What binds the tender coconut vendor round the street corner, the auto driver dropping off kids at school, the domestic help scrubbing dishes, the fish seller cycling around with his ware and Bill Gates? Their mobile phones, of course. In a relatively short span of time, this ubiquitous little gadget has become the great leveller of our times. An almost surreal connect between CEOs and sabziwallas.
In a few remote villages of the backward Honnavar block in Karnataka, men and women are using a modified mobile ATM to fill in application forms for a loan. Advantage: Easy accessibility and quick delivery.
In Uttaranchal, a farmer logs on to a Kisan Soochna Kendra to get inputs on new farming techniques. Advantage: Reliable information at his finger tips.
Contrary to popular notions, the unread, unlettered Indian villager is taking to technology and rural India is opening up to the wonders of technology.
Microsoft recently announced its plans to take IT to rural India by setting up 50,000 information kiosks in villages. Christianed Sakshyam, the project has already put up about a 1,000 kiosks in villages across the country. These kiosks will address the local needs of the people, in their own language. They would go a long way in helping the rural people use technology for e-commerce, education and e-governance.
Tarun Malik, head of Microsoft’s Rural Initiative, says villagers were quite receptive to the idea of using technology. According to S S Satchidananda, the brains behind the Honnavar experiment, rural people will be receptive to technology only if it is relevant to their needs. Based on this core idea, he researched an ICT-based solution, funded by Microsoft, for improving the credit delivery to rural areas.
His project has demonstrated the manifold benefits of technology to the rural people: banking at their door steps, greater and more effective access and a right of choice in regard to the banks, their products and prices.
Elsewhere in Uttaranchal, Sanjeev Sharma, president of Jai Kisan, an NGO, is working towards bringing IT to rural areas with Kisan Soochna Kendras, which are public information booths equipped with a computer with a net connection and a digital projector that provide farmers with information on crops, farming techniques, weather etc.
Everyday about 10 to 15 people access a Kendra, says Sanjeev Sharma. A small beginning has been made and the first steps on a long journey taken, but there are challenges galore. Most of the time our villages don’t have the necessary infrastructure, connectivity or power to support technology. Tying up with telecom companies and using the UPS have been thought of to tide over these problems.
Before long, a turbaned, dhoti clad man checking “mirchi ka dam” in Europe may not be confined to the realms of the ad world.
Autor: Veena Pradeep
Quelle: Deccan Herald, 01.04.2006
