Open

Knowledge Network (OKN) and pro-poor ICT advocacy.

With more and more people in the South coming to

community access centres, there’s a great opportunity

to share local knowledge in local languages on vital

topics like health, agriculture and education.

Recognising the diversity and richness of initiatives to

collect and disseminate local content which exists in

the South, OKN represents an attempt to ‘join the dots’,

in order to increase capacity and impact. It is thought of

as a flexible framework to link information initiatives

among marginalised communities through shared

standards and values for local content, local people and

local languages.

promote complimenting each other’s efforts rather than

working in isolation. The MSSRF-TATA National Virtual

Academy for Food Security and Rural Prosperity (NVA)

will service the National Alliace and help to form coalitions

of the concerned, thereby unleasing the power of

partnership.

Social objectives should be combined with business

efficiency for effective outreach. It has been found that

delivery and dissemination by local people is most

OKN is an initiative of the DOTForce: the Digital

Opportunity Task Force set up by the G8 Heads of State

to make a decisive contribution to bridging the digital

divide. OKN has since been adopted by the UN ICT

Task Force.

OneWorld South Asia wants the benefits of ICTs to

reach the poor. It is therefore forging alliances with like-

minded organizations so that the immense potential of

ICTs can be utilized for development and fighting

poverty. It is working hard with partners so that the

digital divide can be bridged and those on the fringes

of society are benefited.

The organisation is lobbying for pro-poor ICT policies,

for the citizen’s right to information and public services.

It is therefore trying to influence the media, the

government and the people through research on ICTs

by building partnerships with organizations not only

in South Asia but also in other parts of the world.

http://southasia.oneworld.net

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


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effective. Special efforts must be made to identify and

train them; Capacity building of Knowledge Centre

managers is very important. There should also be

networking among grassroots workers.

There should be specific focus on people as at each place

the requirement is different. Social inclusion and gender

equity should always be kept in sharp focus.

Networking of all government departments is important

to up-scaling, and the commitment of different

departments will strengthen the Alliance. So a catalogue

of government support services should be developed.

Credit linkage with banks should be integrated in the

whole process. Scalability and sustainability crucially

hinge on collaboration with all the stakeholders.

Optimum use of available infrastructure and human

resources will help to reduce transacting cost and

enhance the affordability of Mission 2007.

Network Management and Servicing

A number of initiatives and technological innovations

make it difficult for decision-takers, intermediaries and

rural ICT practitioners to comprehend the big picture of

ICTs and their growth. The Alliance may consider

developing a national resource centre for learning and

experimenting ICT innovations in rural areas. A manual

on ICT applications and innovations may be created,

updated and made as a living document.

Content translation at different levels is crucial in

content diffusion at the grassroots. An army of virtual

academicians needs to be developed and strengthened

in content generation, dissemination, diffusion and

utlisation in rural areas. The alliance may campaign for

recognizing rural virtual academicians and aim to

n-Logue- aimed at improving the quality of lifeof the villagers

n-Logue was launched in 2001 to fulfill the need for

Internet and voice services in every underserved small

town and village in India. Established under the aegis

of the Telecommunications and Computer Networks

(TeNeT) Group of IIT, Madras, the company is

deploying corDECT WLL technology to efficiently

provide “last mile” connectivity. With its low costs and

ease of maintenance, the line-of-sight technology is

ideally suited for rural use.

n-Logue has developed a three-tiered business model

that allows it to rapidly scale its operations. Where the

fiber backbone ends, n-Logue identifies and partners

with a Local Service Provider (LSP) who assists in setting

up the infrastructure that provides wireless connectivity

to the surrounding villages. These LSPs find

subscribers, provide services and collect payments.

n-Logue provides equipment, training and support to

the LSP, and also takes care of regulatory and

connectivity issues. n-Logue, with its LSPs, then recruits

and trains local entrepreneurs who set up information

kiosks at the village level. The kiosks are equipped

with a PC, power supply, digital camera, Internet/Voice

connection and local language software.

More than 1500 kiosks have already been set up, each

offering a variety of different services like agriculture,

health, education, email, photo studio, entertainment

and astrology.

www.n-logue.co.in

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


17

identify, recognize and motivate such academicians to join

the movement.

Policy Issues

Implementable, low-cost and affordable technologies in

rural areas are crucial to scaling up the info-kiosk

movement in India. It is important that such innovations

and outreach efforts should be incentivised. Exploring all

sorts of technologies such as wireless, optical wireless,

CIC - one-stop access forauthentic information

Under the Community Information Centres (CIC)

project, CICs with state of the art computer

communication infrastructure have been set up in 487

blocks of North Eastern states viz. Arunachal Pradesh,

Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland,

Tripura and Sikkim.

