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Table of Contents
Features
IT For The Common Man: Lessons from India
Kenneth Keniston
The KIOSK Networks: Information nodes in the rural landscape
Aditya Dev Sood
ICT innovations by civil society organizations in Rural India: De-hyping ICTs
T T Sreekumar
Rendezvous
Digital GMS
The Indian development experience
ICTs for development
Columns
Insight, What's on, Last Word
 

Bangalore, 11 to 12 March, 2003

ICTs for Development

formation needs of remote,illiterate and marginalized communities,under-served by mainstream media.It is closest to oral cultures and has a huge potential for com- munication.

Radio provides support to poor wom- en seeking to reclaim their autonomy vis- à-vis their agriculture and food production in the context of globalisation,loss of sov- ereignty and pressures to mainstream.It helps their struggle towards autonomous markets,by promoting horizontal commu- nication and allows a legitimate space for discussing issues that mainstream media may not be interested in.

Several NGOs have used community radio as both a communication tool and to extend the reach of their work.The Dec- can Development Society (DDS)has used radio for discussing its development strat- egies,ecological practices of people,nu- tritional superiority of local crops etc.

The UNDP funded Kutch Mahila Vi- kas Sanghatan (KMVS)experience has highlighted the potential of radio for cre- ating and keeping alive intangible com- munities in the overall socio-economic context of the erosion of geographic com- munities.It uses the Kutchi language, which All India Radio does not. The Drishti Media Collective provid- ed early technical support to the KMVS team.KMVS feels that their radio experi- ence has revitalized debates on culture and identity,through carefully researched and packaged content and has helped foster a sense of ‘Kutchi ’ identity.

Experiments demonstrate People's capabilities
The presentations of the four models by community radio practitioners were a tes- timony to the technical and managerial ca- pabilities of the poor and the marginalized to use the medium of community radio. With the support of NGOs committed to the cause of an autonomous communica- tion medium for the poor and the mar- ginalized,communities in different parts of the country have used the radio to voice their aspirations,grievances,and demands.

Role of NGOs
Capacity building has been a fundamen- tal agenda for NGOs that have trained communities to use the radio.VOICES, for instance,has used participatory proc- esses to train women from self-help groups in station management and content pro- duction.It has set up a management com- mittee for community mobilization and for assessment of the programmes.The training by NGOs spans not only techni- cal dimensions of programme production but also includes attention to perspective building about gender,art and culture etc. The perspective that informs programme production by women in DDS is heavily influenced by the development priorities that have emerged through their associa- tion with DDS.Considerable focus is giv- en to indigenous knowledge about agricultural practices.

Models
The actual modus-operandi of the differ- ent initiatives has been varied.KMVS and AID buy time on All India Radio.VOIC- ES and DDS have their own production centre and narrow-cast recorded pro- grammes through tape recorders.The VOICES project in Boodikote has received funding from UNESCO and is in the process of setting up a cable audio network to enable every household to receive pro- grammes,overcoming the limited reach as- sociated with tape-recorders.

The centrality of community partici- pation in the production of content is a crosscutting non-negotiable in each of these initiatives.Also,the experience of the different groups iterates that technology is only a tool and what is central is the larger social process.

Content
The AID experiment and the KMVS ex- periment,which use AIR as a platform, have successfully used the radio as a medi- um to address governance issues,focusing on issues such as accountability or lack of responsiveness on the part of the adminis- tration.The programme content,in the case of KMVS reflects the aspirations of people associated with the organisation – the field workers,and the villagers.

Namma Dhwani,initiatied by VOIC- ES has used community radio to address local information needs about government schemes,sericulture,and has even linked up with the school in the area to enable children to make their own programmes.

A cable connection has been laid between the audio center and the school.Teachers have used the medium to make model les- sons.They have partnered with the Re- source Centre of MYRADA,an NGO working in the Boodikote area,to build the capacities of women ’s self-help groups and build a process that focuses on the pri- orities of women in these groups.

