Wiring up an Information Revolution and Promoting Education and Youth Employment in Tribal India...

8/2/2019 Wiring up an Information Revolution and Promoting Education and Youth Employment in Tribal India through Inform

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NATIONAL CONFERENCE 9 - 10 FEBRUARY, 2007Venue: Govind Guru Government College, Banswara 327001, INDIA

Wiring up an Information Revolution and Promoting Education andYouth Employment in Tribal India through Information and

Communication Technologies (ICT)

Dr. Ramesh Menaria,

Lecturer, Guru Govind Government College, Banswara

E mail:[email protected]

Key Words and Phrases

Mass communication, Information and Communication Technology, TV network,Simputer, Internet, STD, Telecentre, Cyber kiosk, Call centre, telemedicine services,Digital Economy, e Boy, e Bala or e Bai as information Intermediaries, AISECT,

Suchana Mitra, e governance. Information Village Project (IVP), M.S. SwaminathanResearch Foundation (MSSRF), IndiaShop.com, SEWA, TARAhaat.com, e-greenstar.com

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an overview of use of ICT technology in tribal areas with specialemphasis upon youth employment in tribal society of India. The paper aims:

To discuss hurdles in wiring up a knowledge revolution and realizing benefitsof Information Revolution in Tribal India

To discuss major benefits of use of Information and CommunicationTechnologies in tribal areas.

To discuss and suggest in what way information and communicationtechnologies (ICT) can promote youth employment in Tribal Society.

To expose the myth that ICT business can be run only by high incomeindividuals or groups.

To describe some leading projects like Information Village Project (IVP) run byM.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), IndiaShop.com, SEWA,TARAhaat.com and e-greenstar.com devoted to Rural/Tribal education andemployment via use of ICT.

To make recommendations so that so that millions tribal people can be liftedout of poverty and contribute to national economy and be part of globaleconomy.

"Information is critical to the social and economic activities that

comprise the development process. Telecommunications, as a means

of sharing information, is not simply a connection between people,

but a link in the chain of the development process itself." [Hudson

1995]

With the advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), the

world has changed into a "Global Village". In present times, when we talk about masscommunication revolution in India , we generally mean that TV, mobile, internet, andother means of information communication have exerted a considerable impact on


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social, cultural, political and economic aspects of the society and soon, as a modernsociety, we are going to cope up with advanced countries. But the real picture is quitedifferent. India has important high-technology industries and technology hubs, butdiffusion of technology is slow and incomplete as compared to five ILO membercountries. We live in a diversified culture in which few sections celebrate hugebenefits of ICT technology, on the other hand, other sections, very much

underprivileged like tribal society are struggling hard even for basic survival. A largeportion of our tribal population is still illiterate, struggling for electricity, drinking water,and daily bread and butter. The disparity in rural-urban infrastructure, in terms ofroads, power, transport and telecommunications is a severe bottleneck. It hindersprivate investment in rural/tribal areas and fails to provide rural/ tribal population withkey ingredients required to modernise agriculture, and more importantly establishother economic enterprises (including non-farm based enterprises). Poverty,illiteracy, inertia, traditional beliefs, poor infrastructure, technological constraints,defective administrative planning and strategy are few major causes that prevent andput tribal society far from witnessing a true revolution based on modern technologylike ICT.

However, it cannot be denied that mass communication technology isgradually reaching tribal homes and little population has even realized its benefits asit is evident from few projects, described in this paper, that are already working on thepresent theme. Today, the tribal community in few areas is also on the way ofadvanced civil society. The focus of this paper is on the use of information andcommunications technologies (ICT) that can be employed in tribal areas to generateyouth employment. The initiatives are presented against a background thatacknowledges that tribes are largely illiterate and belong to a very low income group.The paper discusses, in more general terms, some common misconceptions aboutthe use of ICT in tribal regions, the potential gains ICT offers in relation to youthemployment and society more widely, and the obstacles tribal community in particularfaces in trying to realize these benefits.The initiatives also show the potential that the widespread use of mobile phones offerfor young people both as an income generator in its own right and as an alternative tofixed line telephones to gain easier access to the Internet. Some best practiceexamples show that other infrastructure constraints such as high cost of computers,and electricity supply can also be addressed. Evidence is also presented to showthat the use of the Internet is not limited to the literate or to English users.The best projects like AISECT (All India Society for Electronics and ComputerTechnology), Information Village Project (IVP) run by M.S. Swaminathan Research

Foundation (MSSRF), IndiaShop.com, SEWA, TARAhaat.com and e-greenstar.comdevoted to Rural/Tribal education and employment Via use of ICT show that ICT hasvast potential to address education and employment problem in tribal areas in aeffective manner.

The final part of the paper offers few recommendations aimed at promotingICT-related opportunities for young people. Tribal residents deserve an equal opportunityto participate in the national economy and determine their own destiny. Particularemphasis, as outlined in paper, should be given on ICT to provide employment to tribalyouths so that they can integrate effectively in the Indian economy and the new GlobalEconomy. The final solution to providing service to tribal areas in India will require a

delicate blend of appropriate technological choices in combination with management andfinancing mechanisms, initiated at the governmental level, to support the development oftribal areas. An integrated approach including participation of public sector, the


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entrepreneurs, the private sector, and the NGOs who consider themselves to be in thebusiness of "doing good, is required to catalyze information revolution in Tribal India sothat millions can be lifted out of poverty and be engaged in productive employment notrestricted to agricultural sector. Hence no time should be wasted in going ahead with theproposed plans.

