INDEX

Developed indigenously by scientists from the Indian Institute of Science and technologists of Encore Software, a private enterprise, the Simputer (Simple Computer) is a low-cost, portable alternative to personal computers. It is pegged as the first of its kind in the world as it promises to ensure that illiteracy is no longer a barrier to handling a computer. It permits simple and natural, user-friendly interfaces based on sight, touch and audio so one need not know English in order to operate it.

Problems of access to telecommunications in the developing world have often paled into insignificance beside those of gaining access to a working computer capable of connecting to the Internet. For a vast mass of the rural poor for whom a computer is probably as remote an option as a trip to the moon, the Simputer can well become the power button to prosperity. Reports indicate that the worldwide demand for it has already crossed the one million mark and the reasons are not far to seek.

Simple, portable and affordable

Expected to be priced at less than 200 US dollars per piece, the palm top will be quite affordable. It is aimed to be a shared computing resource for a local community of users - such as the village administrative committee or a kiosk or a shopkeeper. The farmer and the techie can use it alike. It is compatible with everyday PC, helps one check the e-mail, browse the Net for information and keep accounts. What makes it different from other hand-held devices is its smart card reader that enables it to be personalized and used on an individual basis.

Knowledge is undeniably synonymous with power and the advent of Internet has made access to knowledge an important means to power- be it social, economic or political. Little wonder then that the Internet has prompted a change in development thinking and many donor and multilateral lending organisations are radically reshaping their policies for the new information age.

There is no denying then, that developing countries have a lot to gain from the Internet. It can allow businesses to sell goods and services directly to customers across national boundaries and facilitate the delivery of basic services, such as health care and education that have been denied to millions. The Simputer with its low cost technology and access to Internet, is definitely a step towards the realization of this need. In a sense, the Simputer, which will be ready for commercial produce by August this year, sets at rest to some degree, fears of the growing digital divide expressed in many quarters.

The digital divide

Figures indicate that Internet users still account for only five per cent of the world's population. Furthermore, 85 percent of all Internet users live in developed countries where ninety percent of all Internet hosts are located. All this despite the fact that the number of Internet Web users in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern and Central Europe is expected to tide over the 25 million mark this year. In the Asia-Pacific region, Internet growth is projected to be even more - 29.3 million.

The rigmarole of figures and statistics apart, the Simputer points to another welcome development where solutions to access to IT and Internet can come from a developing nation.

The history of development assistance is replete with failed initiatives to transfer technologies to developing countries. There are any numbers of instances where shipments of generously doled out `imported' technology, be it television transmitters, turbines or tractors or even rail coaches, brought in to transform the developing societies have gathered dust in the communities they were meant to benefit. The reasons are obvious and justifiable. Such transfer of technology has seldom been accompanied by proper training of personnel or people in the communities they have been implanted in. The want of adequate spare parts for their upkeep has been another reason. The most important factor however, has clearly been the lack of feeling of ownership and involvement among the end beneficiaries.

The Simputer, an indigenous product of a country that has one of the greatest potential to use the Internet to tackle problems of poverty and illiteracy, steers clear of such inherent limitations.

Futhermore, unlike other technology sharing ventures that are purely driven by profit, the Simputer is driven by the collaborative approach whereby all of the technology is freely available to anybody. Accordingly, a trust has been set up to take the Simputer to the world. Its hardware and software specifications can already be downloaded free from www.simputer.org.

The trust has liberally borrowed its philosophy from the concept of "free software" propounded by a worldwide group of software developers. The group has created a new paradigm for the development and deployment of such popular software as Linux and also benefited from pioneering work done by the Free Software Foundation.

Simputer and education

The potential of using the Simputer to tackle illiteracy is immense specially since it is the young people who have the aptitude and the enthusiasm to push further advances in new communication technologies.The developing countries have a high population of young people. And yet, little or no access to education and literacy has crippled the potential advantages of this adaptable and potentially productive segment of population.

Limited use of English has acted as another constraint. Despite the increasing multilingual nature of the Net, the predominance of English has made it a barrier to many communities and countries. With its language sensitive interface and easy access to the Internet, the Simputer may well enable developing countries educate their young populations. There is already talk of rural or remote schools being able to access resources and information on the web at a very low cost. It can also leverage the pervasiveness of telephone lines and enable users to enjoy a new level of services from their net service providers.