For the UNDP supported KMVS, making the programme content entertain- ing and reflective of the needs and aspira- tions of the community has assumed central importance given the extent of their reach.Their explorations in packaging content,charts a course that has seen a shift from a drama to a magazine format.This shift has coincided with an emphasis on moving towards direct community partic- ipation through segments like Lok Math (people ’s opinion),Parda Farsh (Expose) and Charcha (debate).The challenge has been to keep listenership alive in 950 vil- lages in Kutch.Also,the team has been grappling with complex questions in trans- forming cultural-specific content to suit programming needs.

The KMVS team also feel that newer media can give traditional art and culture a new lease of life,by engaging with tradi- tional forms and creating new more sus- tainable,hybrid forms of expression and communication.For instance,Musafari is one of the key dimensions of their maga- zine,which resurrects Kutch history,art and culture and tries to reinterpret them in the contemporary context.Spaces have been created within these slots to feature dying art forms such as Vai singing.KMVS also believes that their approach has been to constantly ask questions,even of tradi- tional legends,and thus the medium has been a platform to argue with traditions as well as modernity.

Outcomes and Impact
Today,in the case of KMVS,women lead- ers of sanghatans ,who are part of the ra- dio experiment feel that they have acquired legitimacy among their counterparts work- ing on other development issues,such as wa- tershed development.Many communities have expressed confidence in being able to run radio stations on their own,having ac- quired the requisite skills through their in- volvement in NGO-supported processes.

The radio has been used as a medium to reinforce ethnic identity and promote community cohesion during times of reli- gious tension.During the Gujarat riots, KMVS called upon the people of Kutch through the radio to invoke the values of tolerance and plurality embedded in their Kutchi identity.Community radio has also supported NGOs like AID in their mobi- lization and conscientisation efforts in ex- tremely tough contexts such as the remote parts of Daltonganj in Jharkhand where access to basic rights and services has been an uphill task for people.The AID project is supported by the National Foundation for India (NFI).

Community radio has brought agen- das about women ’s socio-political rights to the public domain.Various radio experi- ments across the country have used the medium as a platform to address women ’s participation in the political process,wom- en ’s right to education,dowry deaths,vi- olence against women,female foeticide, etc.All initiatives have recognized the need to structure spaces for women ’s par- ticipation.For instance,the Namma Dhwani project is almost completely run by women members of the self-help groups associated with MYRADA ’s Community Resource Centre.

Research on impact has been useful to KMVS.The relevance and need for such research has also been felt by VOICES who have begun a well planned study based on quantitative and qualitative methods.

What the Assessments Tell us
A review of the AID initiative indicates that the listeners feel a greater sense of identification with the programme differ- entiate it from All India Radio.

A preliminary review of KMVS indi- cates that people repose faith in the trans- formatory potential of the radio.Both reviews also testify a wide listenership. Community autonomy in production of programmes and content has meant flexi- bility to respond appropriately and quick- ly to community crises.Post-earthquake programming by KMVS has been a plat- form for exchange of ideas.

Women who have volunteered to be part of community radio initiatives feel the process has empowered them considera- bly.However,socio-cultural barriers at the community and household levels affect women ’s listenership negatively,a fact that was borne out in the evaluation of the AID and KMVS experiences.A challenge for KMVS has been to enhance women ’s sense of ownership vis-a-vis the programme.

Hybride Models
Experiments from other parts of the world also suggest that Internet and CD-based resources can make a contribution to com- munity radio initiatives.The cable televi- sion network also allows for innovations in technology.

The Legal Framework
While the development philosophy in In- dia has empowered mass media,state con- trol continues to be a critical issue.The demand by communities currently using the radio as an autonomous medium is to be understood as a claim in a participa- tory democracy to manage,and control their own communication medium.For the voluntary sector,it can serve as a re- source towards their development efforts.

The government,for the first time,has opened a window to community radio. Recent guidelines allow application for licenses by education institutions.While this may create spaces for partnerships and collaboration between the development sector and the education institutions,this cannot substitute for a community-owned media,which will recognise the right of the people,specifically the poor,to be pro- ducers of information.