Full Paper

Wiring up an Information Revolution and Promoting Education and Youth

Employment in Tribal India through Information and Communication

Technologies (ICT)

Paper presented at National Seminar 9-10 February,2007

Author

Dr. Ramesh Menaria*,Lecturer, Guru Govind Government College, Banswara

E mail:[email protected]

INTRODUCTION

"Information is critical to the social andeconomic activities that comprise the developmentprocess. Telecommunications, as a means of sharinginformation, is not simply a connection betweenpeople, but a link in the chain of the developmentprocess itself." [Hudson 1995]

Mother earth is intrigued to see that man in living in industrialistsociety, has exploited her natural resources and disturbed her ecosystem byincreasing pollution; he celebrates the benefits of mass communicationtechnology today and often takes pride in talking about mass communicationrevolution, borderless world and global village, on the other hand, tribal man,mother earths original inhabitant who has worshipped the nature and hassung songs in her glory is still more or less an alien in modern society.Advanced countries like America are searching hard for presence of alien on

the other planets in solar system, and also in other parts of this unfathomableuniverse. Scientist there have concrete plan to communicate with them, on theother hand, we are struggling to provide mass communication technologies to


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implemented many programmes for tribal welfare and development, yet theylag far behind in the process.

When a large portion of our tribal population is still illiterate,struggling for electricity, drinking water, and daily bread and butter, then, itwould be naive to believe that means of mass communication like information

and communication technologies (ICT) has significantly changed the tribal man,awakened him, revolutionized his life; such a claim is far from reality. If there isawakening it is largely through traditional pursuits, such as visiting friends,families and neighbors or through some other NGO program. The question is towhat extent tribal society has switched to new means of mass communication?Do tribal homes use internet or connected to TV network like one in advancedcountry like America? Without knowing how to read and write or withoutelectronic literacy, how they can communicate their shared commonexperiences, beliefs and values or exchange knowledge and information byusing modern technology? How much of rural economy has transformed intodigital economy? How many BPL families have risen to higher income group as

a result of this mass communication revolution?So far, the benefits of globalization appear to have not had an appreciableimpact on the poor. This has to change as the revolution in information andcommunications technologies has the potential to help break out of thisunfortunate scenario.

Telecommunication Infrastructure

DATA AT

A GLANCEThe total number of telephones in the country crossed the 100 million mark in April 2005

and was 189.93 million in November 2006. [2] This includes 149.50 million mobile

phones. However, teledensity (telephones per 100 persons) in the country was 17.16 per

cent in December 2006 [3] much less than in some other developing countries, and far

below the world average.According to latest Ministry of communication and IT report the total number of

telephones has increased from 125.79 million as on 31.12.05 to 183.46 million as on 30th

November, 2006. India is a vast sub-continent with more than 75% of the population

residing in rural areas with 604,734 villages spread over the length and breadth of thecountry. As of now, there are 3 telephones per 1,000 inhabitants in rural India compared

to 16 telephones per 1,000 inhabitants in urban India. Out of nearly half a million villages

in the country, only 280,000 have a telephone facility. Over 320,000 villages are still

without a telephone facility.[ 4]The dearth of phone lines and PCs constitute the greatest immediate obstacle to growth.

With a population of close to 1 billion, the estimated 30 million phone lines representsuperficial market penetration. Further, the total number of PCs is estimated at just 3

million nationwide. Internet usage in India is abysmal 4 percent. While India has a mere

8.5 million Internet connections, there are over a billion Internet users worldwide. Thisnumber is expected to rise to about 1.5 billion in the next three years. Given the major

infrastructure problems facing Indian ISPs, cable television may prove the fastest and

most efficient way to increase Internet usage in India. At present, 25 million Indian homeshave cable TV. Close to 400 million Indians watch TV regularly.

Hurdles in Realizing Benefits of Information Revolution in Tribal India

A rapid glance over the data mentioned in the box will revealthat any claims of impacts of mass communication revolution in tribal region atpar with advanced countries would be an exaggeration only or rather a

premature talk. It appears, more or less, like propaganda; an academia,industry and media -generated hype about what new communicationstechnologies have done in tribal society so far. Much remains to be done to


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trigger a real revolution based on mass communication technology. Barriers toinformation access may be physical, economic, intellectual or technological,that impede a revolution. Disparity in rural-urban infrastructure, in terms ofroads, power, transport and telecommunications is a severe bottleneck. Ithinders private investment in rural/tribal areas and fails to provide rural/ tribalpopulation with key ingredients required to modernise agriculture, and more

importantly establish other financially viable enterprises. The generalperception is that people living in tribal communities in India are very close,conservative and traditional. They have their own way of life and are not easilyinfluenced in a simple and determined way by the out side world and itsinfluences generated by tools of mass communication. Since time immemorialthese people have remained isolated from the rest of the society and theirexposure to the modern world has been marginal. Poverty, illiteracy, inertia,traditional beliefs, poor infrastructure, defective administrative planning andstrategy are few major causes that prevent and put tribal society far fromwitnessing a true revolution based on modern technology like ICT. However, itcannot be denied that mass communication technology is gradually reachingtribal homes and little population has even realized its benefits as it is evidentfrom few projects, described in this paper, that are already working on thepresent theme. Today the tribal community in few areas is also on the way ofadvanced civil society. Therefore, an intellectually honest appraisal of thetheme The Mass Communication Revolution in Tribal Society and SocialChange which is also one of the major thrust areas of the present conference,needs a critical and careful analysis with focus on futuristic perspective.

Benefits ofInformation and Communication Technologies

Whatever be the stage of development of ICT in tribal regions, wecannot afford to ignore ICT and its role in awakening of a tribal man for gettingeducation, employment and other benefits of technology. This technology is ofdecisive importance to the very poorest, remote and isolated sections as it canexert a major influence on their ability to acquire knowledge and employmentand tap into global networks and finally put them into the mainstream. Withoutminimal levels of establishment of the transport network, print media, radio andtelevision network and other means of ICT in tribal regions, developing countrylike India cannot cope up with advance countries like America where almostevery tribal home has TV, mobile and a personal computer with access tointernet.

Some of the immediate and discernible advantages that improved ICTinfrastructure in tribal areas would bring can be discussed as follows:

ICT has potential to reduce rural/ tribal-to-urban migration by providingmore opportunities for improved employment and livelihood in tribalareas through small business and micro-enterprise development.

ICT enables immediate access to assistance during civil emergenciesand natural disasters.

ICT can improve access to health extension services. For example,telemedicine services, including remote diagnosis and treatment advice.