Of course, the Simputer is not the end solution. Nor is it the only solution. There are other efforts underway as well such as the MIS Media Lab Research scientists work on developing a similar gadget costing half of what the Simputer would. What is heartening then, is not just that solutions to the digital divide are here, but that they are being found in the developing world.

Source: www.learningchannel.org

Project Contact Details:

The Simputer Trust

Dr. Swami Manohar (Trustee) & Dr. Vijay Chandru (Trustee)

Computer Science & Automation Management Studies

Indian Institute of Science Bangalore 560 012

Tel: (80) 3092648 Fax: (80) 3602911

www.simputer.org , simputer@csa.iisc.ernet.in

PicoPeta:

Vivek K S (ksvivek@picopeta.com), Ph: +91-80-3618184

PicoPeta Simputers Pvt. Ltd., http://www.picopeta.com

SUSTAINABLE ACCESS IN RURAL INDIA (SARI)

Pathinettangudi some 35 km from Madurai, which presents the look of just another underprivileged village. However, a silent IT revolution is brewing in the tiny hamlet where the illiterate farm workers use webcams, voice mail and e-mail regularly.

Similar is the communication technology spread in at least 30 other villages around Pathinettangudi, paving the way for the caste-conscious Melur to become the first cyber taluk in the country— courtesy the Sustainable Access in Rural Internet (SARI) project.

Villagers no longer run from pillar to post to get caste, birth and death certificates here. They simply download the application online and forward it through e-mail to the tahsildhar. The acknowledgement is received within hours and the certificate issued in a week.

``Earlier, we had to shell out at least Rs. 250 to get an income certificate or old age pension. Now, the cost is only Rs. 29, which includes a printout of the e-mail acknowledgement from the tahsildhar,'' says 70-year-old Mondi of Pathinettangudi.

`Public Access Internet Kiosks' have been established in 30 villages under the SARI project in association with the ``n-logue''. This government-public-private-institution partnership programme also involves the IIT Chennai, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard University.

Even as a good number of youth in Melur taluk are employed in the Middle East, their dear ones are no longer scared of ISD bills. It's just Rs. 25 an hour to see their wards live on screen through the interactive webcam. This, of course, besides the voice mail, chatting and e-mail.

That is not all. The agricultural labourers get their queries clarified online as well, thanks to the Madurai Agriculture College and the Research Institute of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University which is providing free counselling. The villagers also get close-up colour pictures of their eyes examined by specialists in the Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai and fix up appointments for surgeries.

``We are planning to provide online train, air and bus ticket booking. A free consultancy on veterinary sciences is also on the anvil,'' says S. Prem Anand, deputy manager of the ``n-logue'', who has been doing background work based at Melur for nearly two years now.

The man behind this achievement is Ashok Jhunjhunwala of the IIT Chennai, who developed the Wireless and Local Loop (WLL)-based Chordless Digitally Enhanced Telephony, says Mr. Anand.

The constant support and review of the SARI project by the Collector, S. Ramachandran, instils confidence in the villagers.

The technology provides highspeed Internet wireless access to more than 1,000 systems within a radius of 25 km radius. The kiosks have been established by individuals who took the risk of investing Rs. 50,000 in computer and multi-media and other accessories. Now the owners, who have installed the user-friendly Tamil softwares `Padhami', `Padhakkam' and `Minnal', make an average income of Rs. 2,500 a month and the patronage is growing steadily. As of now, a chunk of villagers in these 30 villages have e-mail identities, which they use for seeking assistance from the Government under various schemes. The SARI project has evoked excellent response from the Government and the public.

The technology is expected to take root all over the State soon, claim officials

Source: A village where IT is a way of life

By S. Vijay Kumar

The Hindu, Monday, Apr 22, 2002

Project Contact:

SARI in Madurai, Tamil Nadu

The Telecommunications and Computer Networks Group

Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science & Engineering

IIT-Madras, Chennai 600036

Tel/Fax: (044) 235-2120

JAL CHITRA

Just think of the potential of a software that allows users to create an interactive water-map of the village. This means, villagers would be better equipped to cope with drought. Thanks to IT (information technology).

Called Jal-Chitra, this software has been developed by Jaipur's Ajit Foundation, in close collaboration with the Barefoot College of Tilonia. Says Ajit Foundation's Vikram Vyas: "The advent of Personal Computer together with the development and expansion of Internet has provided us with a unique opportunity to bring the tools of scientific modelling and computation to rural development."