The guidelines specify that licenses will be granted to recognized educational in- stitutions.Programme content can address issues of education,health,environment, and rural development,but cannot be used for commercial advertising or for pro- grammes on news or current affairs.The transmitter power should be not more than 50 watts,covering 5 to 10 kms.A public notice in the first week of February invit- ed educational institutions to apply.

Participants at the consultation raised questions regarding the operationalisa- tion of the guidelines,particularly the scope for community participation and the issue of sustainability.Given that the guidelines prohibit advertising,there are questions about how initiatives will raise revenue.Connected to revenues is the

The radio has been used as a medium to reinforce ethnic identity and promote community cohesion during times of religious tension. During the Gujarat riots, KMVS called upon the people of Kutch through the radio to invoke the values of tolerance and plurality embedded in their Kutchi identity

aspect of sponsorships about which the guidelines are unclear.Whether sponsor- ships from the Ministry of Environment or from other sources for making pro- grammes on environment,gender,rural development would be allowed was raised as a specific issue.There were also questions about what the spectrum fee would constitute.

Current financial models
In the case of India,the issue of sustaina- bility is linked to the need for a legal frame- work that will give the current initiatives their legitimacy. The radio experiments indicate that production of content per se requires low recurrent costs.The initial capital costs in the case of AID has been no more than Rs.2.5 lakhs.The organization spends annually 5 to 6 lakhs on its staff,which

Radhika Kaul Batra and Surekha
Subarwal from UNDP with Umesh
Anand from Times of India

comprises 16 reporters,one technical per- son and one programme coordinator.The weekly slot on AIR costs them Rs.2500, per slot.The models presented at the Con- sultation are all invariably built on the motivation and energies of community based volunteers,and the sustenance of the programme,depends almost wholly on sustaining this involvement.

While there are models (such as the Lumbini experiment from Nepal based on the cooperative model)that demonstrate financial viability,replication may be dif- ficult and any adaptation will have to ac- count for local specificities.Examples from other parts of the world show that collec- tion of subscriptions and fund raising events can be sources of revenue.The Madan Pokhara initiative in Nepal also has used extremely innovative methods like rice-collection drives for mobilizing fi- nances.The support of donors is also im- portant.The Namma Dhwani project has explored linkages with many institutions to address sustainability.For training and ca- pacity-building the project has been sup- ported by the All India Radio;the local Panchayat has given some space for running the project;the project has obtained tech- no-managerial support from CECI.

Examining E-Governance

The Context
The challenge for many countries today is to develop institutions and practices that are responsive to the needs of ordinary cit- izens,particularly the poor.E-governance is seen by the UNDP as an important part of this process,given the potential that it has for delivering information and govern- ment services.E-governance is being used by governments to strengthen their elec- toral and legislative systems,improve ac- cess to justice and public administration, and develop a greater capacity to deliver basic services to those most in need.

During the last few years,the Central and State governments in India have launched many e-governance initiatives. The gamut of areas that IT seeks to im- pact include health and education;social services like pension,registration of licens- es,granting of certificates;rural services like provision of land records;services in the agricultural sector that include weath- er forecasts and information on market prices;redressal of public grievances etc.

To overcome the constraints posed by lack of finances to implement e-governance initiatives,governments are increasingly partnering with the private sector.Public- private partnerships (PPPs)can increase competition and efficiency in service pro- vision,expand coverage,and reduce de- livery costs.

E-governance facilitates open and trans- parent governance,supporting people ’s right to know.It is therefore an important tool for citizens ’ access to information. The right to information is being accepted as a necessary adjunct to participatory democ- racy the world over.In India,the right to information movement has resulted in eight states introducing legislation to sup- port this.At the national level,the Parlia- ment recently passed the Right to Information Act.

The consultation sought to locate e- governance and the role of PPPs in deliv- ering services to citizens through IT-supported initiatives within the larger question of access to information.Exper- iments initiated by the government as well as civil society were discussed.