ICT has potential to Increase access to up-to-date market and priceinformation, greatly reducing the opportunity cost of transactions forfarmers and rural-based traders.


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ICT is one of the best tools for education services, including distancelearning.

ICT imparts better accountability, transparency, and efficiency ofgovernment operations in rural and tribal areas.

Since our country has vast tribal population, above mentioned wide-

ranging and vital benefits that ICT can provide in tribal areas should be at theforefront of any discussion on telecommunications development in developingIndia which has great desire to transform herself into a developed India by2020. The Tribal Sector plays a very important role for the balanced growth ofour country and as found out by a survey that every single effect in the telecomsector has a six-fold effect on the economy of the India. To achieve sustainabledevelopment it is essential that people living in tribal areas are given theopportunity to participate in and benefit from the global information revolution,even if in only the most basic ways.Information technology, when designed in proper manner for the right job, canbe deployed even in regions that lack literacy, adequate water, food, andpower. This technology can be effective for many tasks, not least human andeconomic development. In fact, this technology is often indispensable inmeeting basic needs.

Let us focus on in what way information and communication technologies (ICT)can promote youth employment in Tribal society.Beginning a Business with Mobile/Telephone-based Services

I shall begin with an example from my home.

18-year-old Shanti Lal Charpota , a student of 11th class is living withme. He would like to be a cyber caf proprietor or a computer engineersomeday. But for boys like Shanti lal, who lives in the dusty, pebbly andimpoverished village of Zary, 3 Kms away from Banswara, such a vocationseems remote. His village has yet not been put to electric grid and at presentkerosene lamp illuminates his Tapariduring night. His school like most schoolsin India offers computer classes for students. He also operates computer at myhome so he has developed interest in computers. Shanti Lal, one of three sonsof a tribal farmer, has no intention of becoming a government servant as he haslearnt from his teachers that now scope of getting jobs in government sector isminimal. He has found a way to start his own business. ''I want to make

something of myself,'' he says. For this, now Shanti Lal is pressing me hard tobuy a cellular phone for him. His cousin, Vikaram, a student of BanswaraCollege, has a mobile. Every day at 8 a.m., he rides almost 5 kilometers tocollege on his bicycle. Each day after college, Vikaram operates what amountsto the village's only public telephone--a cellular phone owned by Indian cellularoperator Tata Indocom. By charging her fellow villagers to make calls, Vikramcan make as much as 50 rupees on a really good day. He is saving the moneyfor computer classes, which he hopes will lead to a good job. Shanti Lal alsowants to earn money in the same manner.

Indeed, ICT can generate a vast potential for employment in tribal areas.

Example of Shanti Lal and Vikram who are about in business with mere cellularphone serves as a model for other young tribal boys to follow.


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Addressing Some Misconceptions about ICT

The example cited above exposes the myth that ICT business is acapital intensive venture that can only be started by high income people orgroup. Besides this, there are also many misconceptions about the use of ICTin middle-and low-income levels. For example people generally believe that

ICT access requires personal ownership of a computer. They also presume thatICT access requires use of expensive computers. The use of the Internet istext-based and is English dominated which means that users need to be literateand literate in English in particular.

These misconceptions can be easily challenged by presenting a number offacts as follows.

In India, low-cost versions of computers have been or are beingdeveloped. For example, the Simputer[5] is a low-cost portable alternative toPCs which will run on widely available AAA batteries. It has a special role in thetribal regions because it ensures that illiteracy is no longer a barrier to handling

a computer. The projected cost of the Simputer is about Rs 9000 at largevolumes. But even this is beyond the means of most citizens. The Smart Cardfeature that the Simputer provides enables the Simputer to be shared by acommunity. A local community such as the village panchayat, the villageschool, a kiosk, a village postman, or even a shopkeeper should be able to loanthe device to individuals for some length of time and then pass it on to others inthe community. The Simputer, through its Smart Card feature, allows forpersonal information management at the individual level for an unlimitednumber of users. The impact of this feature coupled with the rich connectivity ofthe Simputer can be dramatic. Applications in diverse sectors such as microbanking, large data collection, and agricultural information and as a schoollaboratory are now made possible at an affordable price.

We all know how steel is being recycled in our country. Thecheap scrape steel is also imported that help to stabilize cost of steel productsin our country. The same system can be developed to keep the cost ofcomputer hardware low. In the advanced countries people and organizationsdispose millions of computers annually as they upgrade their desktops andlaptops. The only problem is that most of these computers are not fast enoughto run the new generation of software for most users, otherwise they have asatisfactory performance with old software. Taken the typical upgrade cycle for

computers as 3-4 years, it is estimated that the annual consumption ofcomputers in the developed world is more than 60 million units. This ensuresnot only a large supply, but also one which is continuous. A fraction of thissupply is good enough to meet the needs of the rural/tribal regions indeveloping countries. Shipping these computers to our rural markets will be likekilling two birds with a single stone. It provides solution to the recyclingproblem in the advanced countries, and at the same time to the need for anaffordable computing infrastructure in the poor countries. It is not difficult to takethe disposed computers, ship them to our country, invest a small amount ofmoney in their refurbishing, and supply them to rural/ tribal regions. The cost ofthis entire value chain will be no more than a simputer.

The misconception about internet usage in tribal regions is thatthe Internet is only for the literate and within this group, those who are literate in


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English. The fact is that literacy is not very much required to gain access toinformation. User-friendly operating systems and software easily enable anyilliterate person to operate computer and internet. It is possible to send e-mailsthat consist of voice messages. Literacy in English is also not a necessaryprecondition for use of the Internet. On web, ten top languages are English,Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, German, French, Portuguese, Korean, Italian and

Arabic. The English content on the Internet is receding as other languages aresaid to be spreading at exponential speed on the Web. The Internet is also agood platform that can be used to revive minority languages and cultures.Before talking about any information revolution, much still needs to be done todevelop relevant content in Hindi and other local languages for use by thosewho would otherwise be excluded. Those who are well versed in using internetmust participate in building up web content in Hindi and other local languages.Government departments must give top priority to this Web Yagna as actuallyit is the content in local language on the web that will attract tribal peopletowards internet. Folk dance and music in audio and video format can make adifference.