Each Centre is well-equipped with infrastructure

including one server machine, five client systems, one

each of a VSAT, Laser Printer, Dot Matrix Printer, modem,

LAN hub, TV, Web camera and two UPSs (1KVA, 2

KVA). Each CIC has two CIC operators for managing

the centres and providing services to the public. CIC

operators in all states have been trained on networking

equipment and software applications available at their

sites.

Basic services provided by CICs include IT Education

and training, Internet Access and E-mail, Information

Dissemination, Entertainment and News. In addition,

several citizen-centric or Government to Citizen (G2C)

services are being delivered from the CICs. E-suvidha

is one such service where the CIC operator accepts

applications for different services and gives a probable

date of delivery of the service.

Block Community Portal has been generated for each

of the 487 CICs. The block community portals have

been generated using eNRICH community software

solution framework. The block community portal acts

as a one-stop access and information delivery

mechanism for communities, facilitates inter- and intra-

community communication, encourages communities

to be not just passive information consumers but also

active information provider and help communities

develop and maintain their website dynamically.

The project is a joint effort by the Department of

Information Technology (DIT) under the Ministry of

Communications and Information Technology (MCIT),

National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the State

Governments of North-Eastern states.

www.cic.nic.in

wireline, powerline, etc. to make these technologies as

matured as the cellular one will help scale up rural ICTs,

The alliance should make special efforts to lobby with the

government for recognizing various actors as rural service

providers who can be brought under a unified licensing

regime. These rural service providers can be offered certain

tax exemptions when they meet the universal service

obligations (USOs)

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


18

The USO is still led by the conditions and the provisions of the last decade. The

Alliance may help revisit these conditions and provisions and sensitize the

government to offer funding for USOs based on the quality of service provided at

the rural areas. The hardware costs should be lowered and income tax and customs

duty rebates should be made available for ICT initiatives in rural areas. A lot of

services available in the Government domain should be made available through

info kiosks.

Servicing the network should receive priority. It is recognized that support services

to infokiosks is hugely important, especially when we reach the desired 600,000

villages connected. The Alliance should aim to consider existing models for offering

backbone services and encourage multiple actors to offer services.

Towards 15 August, 2007

The formation of the National Alliance for mobilising the power and tools of ICT for

enabling rural women and men to achieve a paradigm shift from unskilled to skilled

work and to meet the basic human needs of balanced diet, safe drinking water,

education, health care, shelter and work, is an expression of the determination of the

ICT professional community in India to contribute to realising Mahatma Gandhi’s

vision of Gram Swaraj. The Individual strength of the Alliace partners may vary, but

their collective strength is considerable. It is this collective strength that will

untimately help in achieving seemingly impossible tasks.

Recall the face of the poorest

and weakest man

you have seen and ask

yourself if the step you

contemplate is going to be

of any use to him.

Will he gain anything by it?

Will it restore him to control

over his own

life and destiny?

- M K Gandhi

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


19

The Microsoft UP (Unlimited Potential) is a global

initiative focusing on improving lifelong learning for

disadvantaged young people and adults by providing

technology skills through Community Technology and

Learning Centres (CTLCs). Microsoft believes that by

providing technical skills training to disadvantaged

individuals, we can partner to create social and economic

opportunities that can change peoples' lives and

transform communities. This initiative is designed to

help narrow the technology skills gap and aid workforce

development Unlimited Potential offers a

comprehensive approach to bridging the digital divide

by bringing together the critical components of:

UP grants. UP

grants enhance access and training opportunities

for individuals underserved by technology.

Software donations. An expanded software donation

program provides CTLCs with access to the most

current productivity applications necessary to

compete in the global economy.

UP community learning curriculum. The UP curriculum

emphasizes real-world applications and course

material.

Community Technology Support Network.

work with

others to create a community-based support

network delivering technology curriculum,

research, tools and services to the CTLCs covered

under the UP program.

The programme will be launched in India in July 2004.

In partnership with World Links, Anganwadi workers

in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Delhi will be

provided IT skills training. A network of 16 CTLCs will

be set up in these states to provide the training. Through

UP we will also support the Tarahaat programme which

provides rural connectivity through 30 rural telecenters

in Haryana, MP and UP. Women in these rural

communities will be trained in IT skills and mentored

to use those skills to set up micro economic enterprises.

www.microsoft.com/mscorp/citizenship/giving/overview/default.asp

Microsoft Unlimited Potential - CommunityLearning Programme

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


20

Walk the TalkGovernment of Orissa to launchMission 2007

As a quick follow-up of the National Alliance on

Mission 2007: “Every Village a Knowledge Centre”

held on May, 2004, at the MSSRF, Chennai, NASSCOM

Foundation has chalked out an action plan to make the

Mission 2007-Knowledge Revolution- the dream of

reaching village, a reality.