Tele-medicine and Public-Private Partnerships
The case of Narayana Hrudayalaya was presented to discuss how the potential of tele-medicine can be realised through part- nerships.

The presentation emphasized how reaching tertiary health care to remote ar- eas can be made possible by the training of medical doctors in these remote areas in basic diagnostics and by linking these areas with a speciality hospital through the aid of ICTs.This link in the form of on- line connectivity will allow for communi- cation between the health care seekers and specialists,bringing down costs involved in diagnosis and treatment (except in the few instances where speciality hospital based care is required.)

The Narayana Hrudayalaya experience demonstrates the possibilities of tele-med- icine in coronary care.Tele-medicine how- ever requires high investment – a high bandwidth connectivity is imperative for enabling the patient at one end to ‘see ’ and interact with the specialist at the other end. The success of Narayana Hrudayalaya is rooted in its partnership with the govern- ment health system,as also a tie-up with a cutting edge technological government set- up like the Indian Space Research organi- zation,which provides the connectivity solution for the endeavour.

A shift towards Tele-health

While tele-medicine addresses speciality health care and curative aspects of health, the high investment it calls for raises ques- tions about opportunity costs.Given the pressing need for primary and preventive health care,in a country like India,a shift towards tele-health (which focuses on pre- ventive aspects of health rather than cura- tive)seems a more cost-effective approach. The Narayana Hrudayalaya experiment perceives its forays into coronary care, which emphasizes speciality care,as a stra- tegic way to gain access to the rural health care network of the government,and then gradually move towards preventive health care.The initiative started with coronary care since this area of health care is cur- rently unavailable to most people in re- mote areas within the Primary Health Care system and since the government ’s acqui- escence could therefore be easily bought in.The initiative is moving towards other health care areas and sees a role for itself in areas like paediatrics.

Another aspect of the discussion per- taining to this presentation was about the need to look at health insurance for the poor as crucial to accessing health care, given that mobilizing finances for access- ing care is the single-most significant bot- tleneck in the realm of health care.

E-governance - Government Initiatives

Presentations about the UNDP funded Saukaryam project -in Andhra Pradesh, the West Godavari e-seva project -also in Andhra Pradesh,and Bhoomi – in Karna-- taka,provided the background to discuss the scope of partnerships in e-governance (primarily between the private sector and the government)and to raise issues im- pacting development and democracy.

How Partnerships have worked in Saukaryam and E-seva The Saukaryam and West Godavari mod- els showcase the possibilities to enable the provision of civic services through the aid of information technology.The Saukar- yam initiative sees connectivity as bring- ing government services closer to citizens. Launched by the Visakhapatnam Munici- pal Corporation,the project delivers a host of civic services online.The Saukaryam model has seen the deployment of ICTs in a context where the Municipal Corpo- ration of Vishakapatnam had no resourc- es for computerization.

While the data entry and updation was carried out by the corporation staff them- selves,the software and programme devel- opment was taken up as a joint exercise between the in-house software wing and a private site developer willing to bring in stakes in the project.The networking across the city was done by a private band- width supplier (cable operator)in lieu of which the firm was offered rights to run the line for other commercial applications in the city.Most of the citizen centers were opened in the local bank branches that invested in the provision of necessary hard- ware.In lieu of this banks were allowed to retain collected funds for a fixed period giving them liquidity advantage.

The involvement of multiple stakehold- ers enabled the completion of the project in three months without putting any ad- ditional burden on the resources of the corporation.Building on the Saukaryam experience,the West Godavari initiative has tapped on unused money under the self-employment schemes of the govern- ment,roping in the DRDA,and the SC Corporation.

Bhoomi-Looking for Private Sector Involvement

The Bhoomi project is based on a compu- terised database allowing farmers to access The Bhoomi project revolutionized delivery and maintenance of land records.





and update land records through kiosks. Legacy data has been captured by the project,covering 200 lakh records in 1 billion data fields.Bhoomi has successful- ly placed land records in the public do- main.Currently there are 177 Bhoomi kiosks covering 27000 villages.Bhoomi sells 7 lakh records every month and earns Rs.1 crore on these transactions and is an example of a revenue-earning model.