A more effective strategy is to educate and create awareness among the tribalpeople before introducing Information Communication Technology in tribalareas. While considering communication systems, one has to remember thatwe are not dealing with a homogeneous single individual but with the people ofdiverse languages, cultures and social structures. This fact should be notedbefore introducing any new communication technology. It is suggested that thetechnology used in tribal areas, particularly in formal and non-formaleducational programmes, be linked with traditional methods, which are alreadyknown by the local masses. The planners, officials who are implementing thecommunication technology should keep in view the socio-economicbackground, attitudes and knowledge of the tribal masses. They have to makethe policy to synthesize modern technology with folk media without in any wayaffecting the styles and formats of traditional communication systems.

Recruitment and training of e Boy, e Bala or e Bai as InformationIntermediaries

The opportunities for young people to act as information intermediaries can bediscussed as follows:The extensive use of English on the Internet has created the need for localcontent and applications to enable non-English speakers to make effective use

of it. For the poor like tribal men in particular, who are largely illiterate, thehuge amount of information on the Internet requires an intermediary to siftthrough it to identify what is relevant and then interpret it in the light of the localcontext. Young tribal boys and girls who are pursuing some computer coursein some institute are well placed to perform this role of informationintermediary. First they can receive and complete the necessary training tooperate computer and internet and then act as information intermediaries toconnect rural man and women with the information they need. Gram Panchayatcan establish community centers with necessary computer paraphernalia.Information intermediaries could also be extension agents, community workers,or simply young school girls from the community who know English and can

use computers, who would work at community centers to get information fromnational and international sources and relay it to local farmers. They could alsoassist the farmers and other man in village in two-way communication,


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delivering their messages transmitting indigenous knowledge, requestingagricultural advice, health advice and sending e-mail from the farmingcommunity to the research station. We may also call these InformationIntermediaries as e Boy, e Bala or e Bai as the case may be.AISECT calls them as knowledge workers. AISECT states:Promoting knowledge based industry requires knowledge workers. In the rural

context it means such workers who have information or who know from where itcan be obtained, so that local economy can be supported, employment can begenerated and better marketing outlets can be provided. Such a person willhave access to various databases and information, will have the capability tosift through them and will have a computer with him/her to quickly process theinformation. These knowledge workers are to be linked with the Block Levelmultipurpose I.T. centres. In the next phase of the programme AISECT is tryingto create 50,000 such one machine centres, manned by trained knowledgeworkers.

The involvement of young tribal girls translating and passing information to their

mothers might stimulate them to consider remaining in rural areas and takingup modern farming as a career. For most tribal farming communities, all that isneeded is a PC with the capacity to receive/send faxes, a telephone connectionwith Internet access at the community center. Gram Panchayats can alsorecruit and give a small stipend for e Boy, e Bala or e Bai acting asInformation Intermediaries

Swaminathan experience has revealed that the information provided by themshould be demand driven and should be relevant to day-to-day life and thework of rural/tribal women and men. Also, semi-literate women should be givenpriority in training to operate the centre, since this is an effective method ofenhancing the self-esteem and social prestige of women living in poverty.

These e Boys, e Bala or e Bai can also conduct social surveys in associationwith the agency responsible for sponsoring a survey and can earn moneythrough it. They can also use the web site to invite the poor to offer feedback onspecific local issues of concern to them. For example, the people who are thetarget group of a poverty alleviation program could be invited through e-mail tocomment on the limitations of a current poverty program and to suggestimprovements.

e Boy, e Bala or e Bai can use their skills in information technology todevelop simple web sites in local languages. They can upload tribal songs andfolklore on websites. They can advertise forthcoming events in their communitylike local fairs, festivals, and Notra etc.

Telemarketing

e Boy, e Bala or e Bai can also help fellow village man andwoman to sell his/her products. When tomatoes get sold in Banswara marketfor Rs. 10 per kg at the time of writing this paper (February, 2007), it does nottake much imagination to understand that the poor tribal who is actually

growing tomatoes on his/her fields is probably not getting more than Rs 3 perkg for his/her efforts and this is a dismal situation and provides an insight of thetribal realities and how development interventions have still a long way to go to


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change the economic picture of tribal areas. Teleselling through mobile or website can considerably curtail role of middle man. In the absence of appropriate,timely and correct information about prices, arrivals and market trends,compounded with the problems of low cash-at-hand and proper advice,rural/tribal man is forced to sell his produce at lower-than-expected rates. Theresult is that the benefits of the green revolution have not really percolated

down to the farmers.

Tribal homes are also skilled in producing handicrafts goods but its market isnormally restricted to the local areas alone as in Hatts. The demand is naturallylow and therefore tribal man does not receive the proper price as compared tothe potential that could be actualized if these goods were taken to a globalmarketplace. We have many good examples that show that advertisement onweb site and connection to a global market can fetch extremely high prices.These tribal handicrafts if exposed to international markets using the internetcan bring big benefits to tribal man. . For instance, in Gujarat, a lady running asmall business of mirror-work and neckties when advertised her product on the

World Wide Web, a buyer from a department store in London came across theproduct and placed a large order. Consequently she realized a handsomeprofit. Traditional methods of medicine are now getting the attention of globalmarketing giants. Herbs used by tribal man are being researched. Efficientmarkets depend on information. A systematic approach that would ensuresupply of these herbs to big companies and profits to tribal man in lieu of it, canopen new avenues of generating incomes.

Many websites already exists for e marketing targeting rural/urban population.A website with relatively high-level of precise, up-to-date and relevant content,deployed in a user-friendly way, customized to particular user groups, andmolded to specific geographical needs should be universally successful butmany such efforts have apparently failed to achieve their targets.There are difficulties in designing an effective web site. Obstacles toinformation access may be physical, economic, intellectual or technological,that hinders a users participation in the activities on a website. The barriersmay be actively imposed by the architects and website designers or they maybe allowed to continue simply through their lack of action or lack ofunderstanding of the critical user conditions. Studies have shown that suchcritical user conditions may arise due to particular demographic, geographic,cultural, social, psychological, economic or other factors. Issues related to

usability such as ease of use, usefulness (Davis, 1989)[6], decisioneffectiveness (Mason et al, 1973) [7], user response, user satisfaction (Doll etal, 1988) and many other aspect of usability have been investigated in greatdetail by researchers.