The Foundation, set up recently by NASSCOM, India’s

apex association of the information technology industry,

and a body of about 850 members, is confident, with

the support of the Government of Orissa, of

contributing significantly in bringing the “knowledge

revolution” in every village of the State.

The goal of “Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge

Centre” is to reduce poverty and facilitate easy access

to basic services to improve human development;

develop indicators within a specified time frame; and

to promote local and indigenous knowledge and skills.

The core principles of the programme includes social

inclusion and gender equity; reaching remote areas and

remedying regional imbalances with reference to

mobilizing information and communication

technologies (ICT) for sustainable livelihoods and basic

human needs; demand-driven and value-added

information, which is time- and location-specific;

convergence and synergy among all on-going

initiatives in order to generate a critical mass of inter-

institutional efforts and learning; reaching the

unreached with a bouquet of services such as health,

education, training, micro-finance, social enterprise and

e-governance; and creating social capital using

information-communication as the outreach tool.

Its main strategies are to harness ICT to reach every

village and trigger transformation through a

“knowledge revolution” and facilitate optimal use of

available resources to impact basic health care,

education and sustainable livelihoods with active

partnership of the government, civil society, private

sector, donor agencies, academia and institutions.

The programme will be implemented in three hubs

comprising coastal districts of Orissa (Kendrapada,

Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur and Puri), Northwest districts and

KBK+ districts (Kalahandi, Bolangir, Koraput.

Kandhmal, Rayagada and Gajapati). A special focus

will be on the intervention by Self-Help Groups,

Panchayati Raj, Pani Panchayats, farmers/agro groups,

tribal/forest communities and adolescent groups.

A roadmap for the period June to December 2004 has

already been prepared. It includes a firm commitment

of participation by the Government of Orissa to flag off

Mission 2007, development of programme designs and

operations and action plan to study the current practices,

identify hubs and community groups for the

interventions. Mission 2007 will be ready for launch

by the Chief Minister of Orissa on January 26, 2005.

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


21

Hailing from Thangatchimadam

village in Ramanthapuram district in

Tamil Nadu, Mr K. David (38) is a

multi-faceted personality. This rural

academician is a popular writer,

contributing a regular column on sustainable fisheries

development in a community newspaper “Namma

Ooru Seithi”, and a community development worker

with special skills in training people in shell-crafts. A

physically challenged person, Mr David has overcome

several hurdles and has played a key in role in establishing

the information center in Thangatchimadam village.

A keen social activist

Mrs B. Kasthuri (37) from Embalam

in Pondicherry is particularly

committed to uplifting the rural

women both economically and socially. Endowed with

good leadership qualities, she has successfully

mobilized women’s forums and enlightened them with

all the social and welfare programmes of the

government. Exuding tremendous energy and lot of

self-confidence, Mrs Kasthuri is a role model for many

women in the village, and she is today a much sought

after and a highly respected woman academician in

the society.

An educated woman with good

computer skills, Mrs Usharani (35)

from Embalam in Pondicherry, is an

enthusiastic social worker focusing on

Rural women and men with passion and commitment

to the social and economic upliftment of the rural

community to which they belong are the Fellows of the

MSSRF - TATA National Virtual Academy for Food

Security and Rural Prosperity.

Mrs E. Ambiga (28) is a social

activist who has been zealously

acquiring computer skills. She is now

a qualified computer educator

running computer literacy in her

village, Kalitheerthal kuppam in Pondicherry. Exuding

self-confidence and committed to empowering the

women, she has been helping the farmers by providing

comprehensive information on indigenous agriculture

for sustainable development, and the young women

and the youth in getting suitable jobs in the government

as well as in the private sector.

An economics graduate with sound

knowledge on vegetable market prices

and transportation, Mr H. Bagadoor

(34) of Sriramapuram village in

Kannivadi, and an active member of

the Reddiarchatram Seed Growers’ Association

(RSGA), is another Fellow of NVA. He has been actively

involved in the seed village programme of the MSSRF,

and has helped in spreading several eco-friendly crop

production technologies and the fundamentals of

precision farming using geographical information

system (GIS) among the villagers in the region.