Bhoomi is faced with certain challenges at this juncture.Given the abolition of the manual system,which operated out of 10000 delivery points,farmers now have to travel great distances to obtain a land record.Up-scaling the project has now be- come a dire necessity but the government does not have the wherewithal to expand the project.Also,expansion brings with it the need to provide adequate support in terms of maintenance and networking.

The Bhoomi project is keen on private sector involvement.The government wants to keep Bhoomi alive and take it to many more delivery points at sub-district levels,by positioning the land records da- tabase as a ‘killer-application ’ which will ensure kiosk operators a minimum income of Rs.3000 a month.This advantage,it is hoped will see a convergence of interests of both government and private players in the information kiosk business.The project is already exploring partnerships with the private sector for ‘retailing ’.The franchisee model is already working in Mandya with the partnership of n-Logue.


Maurice Dewulf,Senior Deputy Resident Representative,UNDP,addressing the meet

E-Governqance: Some Insights
  • Technology has been innovatively used in the West Godavari case to bring down costs.The networking solution allows for the e-seva site to synchronise only twice in the day with the district server and work offline for the entire day.
  • In the case of Saukaryam,e-seva and Bhoomi,government records have now been placed in the public domain. Bhoomi has also gone a step further and invalidated the manual system,effec- tively addressing corrupt practices and exploitation.
  • Putting out tax related documents in the public domain as in the case of Vishakapatnam,has also meant for the corporation,better collection of tax dues.
  • The e-governance initiatives also dem- onstrate innovative ways in which citi- zen to citizen interactions can happen.
  • The potential for replication is being realised with the cities of Ahmedabad, Delhi,Indore,Guwahati etc.emulat- ing the Vishakapatnam model.
  • The partnership approach has made it possible for the Saukaryam model to achieve sustainability.Although the in- itiative owes its conception and design to a government official,the onus of keeping it going is a shared responsi- bility;other stakeholders are keen to keep the service going in view of the money they have brought in.
  • Models that are financially viable are usually dependent on one core applica- tion that will guarantee the information kiosk delivering services,a dependable minimum income.In the case of West Godavari,where there are 50 kiosks, electricity bill payments provide this core revenue;the electricity department pays the government Re1 per transac- tion and this amounts to an earning of Rs.3000 per month per kiosk.
  • There is a considerable demystification in government circles about e-govern- ance.Many corporations around the country have realised that putting up a website need not be a very costly affair.
Issues concerning E-Governance Can Panchayats be at the Core of E-governance?
The exclusion of the Panchayat system in the design of e-governance is a critical gap in the paradigm.The computerization of Village Panchayats is seen as a Herculean task by the government and lack of funds is also cited as a stumbling block.

Also,both officials who presented the Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka initia- tives at the Consultation were of the firm opinion that creating a parallel ICT driv- en system managed by the private sec- tor /entrepreneur was the only way to bring in reform in governance,since government-owned kiosks would in all likelihood run into trouble,putting the sustainability of the venture to risk.Also, the huge investment warranted by IT initiatives is impossible to make given the various development priorities for governments.

Revenues from E-governance
There are public interest issues arising from government partnerships with the private sector for delivery of e-governance based services.One question is about whether it is ethical for the government to profiteer out of service charges.Implied in this is also the question about how surpluses from running e-governance based services will be ploughed back for benefiting the citi- zen in general and the poor in particular.

Marketisation of Information
There are inherent paradoxes in getting ICTs to the realm of governance that is illustrated in the Bhoomi example.For instance,if the database of the land records as in the case of Bhoomi is made available to the many government departments that a citizen usually interacts with,then the citizen will only need to submit his/her record number or identification number instead of paying for and availing a new authenticated record each time he/she is required to transact with the government. However,for the government this would mean lower revenues,posing a problem for the government administra- tion – if revenues come down,,how will data updation,maintenance and expan- sion be undertaken?Today,the absence of outlays in the government for e-gov- ernence projects mean that costs are trans- ferred to the citizen in the name of a more efficient and more transparent system.