The challenges to website that would ensure successful e rural/ tribal marketingin India arise mainly because of the highly specific local needs and the greatdiversity in local conditions. The major challenges can be summed up asfollows:

Poor literacy rate low use of textual information

Remote village locations - physical distances compounding problemsof lack of proper price information and habitual dependence onmiddlemen.


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Absence of alternate media for dissemination of info.

Absence of info in vernacular languages and multiplicity oflanguages.

Cash crunch of farmers, immediate cash transaction system andreluctance of banks to provide soft loans to farmers.

Economic, low-cost solutions - any technology solution aimed at

benefiting the masses in rural India must be affordable and low-costso that the perceived economic benefits of such an endeavor aremuch more than the cost of switching over to a different technologicalsolution.

Some Leading ICT Projects

ICT projects like M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation(MSSRF), Warana Nagar Rural Network Project, IndiaShop.com, SEWA,TARAhaat.com and e-greenstar.com have set example that can inspire otherNGOs and be role model for our young tribal e Boy, e Bala or e Bai. Theycan work on similar lines to revolutionize information communication in theirarea. It would not be out of place here to describe these projects in brief, oneby one, here.

All India Society for Electronics and Computer Technology AISECT [8]

The All India Society for Electronics and Computer Technology(AISECT) has been running an All India Co-ordinated Programme (AICP) toestablish Multipurpose Information Technology centres in rural, tribal and

underprivileged areas of India since 1996. It is devoted to awareness,education and employment of youths in rural tribal India through ICT. Theprogramme has been implemented in ten states and registered significantresults. Over 600 training, servicing and information centres were establishedduring the project period and a large variety of training and servicing moduleswere prepared in Indian languages. It has networking with the programmes atblock, district and regional levels. A National workshop was conducted inBhopal in the year 2000 to share the strategy with over 50 NGOs, state andcentral govt. departments. A PLAN 5000 was devised and adopted in thisworkshop to set up over 5000 multipurpose I.T. centres in next five years. Over4300 centres in 220 districts covering 26 states have been established till now

on the basis of self funding.. AISECT has produced innovative courses andsoftware in Hindi and other local language.

Each multipurpose I.T. centre covers a typical field area of about 100-Sq. Kms.and provides services to a population of about 10,000 to 15,000 persons. It islocated at a block headquarter or at an active hub of activities (village marketcentre) within the block. It is linked with panchayat clusters and big villages asshown below.

An I.T. Centre at block and sub-block level sustain itself economically byadopting the Multipurpose Centre mode with various types of activities. The

Multipurpose Centre model allows flexibility to such a centre to assume any ofthe following or more roles, with a slight alteration in hardware and softwarecapabilities :


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Multipurpose Training and Servicing Centre.Customised Software Development Unit.Internet - Email Kiosks.Computer and Peripherals Servicing Unit.Data Processing Unit.DTP and Screen Printing Unit.

Video Graphics, Mixing and Titling Unit.Information Window or Samadhan Kendras.Computer aided Coaching Institute.The possibilities are tremendous and varied and the choice depends on thelocalentrepreneur.

For providing support services, AISECT has networking with a large number oforganizations. AISECT has prepared computer courses in Hindi and regionallanguages. Under Indira Suchna Shakti Yojna for Girls meant for theComputer Literacy programme, over 1,00,000 girls are being trained in basic

computer skills in over 1300 schools in the predominantly tribal state ofChhattisgarh,. These schools are being modified into citizen service points.Besides running a nationwide computer literacy program with such a focus onwomen, AISECT has developed hardware and software modules for variouslevels.

Other main highlights of AISECT such as Computer Education Programme inColleges, Rural surveys, Open Vocational Education, Linkages withUniversities, Information Technology Awareness Camps, Poster Exhibitions,I.T. Yatra 2000, District I.T. Melas , Conferences, It For All Seminars, andNational I.T. Olympiad have made AISECT as one of the leading organizationin the developing world aimed to provide education and employment inrural/tribal areas through use of ICT.A National Resource Centre has been set up in Bhopal to provide continuoussupport to the AISECT for innovation, research and development.

Suchana Mitra

AISECT is working with several districts to set up district level e-governance systems based on Suchna Mitra software. They include Panna,Guna and Narsinghpur in Madhya Pradesh, Banswara in Rajasthan and Ranchi

in Jharkhand.

Suchna Mitra 1.0 has been designed to include the Information aboutGovernment Schemes, Peoples health ( Contains extensive information onwomen and child health, Immunization, Child care, environment and nutrition)Legal literacy ( Contains information on womens rights, various laws on childlabour, contract labour and migratory labour, laws relating to peoples rights,police, marriage, property and other issues) Rural Technology ( Contains adatabase on various Rural Technology inputs and sources on transfer ofTechnoloy) Self Employment ( This contains over 100 project profiles on selfemployment on various topics) Suchna Mitra 2.0 is a web based application

software, which works in a client/server environment as an INTRANET. Thesoftware offers easy governance solution via E-governance. Implementation ofthis software can save a lot of time and money of the district administration as


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well as of common man. The software also provides an efficient way formonitoring of developmental works and public grievances.The software is organised in two modules. The first module can be accessedfrom any client machine (PC) available in the district, without any passwordprotection. The second module can only be accessed via Suchana MitraKendras on payment basis. A representative list of modules is given below :

COMPONENTS OF MODULE I are : 1. Khoj Khabar ( E-Newspaper), 2.Khoya Paaya (Lost & Found), 3. Bhav Taav ( Mandi Rates) 4. Hamara Bazar(Local Makret), 5. Jila Nirdeshika (District Directory), 6. Rojgaar (Employment )7. Vivaah Prastav (Matrimonial), 8. Shiksha (Education),

COMPONENTS OF MODULE II are: 1. Bhoo Rajasv ( Land Records) , 2. LokShikayat (Complaints), 3. Aavedan ( Application), 4. Shaskiya Yojna AavedanPatra (Govt. Schemes Forms), 5. Visheshgya Salah -(Expert Advice), 6. E-Mail- (Hindi Mail)

AISECT has a CD Preparation Unit. In 2000, it released a CD on its course-ware. The CD covers all the AISECT courses and is in Hindi and English.Another C.D. has been made for Pre Engineering Test. In 2002, C.D.containing games, interactive tutorials and free domain software was preparedfor school students. AISECT has built up capability of design and developmentof CDs.