Grassroots Academicians- the torch bearers and prime movers of the rural knowledge revolution

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


22

empowering rural women. She is committed to

organizing self-help and other groups to promote the

use of indigenous herbal medicines in livestock

disease management and other improved practices

in dairy development. A highly health conscious-

person, Mrs. Usharani has organized scores of health

campaigns. She is regularly conducting eye-testing

camps in the village, and helped in guiding over 100

patients to the Arvind Eye Hospital to get improved

vision. Her work in spreading awareness among

women on AIDS and de-addiction to alcohol is

commendable.

Hailing from Samiarpatti village

near Chinthalgundu in Dindigul

district of Tamil Nadu, is Ms N. Sridevi

(22), a dynamic social worker with

great zeal and enthusiasm.

Equipped with good computer application skills, she

has used the modern communication equipment such

as touch-screen, multi-media kits and web camera to

run functional literacy programmes for the village

elders and school dropouts. Her innovative approach

to adult education programmes needs a special

mention. She has been helping the farmers by

providing timely information on agricultural practices

and market price.

Such a dedicated and distinguished band of rural

academicians will help SHGs to evolve in to

Sustainable Self-Help Groups (SSHGs) rooted in the

principles of economics, ecology and gender and

social equity. Driven by the Mission 2007, the

ICT revolution in rural India envisions one

million NVA Fellows by 2007 to ensure “food,

health, literacy and work for all”.

TARAkendra -bridging the divide between ruralcommunities and mainstreameconomy

TARAhaat is a social enterprise dedicated to bridging

the digital divide that exists between rural

communities and the mainstream economy. Its

purpose is to provide villagers, particularly the youth,

with access to information and livelihood opportunities

comparable to those available in urban areas. It does

this is by maintaining a rich portal with information

carefully tailored to meet local needs, and managing

a network of franchised telecentres (TARAkendras).

The TARAkendras enable users to access information

and services so they can participate more fully in the

economy and in the institutions of education,

governance, finance and the marketplace.

Currently, there are thirty TARAkendras. These are

located in the rural areas of Punjab, Haryana, MP and

UP. The network of TARAkendras is now being

expanded systematically through these states and into

other parts of the country.

The TARAkendras, owned and operated by a local

entrepreneur, offer a wide portfolio of services. Initial

focus has been on vocational training, community

development, information and e-governance.

TARAhaat also acts as a powerful channel of

communication between the rural populace and the

outside world.

www.TARAhaat.com

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


23

on the concept of Single-Window Delivery of Citizen-

centric Services. They concentrate on the localization

and contextualization of services. The services they

provide include Education, Health, Weather,

Knowledge, Commerce, e-Governance, Entitlements,

Spatial information and disaster management support.

Currently working on selected locations in the

Backward Regions, Islands, Mountaneous terrains and

Tribal dominated areas the project hopes to expand its

services with strategic alliance with key insitutions to

evolve suitable VRC/VIK models.

www.isro.org

“To create and implement a sustainable, scalable, space

technology-supported community infrastructure

towards catalysing the transformation of rural India”,

this is the vision of the Indian Space Research

Organization’s (ISRO) Village Resource Centre which

provides geo-spatial information and services like non-

formal education and healthcare to the women and men

of the rural areas.

Spatial information connects every

citizen with his/her ‘geographical

identities’ and ‘natural resources’ to their

‘native ecosystems’, and brings in the

principles of associations and co-

existence in their original forms. It also

provides the ‘extra mile’ to the overall

information empowerment.

Empowering the community through

spatial information infrastructure (SDI),

thus, goes a long way in enabling the concept of

‘information empowerment’ to work and strengthen

the democratic institutions at the grassroots.

Through the use of

broadband system,

telephone, fax and

Internet, the Village

Resource Center operates

Village Resource CentreTowards Providing Geo-spatial Information to Grassroots

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


24

Virtual University for Agrarian Prosperity in Maharashtra

based training CDs are being used to train the farmers

on various aspects of agriculture. Krishi Vigyan

Kendra, Baramati and NRC onion, Rajgurunagar are

working as online consultants and reply farmer quires

by Email or Net-meeting. It was noticed that lack of

optimum bandwidth, lack of telephony communication

in Will and insufficient content availability were some

of the drawbacks in the project. From the experiences

gained in the project it was decided to expand it over

the state. The project of Virtual University was proposed

through the work plan of Maharashtra state in the year

2003-04. Rs. 150.00 lakh funds were sanctioned. In the

year 2004-05 Rs. 175.00 are also sanctioned.