Civil Society Engagement with Institutions of Governance

The sessions in the Consultation which explored citizen-government partnerships in governance focused on case studies of The Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) and Public record of Operations and Fi- nance (PROOF),which looked at chal- lenges for civil society in engaging with government institutions.

Bangalore Agenda Task Force

In 1999,the state government of Karna- taka appointed at task force to improve the city of Bangalore.The BATF is a pri- vate sector partnership with the govern- ment,which has resulted in the creation of a platform for citizen-government in- teractions.Seven stakeholders,including, the head of the city corporation,the po- lice,the Bangalore Development Author- ity and the water supply department meet the citizens at bi-annual summits,which the BATF calls the accountability plat- form.At the summits the heads of these organizations declare their plans for the next 6 months and also present their achievements for the previous six months. This mechanism has worked towards ena- bling government structures to set realis- tic goals and deliver on time.

In the case of BATF,unlike typical part- nerships where private enterprises make money,the focus has been on public good, wherein the government has empowered certain professionals and individuals,to act for larger public good.There is no com- merce involved.The primary contribution of the BATF has been in improving the financial accounting and information sys- tems in the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC)through the setting up of a fund- based accounting system,in place of the traditional single entry accounting system. Over the last three years,the BATF has put in place a government enterprise plan- ning system where all transactions go through a revamped accounting system. Based on what is known from the domain of globally recognized good accounting practices,technology has been used to set up this accounting system.

This has created for the government, the basic capability,which it hitherto lacked to make information available in a granular way.For instance,information tracked by the system helps get an idea of money spent on infrastructure and main- tenance on a specific road by heads such as asphalting,garbage removal etc.The system is able to deliver information,and from the BATF-BCC perspective,a solu- tion is now in place for anyone to access information.The city council has now mandated that the fund based accounting system will be officially adopted. In a traditional model,even if the gov- ernment was willing to part with data,it ’s methods of accounting incapacitated it from being able to give it.As a citizen in- itiative,the BATF has,by setting up a new method of accounting,strengthened the government ’s (supply side)capacity to en- gage with citizens who seek information. This capacity to make available informa- tion when demanded by citizens becomes a pre-cursor for demand-side participation.

Public Record of Operations and Finance(PROOF)

PROOF is a citizen (demand-side)effort that has seen the coming together of four organizations – Janagraha,,VOICES,Cen- tre for Budget and Policy Studies,and Public Affairs Centre.It is a citizen-end response to the city corporation ’s informa- tion capabilities to engage with citizens and share information.Given that the plumb- ing was in place with the efforts of the BATF,there was a need to now open the taps,by getting citizens involved in actively engaging with the corporation.

PROOF seeks to ask the basic question – where is the money of the government going and what value are we getting out of the money being spent?
PROOF is an advocacy campaign that uses the quarterly statement of the corpo- ration as a tool to take information about the financial performance of the corpora- tion to citizens.It seeks to bring multiple stakeholders together in an exercise to track financial statements of the government, develop performance indicators for differ- ent expenditures,and create a space for management discussion.It seeks to ask the basic question,where is the money of the government going and what value are we getting out of the money being spent.

The work of PROOF has enabled ques- tions to be raised about the assets owned by the city corporation,the way in which these assets are being used,and also the examination of whether development ex- penditure,like in education,is giving val- ue for money.For example,if the cost of delivering education is Rs.17,000 per stu- dent per year in a government run school, then what is the quality of education that we should expect and what in effect,is it really?