One "immediate area" where such tools can make a tangible contribution, he argues, is in the process of drought-proofing the villages lying in the arid and semi-arid regions of the developing world.

How is this done? An estimate of the monthly water demand and the monthly water availability from various sources is the starting point. Then comes the question of allocation of available water.

Likewise, a water-budget can be created. Solutions can range from water conservation, to the development of new water sources or water storage systems, where possible. Or even getting in water from external sources. Villagers need to balance between underground water and rainwater harvesting systems.

Once done, Jal-Chitra software aims at helping villagers to take advantage of information and communication technologies to exercise their right to manage their own water sources.

Jal-Chitra basically creates an interactive water-map of the village enables the community to keep records of the amount of water available from each water source,can record water quality testing, lists maintenance work done and required, estimates water demand, generates future monthly water budgets (based on past records), and shows the amount of community need met through rainwater harvesting systems.

In an interview with Vikram Vyas says, “I think Jal-Chitra can be used in any village which is in the arid or semi arid region of developing world. The greatest potential is that it will enable local democratic institutions, like panchayats (local village councils in India), to make more informed decisions regarding their own water sources. Jal-Chitra has potentialities of many further developments including use of satellite photographs and more sophisticated in-build models, perhaps based on neural-nets. I am looking for other people, software developers, to help me with this. I have been away from physics for too long and would like to return to it and spend most of my professional time teaching and doing research in physics. So further development of Jal-Chitra has to become a collaborative effort. Also, I am waiting for the response from the actual users.” He thinks that there is a need for the Hindi version of the users manual and software of Jal Chitra along with its incorporation in formal and informal educational systems.

Source: Infochangeindia Features / Frederick Noronha/Third World Network Features

Project Contact:

Vikram Vyas,

The Ajit Foundation,

396 Vasundhara Colony,

Tonk Road,

Jaipur 302 018

Email: visquare@satyam.net.in

SAUKARYAM

In Visakhapatnam, the homeport of the Indian navy’s eastern fleet, a different kind of facility has been making waves. Saukaryam has had the city on the move, perfecting home delivery of civic services and doing away with agonising queues and hungry middlemen. And, this gateway has taken just two years to transform the lives of the city’s residents.

When Sanjay Jaju took over as Visakhapatnam’s municipal commissioner in October 2000, there were the usual complaints -- long queues, an endless wait for birth certificates, building plans or, simply, to lodge a complaint. The civic service delivery system was dismal, no different from those elsewhere in the country.

In a bid to solve the problem, the 34-year-old IAS official, an M Tech from Bhopal’s Barkatullah University, turned to technology and came up with Saukaryam. The facility became operational in January 2001.

Today, Saukaryam is the pride of the city -- a model for e-governance since it guarantees instant delivery of civic services. It has even attracted international acclaim, winning a UNDP award and a nomination for the Stockholm Challenge.

Today, www.saukaryam.org registers two lakh hits a year. People can settle their bills online, check the status of building and water supply plans, receive direct information about births and deaths, track garbage clearance, even scan tender notices.

Saukaryam delivers online, a public-private venture created through broadband leased circuits. Banks, where payments to the corporation can be made, have also been linked to the metro area network.

But Jaju knows this is just the beginning. He has moved to west Godavari as its collector and has donated the $20,000 cash component of the UNDP award to the Saukaryam Foundation, created to take the project to other areas.

In west Godavari, he is busy with e-Seva, Saukaryam’s cousin. “I had planned the project for some time. One of the first things I did after taking charge in Visakhapatnam was to turn my dream into a reality,” says Jaju.

Source: www.indev.org, February 19, 2003

Project Contact:

Sanjay Jaju

Email: sjaju1@rediffmail.com

LOKMITRA – HIMACHAL PRADESH

The Chief Minister, Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, today formally launched Lokmitra Yojna, popularly known as e-governance scheme, at a village of the district. He dedicated the scheme to the people at a function held at Tounidevi this morning.

He also inaugurated a fully computerised railway booking counter at the main bus stand here. People of the district will be able to get their seats reserved from here from today onward.

This office has been connected with New Delhi through a computer network and the reservation of seats and their status will be made available within minutes, according to official sources.

