Drishtee is an India-based organisational platform for rural networking that provides IT-enabled services to rural and semi-urban populations. Through a tiered franchise and partnership model, Drishtee facilitates the creation of a rural networking infrastructure. With nodes at the village, district, state and national level, Drishtee enables access to worldwide information and local services using its proprietary state-of-the-art software. Through a network of village kiosks, Drishtee and the local entrepreneurs deliver ICT based services to the rural population, providing users enhanced access to e-Governance, education, health, insurance and local services. As the ICT centre (kiosk/telecentre) is owned and operated by a local villager, the model supports wealth creation by developing entrepreneurs within the village community. With time, Drishtee developed its business model to create a sustainable, scaleable platform of entrepreneurship for enabling the development of rural economy and society by the use of Information and Communication Technologies.

Business model
The person operating the kiosk is a local matriculate (high school graduate) operator, entrepreneur, and only needs basic maintenance and numeric data entry skills, as most of the Drishtee portal is menu-driven. He bears the operating costs and pays a flat fee each month to Drishtee for providing ongoing technical and marketing support and also maintenance and upkeep of the portal. This is a financially sustainable and profitable model offering profits at all levels of the hierarchy. This is a model that creates wealth. Drishtee is facilitating access to various services through a highly scaleable software platform, as other service providers can use the existing network by just plugging their services into the Drishtee software and start providing services to villagers with minimal cost and effort. The villagers are able to access a wide range of online services such as e-Governance and non-governmental services like market related information, auction sites and matrimonial services. Drishtee is also providing localised content for educational and health services.

Social impacts

• Strengthening the rural economy by creating employment opportunities, reversing the tide of rural migration, and improving access to information and knowledge
• Use of IT as a tool for basic education.
• Creation of a new generation of IT literate people with reasonable to high earnings who become role models for the younger generation
• Removal of functional barriers between government and citizen: prompt, transparent, accessible and effective governance, which not only benefits the citizen but also the government by effectively making the citizen a partner in the process of governance.
• Empowerment of the poor through their mobilisation and better knowledge of their rights
• Providing the necessary infrastructure for provision of a range of (non-government) social services and commercial opportunities either directly by Drishtee or through partnerships with third party service providers.

The Social Return on Investment Analysis shows that for every US$1 of social cost incurred, US$20 of social benefit is generated.

Services provided
Drishtee has so far partnered with district administration under various states, as well as large and small names in the corporate sector. These include:

• ICICI for insurance and Escorts for health services
• Pustak Mahal for e-Shopping

e-Government services
Framed in partnership with the district administration, the aim here is to provide rural citizens doorstep access to several services for which they initially used to spend a lot of time and money to travel and get the job done. Examples are: driving license, land records, online grievances, etc. A set of e-Government services may vary across different regions according to inputs given by the local administration.

Private services
Drishtee itself, with no partner involvement, conceives these services. Several localised offerings such as: online marketplace (Gram Haat), email service, agricultural forum, (Krishi Prashan), etc.

Commercial services
These are implemented in partnership with corporate institutions covering rural employment, computer education, insurance, digital photography, agricultural inputs, e-Commerce, etc. In addition to Drishtee’ services, kiosk owner may decide to offer any number of these services plus his own services (eg. typing) to tailor his kiosk’s provisions to the unique community needs

Growth of operations
Over the many years of experience, Drishtee has developed a comprehensive set of operational documentation. This includes operational procedures, forms, and process guidelines.

Drishtee’s entry into new markets follows a systematic process and enables 40 new kiosks to be launched just 90 days after entering a new district. This is significant in terms best practice propagation and implementation – lessons learnt are quickly disseminated throughout the Drishtee network – at the kiosk and at all administrative levels. It is now active in six districts in six states of India, (Sirsa in Haryana, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, Trichy in Tamil Nadu, Sonitpur in Assam and Madhubani in Bihar), and has licenced 309 kiosks for operations.

Technonology

Kiosk
Kiosk connects to Drishtee’s web portal through dial-up to a local ISP. All portal services have been designed to minimize online process time. The kiosk owner, at a total cost of approximately US$1000, has procured the hardware. Basic equipment package includes a computer, modem, printer, and and a 4-hour battery.

Web Server
The Web Server acts at the main administrator of the complete system. It coordinates communication between districts and administers the performance of districts and kiosks. It also acts as national level content provider.

District office
Staff at the district office act as local content providers, entering data like market prices, local employment listings, etc.

Software
Drishtee has developed the software to run the portal and various services. It is very simple and menu-driven, which requires minimum data entry at the client end. The software is in Hindi language, Tamil and Assamese and can be customised as per requirements.

Connectivity
Almost all Drishtee kiosks have dial-up connections. In one district (Jaipur), optic fiber connection has been used for connectivity due to the high volume of transactions at kiosks, thus being economically viable. Where the existing telephone connections are not existent or are of inferior quality, Drishtee is also investigating cellular connections for connectivity and negotiates with the service provider to provide improved telephone connections.

IDRC documents CMCs experiences of Uganda and Senegal

Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a public corporation created by the Parliament of Canada in 1970 to help developing countries use science and technology to find practical, long-term solutions to the social, economic, environmental problem they face. Support is directed toward developing an indigenous research capacity to sustain policies and technologies developing countries need to build healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous societies. To help bridge the divide between the information rich and information poor, IDRC is exploring how developing countries can accelerate their participation in the information economy. One mechanism for this is the community telecentre. Through its Acacia and PAN initiatives, IDRC has supported the establishment of telecentres and telecentre- related research in Africa, Asia and the America. Two videos in a CDROM format covering Senegal and Uganda telecentre experiences were produced with financial support from Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the World Bank Institute. These videos reflect that dissemination of information through videos is one of the most effective tools for bridging the digital divide. As it goes that ‘images speak in volumes’, it is easy to understand what live images can do? Described below are the ‘life stories’ covered in this CDROM. UGANDA The two CMCs in these communities represents very different segments of Ugandan society. One is in the rural community of Nakaseke; the other is based in a school in the capital city of Kampala. The people in both areas, however, faced similar challenges in understanding and adopting CMC services. Nakaseke endured considerable horror and upheaval during Uganda’s civil strife of 1970s and 80s. It is now now looking beyond its tragic history to the future and has embraced the new CMC. Community spirit is equally strong in Kampala where, after six years of operation, parents have shown a willingness to underwrite the CMC’s cost. SENEGAL The adoption and integration of telecentres can follow an established pattern, whether it is in a school for academically gifted girls or in a community development organisation working with the poor. Through video, IDRC highlights the common elements in the introduction and use of telecentres services in a relatively elite school in Goree Island and Baraka, an impoverished neighbourhood in Dakar. In both cases community support is shown as essential to the telecentre’s successs. In Baraka, telecentre outreach activities Have not only helped to bridge a digital divide but also overcome socio economic divisions. For obtaining copies of the CDROMs, write to acacia@idrc.ca