Two quarterly reviews have taken place in August and December 2002,and the space that PROOF has sought to create for constructive engagement with the gov- ernment is getting legitimized and infor- mation is being provided.Training programmes to equip citizens to develop a comfort level to understand financial documents and raise questions are being held.Five hundred citizens have been trained in English and Kannada and the mayor has agreed to announce the train- ing module developed by PROOF as a programme for elected representatives. PROOF sees itself as having to deal with the enormous challenge of involving peo- ple in taking the effort ahead so that it is an effort of not merely the four interme- diary organizations,but something that is owned by people.The process of socializ- ing the concept has seen many activities, including a programme on the radio.


Women kiosk operator.ICT enabling gender equality among rural communities in business operations.


Performance indicators are being devel- oped for three priority areas including ed- ucation.In 7 months,PROOF has held 7 workshops on performance indicators in which the city corporation has been in- volved.Data has been collected on 42 in- dicators from all schools in Bangalore and this has helped identify the weakest schools.The initiative has brought in Ak- shara Foundation that has expertise in the field of education,to take its performance indicators work to forward.Akshara, backed by an MOU with the corporation, will design and implement interventions for 7 schools.In the area of health, PROOF is in the data collection phase.

PROOF is currently supporting poor communities to document the informa- tion needs of the poor.An important part of their work is the ‘PROOF of the poor ’ component..In an interesting ex- ercise,PROOF demonstrated how the contribution of the poor to the govern- ment in the form of sales tax,cesses etc. is Rs.50 to Rs.70 crores,whereas the state spends only Rs.40 crores through subsidies on the poor.

Key Learnings form Citizen Efforts to Engage With
  • For PROOF,the key challenge has been in enhancing the involvement of citizens and getting people in the city of Bangalore to own the campaign.A community communications ap- proach is being used to involve citi- zens and to encourage them to own the idea.The campaign is being tak- en to student groups,and CBOs in slum areas of Bangalore.There is also a weekly radio programme made by citizens called PROOF Puttanna that is part of the communications strate- gy of PROOF.
  • The people associated with the cam- paign are now feeling that the proc- ess of engaging with the government and demanding accountability is throwing up challenges.Raising ques- tions about transparency has not been easy for PROOF.This has meant tak- ing on the senior officials in the gov- ernment and the need,apart from collaborative engagement for a more critical approach.
  • CBOs have had fundamental difficul- ties supporting the Campaign.They feel that their involvement in de- manding services like sanitation might actually dilute their larger struggle for land rights.However, they are willing to support PROOF on the need for transparency and feel equally strongly about citizen partic- ipation in decision-making.
Civil Society Struggle for Access to In
The discussion about the right of the poor- est to information pertinent to their strug- gles was pegged around the experiences of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS) in rural Rajasthan and of Parivartan work- ing with the urban poor in Delhi.

The Stuggle for Access to Information

The right to information is seen by the MKSS,Rajasthan,as integral to their live- lihood struggles and demand for mini- mum wages.MKSS has used public hearings as a key tool,for demanding transparency and accountability.The ap- proach has been rooted in the philosophy of people ’s participation.Among the vari- ous outcomes of the right to information movement,as the struggles have come to be known,has been the enactment of the legislation on right to information,passed now in eight states and the Centre.The movement has brought out the contradic- tions used by the system as excuses for not bringing about change.Also,by bringing the notion of transparency centre-stage, the movement has forced a debate on transparency in the NGO sector. Public hearings in rural and urban are- as have now moved into a social audit mode.The movement has seen legitimacy being accorded to ward sabhas in rural ar- eas to question decisions of the Panchay- at.Public Hearings in urban areas have had a different politic.The experience of Pari- vartan suggests that in a city like Delhi, there are many more disruptions since eve- ryone is affiliated to a political party;in the case of rural areas,the village pancha- yat is directly responsible for its various works but in cities the corporation gives out contracts;there is no mechanism of a ward or gram sabha for face to face de- mocracy in an urban area;and the sense of community in a city is very different. There are challenges in getting people to come and testify.However,citizens are now getting together and forming mohal- la samitis (resident associations)for social audits.