Professor Dhumal sent a message from the Tounidevi information centre to Hamirpur through Internet which was immediately received. Ms Anuradha Thakur, Chairperson of the Lokmitra Society, gave details of the scheme to the Chief Minister and other participants.

This yojna is the Himachal version of the Gyandoot Pilot Project already going on in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh. Under the Nabard sponsored project, 25 information centres have been opened in various parts of the district.

People of the district, especially those living in interiors, will be able to send their complaints by paying a nominal fee to the owner of the centre. The person managing the centre will send the complaint to the district headquarters. The reply will be given to the complainant within one week.

Through this yojna, market rates of vegetables, fruits and other items will also be made available at all information centres. Moreover, people will also be able to send and receive information regarding their land records, income certificates, caste certificates and other official documents.

The National Informatics Centre of the state has supplied necessary software and hardware to the owners of the centres and they have also been trained to operate computers.

Two main servers and four terminals have been set up in the office of the Deputy Commissioner, nodal agency in the project. Daily mail coming from various information centres will be screened and then sent to respective offices. The reply received will again be sent through Internet to the owners of the centres concerned.

Prof Dhumal said Hamirpur was the first district in the state to have this facility. More centres would be opened in the district on the basis of the reports of the success of the scheme, he said.

He said efforts would also be made to make the state a leader in the field of info-technology network. He said info-tech parks were being opened in the state where hardware and software would be prepared by the youth of state.

Mr Suresh Chandel, MP, Ms Urmila Thakur, Parliamentary Secretary and other BJP leaders and senior officers were also present on the occasion.

Source: The Tribune, May 9, 2001

Project Contact:

National Informatics Centre

Himachal Pradesh state Unit,

H.P. Secretariat, SHIMLA-171002.

Ph. 91-177-224045

Email: sio@hp.nic.in

ICT INITIATIVES OF RAJASTHAN GOVT

Vikas Darpan – GIS based Planning & Decision Support System covers 40000 Tehsils on about 200 demograph and socio-economic indicators.

Rajasthan's Department of Information Technology has developed a state-wide intranet called 'rajSWIFT. This system uses the internet to facilitate online data, text and email communication between the Office of the Chief Minister and the 32 District Collectors.
RajNIDHI, a web-enabled citizen-service information kiosk framework, is a modern, transparent and responsive system. The government aims to provide greater transparency in government-citizen interactions through projects such as 'Aarakshi' (which provides field officers with online information on criminals); computerisation of the Ajmer Collectorate (including grievance monitoring systems); computerisation of hospitals; computerisation of the Registration and Stamps Department; and networking of the Secretariat.
Lokmitra : Electronic service by the state government. This provides access to govt transactions via the internet (www.lokmitra.gov.in) and e-kiosks. It is equipped with five e-counters connected to a central server. Any citizen can avail multiple services of different departments at these counters.

Services available:

Payment of electricity / water bills

Applications for new electricity / water connections

Payment of house tax

Issue of birth/death certificate

Application for trade licenses and payment of relevant fees

Reservation of bus tickets

ATMs of ICICI Bank

Contact:

Ravi Mathur, Secretary IT, Rajasthan Govt

mathurravi@rajasthan.gov.in

BHOOMI

Two decades ago, the village of Ramanagaram was the setting for the Bollywood action classic "Sholay" and the British Raj epic, "A Passage to India".

Today, it is back in the news but the theme has changed from a feudal vendetta and colonial rule to the power of computer networks to transform centuries-old habits of keeping land records.

Karnataka, which is championing the process to rebut criticism that its software boom is only for thee rich, now plans to guide the rest of India in a plan which is aimed at fighting corruption and boosting transparency.

"It is all low-cost," says Rajeev Chawla, a senior state revenue department official who is spearheading the e-governance initiative.

Amid the mango and coconut groves of Ramanagaram, farmers walk into a state-run " Bhoo Dhakilegala Malige", or land-record shop, and buy certified printouts of land records which help them verify or prove land ownership or tenancy.

In the process, they are nearly free from the whims, inefficiency and corruption associated with village accountants who create, change and supervise handwritten records.

Karnataka has some 6.7 million farmers and 17 million land records spread over 30,000 villages and is spending about 180 million rupees on the land-records project.

An additional bonus is a wealth of easily digestible data on irrigation, soil, crops, rights, tenancy and ownership which officials say will help in development planning.