Swaminathan Foundation

For example, Indias Swaminathan Foundation has set up VillageKnowledge Centres, with special websites to present a variety of locallyrelevant content.According to M.S. Swaminathan, one of the architects of India's GreenRevolution and the founder of MSSRF, "If new ICTs could benefit richcountries, why shouldn't they be harnessed to help poor ones? Thetechnologies of the industrial revolution have only exacerbated the dividebetween the rich and the poor. Technology has to be harnessed withoutincreasing the existing divides."

The project, which began in 1998, aims to provide knowledge on demand tomeet local needs using a mix of wired and wireless technologies and through a

local web site. Pondicherry was selected because it ha scertain initialadvantages. As per the 2001 census, 89 percent of men and 74 percent ofwomen are literate in the Pondicherry region, which is spread over 492 sqkilometers and has population of nearly a million. The area already had areasonable telecom infrastructure. The project has financial support from theInternational Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada.

To appraise socioeconomic status of people and gather other data , surveyswere conducted in 13 villages, and the MSSRF team finally chose Villianur, amarket centre surrounded by several hamlets, as the project's localheadquarters. Villianur is an administrative node and is well connected by

roads. The Information Village is equipped with a computer, modem,telephone, a small telephone exchange (EPABX), wireless equipment. Villianurhas now become the hub of the information and communication network. It has


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many project staff operators who produce and update all the databases toprovide information to the people. There are sub centres at three nearbyvillages, all within 20 km, Kizhur, Embalam and Veerampattinam, each oneestablished after ascertaining the need through participatory rural appraisal. Atsub centres, most of the system operators and volunteers are women. Thus theprogramme enhances the status and influence of women by making them the

providers of primary information.After information requirements are identified during a trial period, volunteersfrom the village create a local database comprising government programs forlow income rural families; cost and availability of farming inputs such as seedsand fertilisers, grain prices in different local markets; a directory of insuranceplans for crops and families; pest managements plans for rice and sugar cane;a directory of local hospitals, medical practitioners and their specialties; aregional timetable for buses and trains; a directory of local veterinarians, cattleand animal husbandry programs.

One survey in five villages covered by the project has revealed that people

benefit from securing information on employment, crops, fish markets, loans,dairy farming, real estate, veterinary services, weather and wave-heightinformation, bus service and power outage schedules, exam results, and publicaddress announcements.

In his article Information and Knowledge in the Age of ElectronicCommunication: A Developing Country Perspective Subbiah Arunachalamremarks:The entire project draws its sustenance from the holistic philosophy of

Swaminathan which emphasises an integrated pro-poor, pro-women, pro-Nature orientation to development and community ownership of technologicaltools against personal or family ownership, and encourages collective action forspread of technology [9]. Within the community, Swaminathan would prefer toreach out to women and the assetless first. Experience from India's GreenRevolution which he spearheaded has shown that if one starts with the poor,the rich also learn from the experience but the reverse is not true. The sameway if a woman is helped the entire family is helped. His vision is one ofdevelopment through job-led growth as against development which takes awayjobs.

In the article, Wiring up a Knowledge Revolution in Rural India Lalitha Sridhar

remarks:

Rural knowledge centres based on an integrated application of newcommunication technologies, like the internet and cable TV as well asconventional ones like community radio and the local language press, canbecome effective instruments for harnessing the power of partnership amongprofessionals, political leaders and public policy makers, the general public andrural families. Such partnerships alone can help to bridge the growing dividebetween scientific know-how and field level do-how.

Lalitha Sridhar suggests that a national grid of virtual universities/colleges

devoted to harnessing in an integrated manner the internet, cable TV,community radio and the vernacular press for reaching every woman and manin our villages can play a critical role in triggering a knowledge revolution in


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rural India.

Warana Nagar Rural Network Project [10]

The Warana Nagar rural network project, in Maharashtra whichcovers 70 villages and has come into limelight for the strength of its

cooperative societies. Local communities are using facilitation booths toaccess agricultural, medical and educational information on the Internet. Thenetwork consists of 10 computer servers, two small aperture terminals(VSATs), and about 165 personal computers. 27

IndiaShop [11]

Similarly, The Foundation of Occupational Development in India, whichoperates eleven telecentres, has also established a website called IndiaShop toprovide a market outlet to help indigenous crafts people and provide themmaximum benefits. As a result, role of middle man is minimized and an

isolated community is able to fetch much higher prices from internationalcustomers than from retailers in nearby cities.

Indias Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA)

Indias Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) hasbeen one of the first organisations in India to realise the potential for harnessingICT to help women in the information sector. It has 220,000 woman memberswho earn a living through their own labour or through small businesses. 12Many of SEWA's member organisations have their own web sites whichprovide opportunity to poor self-employed women to sell their products in theglobal virtual market place. 13 It is remarkable that these woman membershave access to software in the language of daily use. SEWA is engaged indeveloping software to enable grass-roots workers and members to make thebest use of the tools provided by ICT. Using ICT as a tool, SEWA has starteddistance learning in rural areas which delivers program for capacity buildingsuch as organising; leadership building; forestry; water conservation; healtheducation; child development, the Panchayati Raj System and financialservices.[14]

TARAhaat.com or Star Marketplace [15]

TARAhaat.com or Star Marketplace which has been able to registerbetween 5000 and 25,000 contacts per month is an internet gateway topromote sustainable livelihoods by promoting self employmentopportunities in local informal sector markets and the wider domestic andinternational economy. It connects the village user to information about socialservices, health, entertainment, and to markets, through a network offranchised cyber centres, customised in the language of their choice.