The struggles of people are faced with some questions:How does one enforce accountability?How can power be put into people ’s hands so that action on fraud is taken?How does one work out the insti- tutional procedures for a social audit?How do you build in safeguards to move be- yond majoritarianism so that the poorest are heard and so that participation and democracy are rooted in ethics?

Insights from People's Struggle for Access to information
  • The Right to Information Movement iterates the need to develop the right perspective about technology:technol- ogy can help managerial issues but giv- en that the fundamental question is political,technology can only support the larger political process.It can some- times generate political questions by offering opportunities.
  • The Right to Information Movement began with Panchayats but has moved on to address questions of policy. Through this process,people have asked questions about rations,land use,right to food,PDS and food exports,con- necting their demands with governance at a larger level.
  • The Legislation has been a big success for the Movement,and has given them a sense of hope.However,it is not enough.
  • The Movement has also shown that by asking questions,the poor are creating the space for transfer of power and a share in governance.
Some insights on Civil Society and Access to Information

The consultation underscored the following:
  • The centrality of a legal framework for community radio and for civil society access to public information.
  • The key role played by civil society in demanding access to information – ei-- ther through an active engagement with institutions of governance,or through political processes that demand ac- countability from these institutions.
  • The importance of recognizing that ICTs can only facilitate and enable in- dividuals and groups to access informa- tion
  • The significant role of the media in us- ing the Right to Information Act and in representing development issues to- wards enabling experience sharing.This will support replication and up-scal- ing of efforts so that the wheel is not reinvented and resources can be opti- mally used.
Recommendations and Action Points emerging form the Consultation

The Consultation provided an opportu- nity for the group to seek clarifications from the Deputy Secretary,Information and Broadcasting Ministry.Several ambi- guities in the guidelines were highlighted by the group:the spectrum fees payable and the duration of its validity are not spec- ified;mechanism for overseeing content is not elucidated;whether sponsorship programmes may be allowed is not clear, back-up of content required to be kept is for too long a time period,whether exten- sion centres of universities will constitute campus premises has not been addressed. The Deputy Secretary from the Informa- tion and Broadcasting Ministry agreed at the Consultation to consider recommen- dations from organizations and individu- als favouring licenses for community radio if a note outlining the key issues is sent to him.The group conveyed the urgency for setting aside fears about misuse of the medium and appealed for a legal frame- work that will support NGO and CBO efforts to use community radio.Many ac- tion points emerged during the course of the two days.It was felt that:
  • There is a need to move beyond a best practices oriented approach to study- ing initiatives so that the not so good practices are also documented.This will enable the institutionalization of access to practices.
  • A handbook on Community Radio will be a useful resource.
  • There is a need for the groups demand- ing such a legislation to think about the regulations that will be needed,so that retrograde social forces that may have a capacity to reach out to people under the guise of being voluntary organiza- tions do not hijack the progressive agen- da of groups currently working with the radio.
  • There is a need for partnerships between ground-level initiatives to formulate criteria and submit applications for li- cences.
  • Alliances that will enable the coming together of initiatives working on right to information and the right to com- municate are important at this juncture.
  • A website on Community Radio for sharing and learning from experiences will be a useful resource.
  • The media need to play an important role in studying and critiquing existing models and initiatives in the ICT for Development sphere.This will help consolidate the learning from various approaches.There is an important role for the media in also promoting a trans- fer of learning about citizen initiatives like BATF and PROOF.The media also has to use the Right to Information Act for supporting people ’s access to infor- mation.
  • The exercise undertaken by corpora- tions in Brazil to rank their cities on the Human Development Indicators are a good means to make relative perform- ances of cities on critical issues visible. This may be a useful direction for In- dia as well.
  • There is scope for synergies between dynamic initiatives at the supply end (like the Saukaryam project)which seek to make services efficient and informa- tion transparent and the demand end which work towards creating capacities for better and more citizen-friendly in- formation systems in government.
  • its relevance in the context of the larger Intellectual Property discourse),GIS and its significance for development planning as well as the role of the me- dia in relation to ICTs for Development could be key themes for subsequent consultations organized by UNDP.