No Confusion, No Corruption

The accountants, 9,000of them in Karnataka, still generate the records, but won’t be able to use the confusing burden of reams and reams of decades-old handwritten papers as cover for corruption.

Each accountant covers about four villages.

"Sometimes it used to take a week to get a land record copy, " 37-Year-old farmer Sivanna Dasiah, who bought a certificate to get a bank loan, told Reuters. "The Village accountant used to demand 50,100 or even 500 rupees sometimes for one copy,"

Farmers now happily pay 15 rupees for a printout.

Land records have been at the centre of bloody village disputes and legal wrangles in India, which has some 600,000 villages. Nearly 70 percent of the one billion strong population depends on agriculture.

The coffee town of Sakleshpur and the rural centre of Maddur led the way the land-record project earlier this year.

Ramanagaram, some 40 km from Bangalore, joined them in pioneering the practice, which Karnataka has now taken to 45 of its 177 talukas, or sub-districts, despite resistance at the local level.

Officials, who say the cost is easily recovered from the sale of land record copies, are now frenetically training two computer-friendly accounts for every sub-district.

The state plans to cover all sub-districts by March next year, and also link the local area networks over the Internet. The idea is to eventually license the database to Internet service providers who can use the data commercially.

Fingerprint-Based Access

Chawla, 39, is a computer science graduate from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, but unlike many of his schoolmates who flocked to Silicon Valley, he chose to become a modestly paid career civil servant. He says the project’s challenge was to ensure the records were tamper-proof and the system’s authenticity was not challenged.

"A Password hacking of land records means I am gone for a toss," he says.

A team from the state-run National Informatics Centre, software giant Microsoft Corp, computer maker Compaq Corp and Aditi Technologies Ltd has been helping him devise a Solution.

The companies worked for free, and the team evolved a fingerprint-based access to the software application in which land records generated by village accountants are entered. A small fingerprint recognition point is attached to each terminal.

This means that password-based hacking is not possible and those who change records will be identified by fingerprints.

The Computers also store digitally scanned copies of the original paper records approved in handwriting and signed by the accountants.

Once this is done, handwritten records are banned. Chawla said this would ensure that in future, all records could be systematically updated and tracked over computers.

The computers also help in tracking the status of applications involving change of ownership, which in the past has been a source of red tape and corruption.

In the land record shops, villagers have a terminal facing them, where they can watch what officials processing their applications on another terminal are doing.

Karnataka’s neighboring state and technology competitor, Andhra Pradesh, has launched a similar project. A plan to transfer land records to computers is due to be finished in June.

Source:

Yahoo News - 31st MAY 2001

Technology Transforms Rural Records in Karnataka.

By Narayanan Madhavan

Project Contact:

Rajeev Chawla, IAS

Additional Secretary Revenue Department

Room No. 630, III Stage, 6^th Floor

M.S. Building

Bangalore 560001 INDIA

Tel: +91 (80) 226-2104

Email: js-lrf@revdept.kar.nic.in

URL: http://www.revdept.kar.nic.in/

GYANDOOT

On January 1, 2000, Dhar district began the new millennium with installation of low cost, self-sustainable and community owned rural Intranet project. Dhar district is located on the south western corner of the central India and has a population of 1.7 million, with 54% population being tribal ( Bhils, Bhilalas, patleiyas) and 60% population living below poverty line. Computers in 20 village centres in five Blocks of the district were wired through an Intranet network (presently there are 31 such wired village centres). Local rural youth act as entrepreneurs for running cybercafes-cum-cyberoffices on commercial lines without salary or stipend. The computers in the network have been established in Gram Panchayats (Village Committee). They have been called Soochanalayas (Information Kiosks). The Soochanalayas provide user-charge-based services to the rural people. This Intranet system has been named Gyandoot (Messenger of Informat

SOOCHAK ( Manager/owner of the kiosk)

The person operating the Soochanalaya is a local matriculate operator and is called Soochak. A soochak is not an employee but an entrepreneur. Soochak only needs maintenance and numeric data entry skills. He needs very limited typing skills since most of the Intranet software is menu-driven.

The Soochaks for originally started 20 centres were selected interactively by village committees and the local community. Three member panels were selected by the community who received training at their own cost at the District Council. At the end of the training, the best trainees were selected out of a panel of three as Soochaks. He / she runs the Soochanalaya on commercial lines. He has an initial one year agreement with the village committee. He does not receive any salary. He bears the cost of stationery, maintenance and electric and telephone bills. He pays 10% of income as commission to the Zila Panchayat (District Council) for maintaining the net.