Star Marketplace has many good important features. It providesopportunity for sustainable livelihoods to those poor rural/tribal people who are

located in areas with limited economic opportunities and harsh living conditions.The design and format of the project which cater for the needs of people withwide variations in literacy, language, financial liquidity, and levels of


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understanding is based on extensive market research and socio-economicsurveys, including a house-to-house survey of selected villages in the region.The project is joint venture of the public and private sector including the IndiraGandhi National Open University. It has support from youth organisationsthrough the National Youth Cooperatives.

All the three components like content, access and fulfillment, which areessential for enhancing rural connectivity, provide TARAhaat project importantfeatures that go beyond simply using the Internet to communicate with its targetaudience. A mother portal provides the content in relation to law, governance,health and livelihoods. Access is given through a network of franchised localenterprises. Delivery of information, goods and services is provided by localcourier services or franchised TARAvans. The revenue streams of TARAhaatprovide for profit generation at each step of the supply chain, serving to furtherstrengthen its networks.

It is reported that the project, although still in its pilot stage has increased the

economic opportunities for the physically disabled and the franchisees. It hasalso improved access to education for rural girls. It has also providedgeneration of alternative sources of income for young people through desktoppublishing. 97The project illustrates a number of best practice features, which won it the 2001Stockholm International Challenge prize as best practice in the category of aGlobal Village. [16]

Opportunities for e-commerce-based Entrepreneurship in RemoteCommunities

Greenstar India [17]

Greenstar India has begun an E-commerce Movement in Indiaby introducing solar power, the Internet and digital culture to rural India. On 2October, 2000, Greenstar India announced in New Delhi and Los Angeles thatit would build 50 solar-powered community and e-commerce centres in remotevillages throughout India over the following three years. To generate incomethrough e-commerce, Greenstar gives prime importance to India's vivid anddiversified traditional culture. Working closely with the people of each village,a team of talented artists and teachers in Greenstar is focusing on elements of

rural Indian culture that include authentic art, music, legends, literature, historyand sacred way of life. These have long been a source of fascination by peopleeverywhere in the world.This original theme is already working in the Palestinian Authority and Jamaica.It is hoped that these efforts will eventually create a powerful, unique collectionof digital culture -- a gallery of music, artwork, photographs, video, poetry andother arts, which can be distributed in high-resolution digital form throughoutthe world, instantly and efficiently.

The revenues from digital culture will be used to fund basic needsof each village for its future, as decided by the people themselves -- deploying

tools that include clean solar power, telemedicine and vaccination resources,basic education, micro-credit, community organizing, and a high-speed, two-way connection to the world through the Internet.


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Middle-Income Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Young People

Our country has been able to create employment for thousands ofwomen and men through cyber kiosks or telekiosks. Telecentres are good

income generators for young people. India has witnessed a rapid growth inTelecentres which can provide access to business support services forunderprivileged groups. These internet kiosks are often upgraded STD(Subscriber Trunk Dialling) booths that are common in India. Starting fromsimple STD booth, to a system consisting of telephone, fax machine,photocopier, a computer, and the Internet, telecentre have evolved intoadvanced systems. A full service telecentre offers many phone lines, andmulti-media PCs with Internet access. Other equipment can include a high-volume black and white and/or colour printer, a scanner, a digital camera, avideo camera, a TV, an overhead projector, a photocopier, a laminator, meetingrooms, and a video conferencing room. We have different types of telecentres

to do everything from improving public health to extending education to a wideraudience to strengthening local democracy. We also call them by differentnames like community multimedia centres, telecottages, village knowledgecentres, community technology centres, telehuts, Internet learning centres,community access points, library computer labs and so onthey share acommon commitment : to help communities enter the information age andembrace the knowledge economy on their own terms. This is the telecentremovement today. Telecentres are being set up through public and privateinitiatives in telephone shops, schools, libraries, community centres, policestations, and clinics. Young people are particularly well placed to takeadvantage of such growth areas. The Indian Ministry of Information Technologyhas ambitious plans to convert over 6,000,000 public call offices (PCOs) intopublic tele-info-centres offering a variety of services such as Internet browsing,fax, e-mail and long distance phone calls.

Young people especially have a particular advantage in being ableto set up such enterprises because computer literacy and familiarity withmaintaining computer hardware are required to operate such telecentres.Telecentres or Internet kiosks offer a good opportunity as they involve fairly lowstart-up costs. By sharing the expense of equipment and skills, we candecrease costs and make these services viable in remote areas.

Income Generation through Cable Television.

There are 600,000 cable operators in India, most of which have a smallcustomer base of 50 to 100 households. Cable TV systems have beeninstalled in many rural /tribal areas to provide access to TV channels (typicallyfrom a satellite) for a fee. Satellite TV offers self-employment for young people,they can share the costs required for the purchase of satellite antennas andthen provide fellow villagers with paid access to cable television.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The main aim of this paper has been to show in practical terms how ICT can beused to generate employment for young people in tribal areas. Any countrywhose rural population is still mired in poverty and unemployment, and faces


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high rural-urban economic disparity cannot be termed as a developed country.Thus, development of rural economies is the real challenge for developingcountry like India s which has large rural/tribal population. For the newcommunications technologies to be of use to wider segments of the population,and not just a narrow base of society, a lot more needs to be done. Once westart thinking from this angle, we will realize that we need to correct our

development-oriented policies and actions.In India expansion of mobile phone networks and the growth in the number ofmobile phone subscribers has been phenomenal in recent years. It is notdifficult for a Tribal boy to buy a mobile phone, and then to make the telephoneavailable for others in the village to pay for phone calls, to send short messageservices (SMS) and to enable villagers to receive incoming calls. BSNL canalso launch this program at low tariff.