Detailed Project Report was prepared by Maharashtra

Knowledge Corporation, Pune which was approved by

the Government. Maharshtra Council of Agriculture

Education and Research, Pune will be working as a

central hub. Apex nodal agency will be appointed to

implement this project. Establishment of Village/

market information centers and Farmer's literacy in IT

are some of the additional schemes, which are initiated

to enhance the impact of the Virtual University for

Agrarian Prosperity in Maharashtra state.

http://agri.mah.nic.in

Expert committee under the Chairmanship of

Dr. M. S. Swaminathan has prepared a plan for

agriculture reforms of Maharashtra state in the next 25

years. The Chairman strongly recommended setting up

of Virtual University to reach the unreached farmers of

the state with the prime object to make them available

the latest information and techniques evolved in the field

of agriculture and also empower the farming

community with the market information/intelligence.

Services like consultancy on plant protection, weather

analysis etc. will help the farmers to directly interact

with the experts and technicians. Hub and spoke model

of Internet based Virtual University was Proposed which

is accepted by the Govt. of Maharashtra.

This project was on a pilot bases initiated in the villages

of Baramati and Khed tahasils of Pune district. 50 Internet

KIOSKS were established in the villages. This project

was inaugurated by Chief Minister of Maharashtra on

26 February 2003 by having a video conferencing and

net meeting with the farmers present at the KIOSKS.

WiLL technology was used to provide the connectivity.

Farmer group of 50 in each village is engaged in gaining

the agriculture related information from these KIOSKS.

Further these farmers transmit the information to other

farmers. Daily schedule of KIOSK operations is

prepared. The KIOSK operator also generate some

revenue from domestic computer services. Multimedia

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


25

Mission 2007: Converting goals into actionThe Executive Committee

Chairman Prof. M S Swaminathan, Chairman, [email protected]

Secretary-General Smt Sukanya Rath, Executive Director, NASSCOM [email protected]

Secretaries Dr Basheerhamad Shadrach, Director, OneWorld South [email protected]

Prof. Subbiah Arunachalam, [email protected]

Treasurer Mr S Senthilkumaran, [email protected]

Members Prof. M Anandakrishnan, Chairman,Madras Institute of Development Studies, Convenor of the

Task Force on Training, Capacity Building and Election of

Fellows of the MSSRF - Tata National Virtual Academy forFood Security and Rural Prosperity

[email protected]

Dr V Jayaraman, Director, Earth Observations Systems,ISRO, Convenor of the Task Force on Space Applications

[email protected]

Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, IIT, ChennaiConvenor of the Task Force on [email protected]

Mr Rajiv Kaul - Managing Director, Microsoft IndiaConvenor of the Task Force on Resources(Technical, Management, Training and Financial)

[email protected]

Dr Ashok Khosla, President, Development AlternativesConvenor of the Task Force on Organisation,

Management, Evaluation and Monitoring

[email protected]

Dr J S Sehra, Director, Department of Information Technology, Govt of India, Convenor of the Task Force on Policy Issues

[email protected]

Dr M Velayutham, Executive Director, MSSRFConvenor of the Task Force on Content

[email protected]

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


26

Founding MembersAxes Technologies (I) Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore

Azim Premji Foundation, Bangalore

Department of Agriculture, Maharashtra

Dept. of Information Technology, Ministry of

Communications & Information Technology, Government

of India, New Delhi

Development Alternatives, New Delhi

Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and

Communication Technology, Gandhi Nagar

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University (BRAOU), Hyderabad

EID Parry (I) Ltd, Chennai

Friends of MSSRF, Tokyo

Gyan Vani FM Radio

Indian Institute of Information Technology and

Management -Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram

Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai

Indian National Centre for Ocean Information

Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad

Indian Space Research Organisation, Bangalore

Indian Tobacco Company, Kolkata

Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid

Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad

International Development Research Centre (IDRC),

Canada

M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai

MacArthur Foundation, New Delhi

26

M i s s i o n 2 0 0 7


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Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai

Maharashtra Virtual University for Agrarian

Prosperity, Mumbai

Microsoft India, New Delhi

NASSCOM Foundation, New Delhi

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural

Development, Mumbai

National Foundation for India, New Delhi

National Informatics Centre (NIC), New Delhi

National Institute of Agricultural Extension

Management, Hyderabad

National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad

Netaji Subhas Open University (NSOU), Kolkata

OneWorld South Asia, New Delhi

Reliance Infocomm Ltd, Chennai

Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, Mumbai

State Bank of India, Mumbai

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu Open University (TNOU), Chennai

Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences

University (TANUVAS), Chennai

Tata Consultancy Services, Mumbai

Tata Sons Limited, Mumbai

Virtual University on Agriculture Trade, Kerala

Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University

(YCMOU), Nashik

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