The 11 centres started as private enterprise, the Soochak is the owner of the establishment who pays Rs. 5,000 as a license fee for one year to district council. Each Soochak is expected to earn a net income of at least Rs. 36,000 per annum at conservative projections.

SERVICES AND FACILITIES :

During the formation of the project proposal a detailed RRA/PRA exercise was taken up involving the villagers and the community. The selection of the services was a result of this interactive exercise and was based upon the advice and the felt needs of the villagers. In these meetings, it was learnt that due to lack of information regarding the current and prevailing mandi (agriculture produce auction centres) rates, the farmers were unable to get the best price for their agricultural produce. Villagers also informed that copies of land records were difficult to obtain. The villager who requires a copy of the land record had to go out in search of the patwari (village functionary who maintains all land records) who may or may not be available on that particular day at his headquarters. For small complaints or for giving applications, people had to go to district headquarter which resulted in waste of time, money and potential livelihood earnings. The services offered on the Gyandoot network are:

Agriculture Produce Auction Centres Rates:

The variety-wise current and prevailing rates of prominent cereal crops of the district like wheat, gram, soybean, etc. at local and other prominent auction centres of the country are available on-line. Other statistics of the auction centres e.g. the volume of incoming agricultural produce, previous rates etc. are also provided on demand. The facility is available at a nominal charge of Rs. 5. Horticulture crops like tomato, potato, peas, green chillies, guava etc. are also produced in substantial quantity in the district. The rates of these commodities are also available.

On-line Registration of Applications:

So far, the villagers had to go to the local revenue court to file applications for obtaining income / caste / domicile certificates or for getting demarcation done or for obtaining landholder's loan passbook (rin pustika) etc. For this, they would again made repeated visits to the court to enquire about the progress of the application as well as to finally collect the prepared document. Now, through Soochanalayas they may send the application at a cost of only Rs. 10 and thereafter, in a maximum period of 10 days, preferably less, an intimation of the readiness of the certificate is sent back to them through e-mail at the concerned Soochanalaya. Thereafter, they may go to the concerned court to collect the certificate.

On-line Public Grievance Redressal:

Wherever there is some problem in the delivery of services, the villagers travel at the cost of time, money and livelihood to Block, tahsil or district headquarters without any certainty that they would even be able to meet the officer concerned. Now through the Soochanalaya, a villager may send his / her complaint with assurance of reply within a maximum period of seven days, preferably lesser, at a charge of Rs. 10. The reply to his complaint after redressal is sent back at the Soochanalaya through e-mail. Complaints available on the intranet include complaints regarding drinking water, scholarship sanction / disbursement, quality of seed / fertiliser, employee establishment matters (like leave or provident fund sanction) queries, functioning of school, public distribution system, beneficiary oriented schemes, functioning of village committee etc.

Rural e-mail facility:

A fee based e-mailing facility, which is provided in the intranet, and it has all the features and facilities of a state-of-the-art web based e-mail.

Village auction site:

This facility is started since July 2000 where auction facilities are available to farmers and villagers for land, agricultural machinery, bullocks or equipment or other durable commodities. It opens a new horizon of e-transactions in the rural areas. The middlemen involved in the rural commodity transaction market are sought to be eliminated through this facility. One can put one’s commodity on sale for charges of Rs. 25/- for three months. One can browse the list of salable commodities for Rs. 10/-.

On line matrimonial site:

A fee based on-line matrimonial service for the villagers to choose the right match for a prospective bride/groom. Every entry from a Soochanalaya by a villager gets added on to a centralized database with search facility on various criteria. The user charges for service rendered is Rs. 25/- for three months. The program has been designed to suit the requirements of the villagers.

Information regarding government programmes :

Detailed Information regarding over a hundred government programmes is now available on the Gyandoot Intranet. The villagers have an access to the information regarding all government programmes related to rural development.

Sawaliram se puchiye:

This site provides opportunity to schoolchildren to ask inquisitive questions regarding career counseling or any other field from Sawaliram at no cost. A team of experts at the district headquarter provide the answers within three days. The facility is created to promote inquisitiveness, ability to inquire and scrutinize among the school children.