Similarly, youth can be offered small loans to establish public call offices orkiosks to provide a range of services including telephone, fax, e-mail andaccess to the Internet as well as photocopying and computer word-processing

services.Governments, the private sector, non-government agencies and localcommunities can, each in their own way, promote efforts to support youngpeople starting up enterprises based on ICT. However, enterprise supportprograms run by governments or international agencies have often had highfailure rates. Particular problems have been insufficient resources and staffand overly rigid and inappropriate procedures.

India's IT industry ranks among the fastest growing sectors within the country'seconomy. But it has largely restricted to urban areas only. It is time to breakthe traditional perception and the picture we conceive in our mind when anybody talks about rural/ tribal India. We should envisage rural areas as potentialIT farm where with the right awareness and education, infrastructure inputs, theright policy support, hard work, we can create a new generation of IT-trainedyouths which will ensure that rural/tribal areas provide us with many newproducts and services, besides agricultural produce. ICTs should beamalgamated with the education curriculum within government, government-aided and private schools, and public and private institutes in rural areas. Thiswill ensure that India becomes a repository of not only the young but young andIT-trained population.

Some of the good projects described in this article have also shown that itis possible through ICT for craft producers in poor and isolated regions to tapdirectly into regional, national and global markets. The participation of youngpeople in the development and implementation of initiatives involving the use ofICT to generate employment is likely to be a key factor in the success of suchinitiatives.

Tribal residents deserve an equal opportunity to participate in the nationaleconomy and determine their own destiny. Particular emphasis, as outlined inpaper, should be given on ICT to provide employment to tribal youths so that

they can integrate effectively in the Indian economy and the new GlobalEconomy. This new knowledge about new types of information sources, suchas emails and Internet, and about new ways of doing businesses, such as e-


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Commerce via credit cards would allow rural entrepreneurs to scale up theirbusinesses or think of new business opportunities. This in turn will attract morerural people and create more employment opportunities in rural areas.The final solution to providing service to tribal areas in India will require a

delicate blend of appropriate technological choices in combination withmanagement and financing mechanisms, initiated at the governmental level, to

support the development of tribal areas. There is a need to transform schemesand subsidies being given to rural/tribal areas. New schemes and projects needto be created which promote rural e-Entrepreneurship. Bank loans and creditlines should be extended to provide funds for rural e-commerce and other e-Services. Government of India could spur rural IT innovations by initiatingdistrict-wide, state-wide and national-wide incubation funds to promote ruralenterprises, and start long-term projects on IT on the lines of its forestryconservation, watershed development, and literacy for all campaigns.

NGOs need to transform too, and move out from a sterile approachto rural development to a more pro-active one. They should quickly adapt

themselves to changing technologies and educate themselves on the vastpotential of IT in rural areas when applied innovatively. Sadly NGOs workingtowards rural development in India have proved to less progressive than manyof the State Governments of India which are proving to be an important force inmaking ICTs work for the rural poor. These non-progressive NGOs are doingmore harm than good by not undertaking projects which create newemployment and entrepreneurship options to the rural population. They end upreinforcing the thinking that rural India is only about agriculture and farmers.

An integrated approach including participation of public sector, theentrepreneurs, the private sector, and the NGOs who consider themselves tobe in the business of "doing good, is required to catalyze information revolutionin Tribal India so that millions can be lifted out of poverty and be engaged inproductive employment not restricted to agricultural sector. Hence no timeshould be wasted in going ahead with the proposed plans.

REFERENCES

1. Peter Drucker, The Next Information Revolution, Forbes ASAP, 24 August

1998, 47-58.

2. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, press release no. 419 /2007, 15January 2007

3. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, press release no. 89 /2006, 12

September 2006

4. Telecommunications Revolution in India article by Mr NK Sinha,

Member of Telecom Commission, India

5. http://www.simputer.org/simputer/about/

6. F. Davis (1989), Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and user

acceptance of information technology,MIS Quarterly 13(3), 319340.

7. R.D. Mason and I.I. Mitroff (1973), A program for research on management
http://../wiki/January_15http://../wiki/January_15http://../wiki/2007http://../wiki/September_12http://../wiki/September_12http://../wiki/2006http://www.simputer.org/simputer/about/http://www.simputer.org/simputer/about/http://www.simputer.org/simputer/about/http://../wiki/2006http://../wiki/September_12http://../wiki/September_12http://../wiki/September_12http://../wiki/2007http://../wiki/January_15http://../wiki/January_15http://../wiki/January_15


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information systems,Management Science 19(5), 475487,

8. SETTING UP MULTIPURPOSEINFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

CENTRES IN RURAL AND TRIBAL AREAS OF INDIA, THE AISECT

EXPERIENCE, Presented By Santosh Choubey, Director General, All India

Society for Electronics and Computer Technology, E-8/54, Bharat

Nagar(Shahpura) Bhopal.

9. Subbiah Arunachalam "Blending the past with the modern: How

ecotechnology can change society" - An interview of Prof. M S

Swaminathan, GATE No. 3/1997 July-Sept, pp.32-36.

10. Waran Nangal ILO (2001): World Employment Report 2001 Life at Work in

the Information Economy, Geneva, p. 59.

11. Hudson, H.E. (2001): The potential of ICTs for development:

Opportunities and obstacles,

12. Nanavaty Reema, General Secretary, SEWA personal communication,

[email protected].

13. ILO (2001): World Employment Report 2001, p. 60.

14. Ibid.

15. www.tarahaat.com

16. http://www.challenge.stockholm.se/new_tavlande_index.html.

17.http://www.e-greenstar.com/and http://www.greenstar.org/
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.tarahaat.com/http://www.tarahaat.com/http://www.tarahaat.com/http://www.challenge.stockholm.se/new_tavlande_index.htmlhttp://www.e-greenstar.com/http://www.e-greenstar.com/http://www.greenstar.org/http://www.greenstar.org/http://www.greenstar.org/http://www.e-greenstar.com/http://www.challenge.stockholm.se/new_tavlande_index.htmlhttp://www.tarahaat.com/mailto:[email protected]

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