Rashmi Gopal rashmig@teri.res.in Vangala Krishna vkrishna@teri.res.in Ashwin Sabapathy ashwins@teri.res.in P.Chakravarty purandar@teri.res.in The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), Bangalore

Despite Karnataka leading India’s IT drive, the many ICT initiatives implemented in the rural parts of the state have not brought about any radical change in service delivery to this section of society.

Rural Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects could prove to be an effective mean of driving social, economic and political change in the rural areas. Despite Karnataka leading India’s IT drive, the many ICT initiatives implemented in the rural parts of the state have not brought about any radical change in service delivery to this section of society.

Currently, rural Karnataka’s ICT scenario is dotted with a large number of independent pilot projects, with most models based on subsidy schemes. Plans for any rural ICT initiative should primarily look at the economic viability of the initiative. Given the low population density in comparison to urban areas and the restricted paying capacity of a large percentage of the rural community, this is a challenge.

This challenge could be overcome if multiple service providers and enablers collectively adapt their service delivery mechanisms to create a profitable model, giving the rural community a combination of ICT based services. This combination of services should have a regional orientation and should benefit them to an extent that they are willing to pay the stated price. There are currently no systems and policies to facilitate and bring about this much needed integration of ICT initiatives across the state.

Approach
ICT initiatives across rural Karnataka were compiled using various resources. Thirty six organisations were short listed including fourteen government departments. These included application providers from the sectors pertaining to agriculture produce marketing, public administration and education. Among the short listed organisations, there were also companies involved in research and manufacture of ICT equipment especially for the rural market, corporate organisations providing ICT services for the rural community, nationalised banks providing micro-credit services and NGOs working on rural ICT initiatives. It also included infrastructure providers and financiers (power and telecom).

Detailed discussions were held with senior personnel in these organisations on the nature of the initiative, its objective, geographical coverage, its current status and beneficiary profile, expansion plans, efforts involved in implementing these initiatives, problems faced and sustainability and replicability of the initiative.

The project team also met private entrepreneurs working towards providing a basket of services to the rural community by taking up a franchise of a government initiative.

Two villages where the people have some access to ICT initiatives were surveyed and selected so that the people would have a better understanding of ICT applications and would therefore be able to state their needs clearly. Based on all these discussions and survey findings, recommendations on policy and systems for maximising the benefits of service delivery through ICTs were drafted. These were discussed with the various stakeholders during a workshop and their suggestions were analysed and incorporated into the final recommendations.

Major ICT initiatives across rural Karnataka
While there are many ICT initiatives in the state, some of the major ones are detailed below.

• BHOOMI: The Bhoomi project, implemented by the Department of Public Administration and Revenue (DPAR), makes available a computerised Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops (RTC) to all landowners at a kiosk in the taluka (sub-district administrative units) office, on payment of $0.25 (approx.) per RTC. In recent times, the DPAR is promoting private franchise models in which the franchisees have to bear the cost of the infrastructure and Internet connection. They can charge $0.3 to $0.5 (approx.) per RTC against the $0.25 charged at the taluka office. This is one initiative that has the capability of breaking even on Operation and Management (O&M) costs, primarily because of the essential nature of the service and the volumes (each landowner requires atleast one set of certificates per year and has to take as many certificates as the number of survey numbers in which he has landholdings).
• The Education department has three parallel ICT programmes for rural schools.
  
  
  1. The ‘Mahiti Sindhu’ programme addresses computer education for high school (Std VIII, IX, X) students and teachers in 1000 schools of Karnataka. Each of the 1000 schools have been provided anywhere between six to fifteen computers with power backup, a printer and basic software. Internet connectivity is available and a person has been appointed in each school to impart computer education.
  2. In association with the Azim Premji Foundation (APF), the Education Department is creating Computer Assisted Learning Centres (CALCs) in government primary schools across the state. APF makes a range of multi-lingual CDs to assist primary school children in grasping their curricular subjects (computer aided education). Each CALC has 4-5 computers, a printer and UPS.
  3. Intel has tied up with the Education Department to impart training to teachers to innovatively use computer technology to enhance student learning in the 1000 schools under the ‘Mahiti Sindhu’ programme. Apart from these, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has recently launched a satellite dedicated to education services. 800 government primary schools in Chamarajanagar district have been selected for the pilot implementation of an interactive distance education project. Each school has got one computer and satellite connectivity.
  
  
• The Department of Agricultural Marketing regulates market practices for agricultural commodities. Quantities and prices of agricultural produce traded in the different markets are available on a website that is updated daily. 112 of the 145 Agriculture Produce Market Communities (APMCs) have a computer which can be accessed by farmers to see the daily prices of the agricultural commodities.
• The Asia Heart Foundation has set up telemedicine links between a premier cardiac hospital and 23 hospitals across the country, ten of which are in Karnataka. Each telemedicine consulting centre has 2 computers and power back up. The hospitals are connected through ISDN fibre-optic lines or VSAT links. Sustainability is a key issue especially when looking at replicating this initiative across district hospitals and primary health centres in the state. As in education, the government is considered responsible for providing these services, free of cost.
• The Safal Fruit and Vegetable Auction Market (SFVAM) of National Dairy Development Board has set up 100 farmers’ associations or collection centres, for auctioning of fruits and vegetables. The associations are being given a computer and required communication infrastructure in a phased manner.