Ask the expert:

This facility is aimed at farmers and villagers who can inquire about latest techniques, advice for their problems, new technologies etc. from a group of experts pertaining to fields of agriculture, animal husbandry, health, or related to legal opinion. The service is provided at Rs 5/- user charge.

Free E-mail facility on social issues:

Free of cost option are available to the villagers to inform regarding child labour, child marriage, illegal possession of land belonging to Scheduled Tribes etc. Besides they can send e-mails to others connected through the net with the help of this facility in Hindi.

Avedan Patra:

This facility provides on-line application formats required by local administration and departments of the state government. Thus, application forms are available at the doorsteps of the villagers and avoid their running from pillar to post for these application forms.

Transparency in government working:

Updated and latest information regarding public distribution system, list of below poverty line families, beneficiaries of social security pension, beneficiaries of rural development schemes, information regarding government grants given to village committees, etc. are available on the intranet which makes the government functioning transparent.

Gaon ka Akhabar (Village Newspaper):

A local web-based newspaper is available to cater to the rural people. The newspaper delivers micro-news about the happening around the villages where Soochaks act as correspondents.

E-education (shiksha gyandoot):

This site contains reading material to supplement and help the students in understanding and learning their subjects in a better way. It contains things like syllabuses of various subjects taught in class X and XII, question banks developed by a team of experts to help in preparation of exams, chithi to help them keep in touch with other schools connected to the intranet etc.

Employment News:

This site contains employment news for semi skilled employees.

Below Poverty line list:

The site contains the whole list of below the poverty line families and anyone can check his her name in the list.

STRENGTHENING OF PROJECT:

In order to make Soochanalayas economically viable entities and to improve the functioning of the project following steps are being taken:

Additional facilities at Soochanalayas :

To make Soochanalayas economically viable soochaks are given licenses to vendor government judicial stamps and powers of petition writer are also delegated to them. Due to the delegation of above mentioned powers additional incomes are possible and the Soochanalayas are becoming virtual cyber offices. .

On-line linking of all departments with gyandoot server :

A local Area Network (LAN) linking all the major district offices has been installed. As a result, the district heads of various government departments like health, education, tribal development, revenue, food, agriculture, public health engineering, District Council and District Magistrate etc. are connected directly to gyandoot network. This provides backup support and logistics to gyandoot network.

Wireless in Local Loop:

The Gyandoot Samiti is introducing low cost TDMA based Wireless in Local Loop (WiLL) technology in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai. This technology will facilitate large scale multiplication of Soochanlayas in the hinterland where traditional plain old telephone system has not reached. The technology has power to increase access speed and provide reliable connectivity. The technology will also help the kiosk operator to run two connections at a time, e.g. STD PCO (voice connectivity) and Internet/Intranet ( data communication).

E-education initiatives:

The Gyandoot Samiti, with the help from Member of Parliament, has established 34 kiosks at the high schools and higher secondary schools. We are providing them local educational contents through the server. They are also accessing internet for other educational contents. Each school is having Computer Club to promote activities related to IT among rural students.

EXPANSION OF THE PROJECT:

Some fundamental guidelines were framed for future expansion. They were:

1). Centers to be opened only in the villages where local telephone exchange is having OFC and fair connectivity,

2). New centers to be created through private investment.

3). New services and facilities to be introduced in phased manner.

THE NEW FACILITIES PLANNED OVER NEXT TWO YEARS :

1. E-News for the district

2. Distance education

3. Registration of property transaction

4. Feedback system on the development programmes

5. “Bare foot doctor”

ACTION PLAN FOR INCREASING USAGE OF THE NETWORK

A comprehensive and integrated multi-media mass campaign concentrating on IEC activities has been launched in the district. The campaign focuses on penetration and propagation of the project in the hinterland of the district. Indian Institute of Management, Indore is collaborating to provide structured inputs for the IEC activities. The steps taken include:

Gyandoot medhavi chhatra (talented students) scholarship:

From the funds available with gyandoot, two scholarships each of Rs. 1,000/- per month for 5 years have been announced. For the scholarship, only those students of the district would be eligible who motivate 10 or more villagers to use gyandoot facilities between the period 1^st September to 31^st December 2000. The scholarships will be finalised through an on-line test of the eligible students and the result of the test would be declared on 26^th January 2001. This scheme uses the services of the students to propagate new technology and its power among the rural masses.

Visit of school children to nearest Soochnalaya :

Students of class IX, X, XI, XII are t