Management of Technology, Innovation & Change

Term Paper

ICT for Rural Progress

`

Submitted By

Manjula Madan

MBA (G) CD Section

05716603914

INDEX

Introduction

Objectives of Study

Meaning of the term “ICT”

Role of ICT in development of rural areas

Limitations of ICT in poor remote rural areas

Distribution of ICT in PRRAs

ICT for quality health services

ICT – enabled agricultural health services

Realizing the potentials of ICT

Findings & Discussions

Conclusions

Recommendations

References

INTRODUCTION

Internet has become increasingly a part of life in the western world. It has brought many

advantages regarding communication, easy access to information and many other things. But

it still remains a small part of the world where Internet is available. It is a massive task to

implement ICT in poor remote rural areas (PRRA’s). In this study we aim to construct a

deployment plan for introducing ICT to those rural areas.

ICT is an integral part of the development strategy of developed and developing countries

both. It is highly capable in bringing about social transformation by providing easy access to

people, services, information and other desired technologies. Also it can empower the people

by expanding the use of government services. It is highly useful for economic development,

job-creation, rural development and poverty alleviation.ICT had a major contribution in

transforming the public sector units in India during mid90s. ICT improved civil society

participation in the governing process, which is also known as e-governance which opens

new ways of participation of citizens and communities. It empowers than to develop their self

sufficiency.

The five-year plans of the central government also largely aimed at Rural Development. The

Ministry of Rural Development in India is the apex body for formulating policies, regulations

and acts pertaining to the development of the rural sector. Agriculture, handicrafts, fisheries,

poultry, and diary are the primary contributors to the rural business and economy.

Rural Development which is concerned with economic growth and social justice,

improvement in the living standard of the rural people by providing adequate and quality

social services and minimum basic needs becomes essential. The present strategy of rural

development mainly focuses on poverty alleviation, better livelihood opportunities, provision

of basic amenities and infrastructure facilities through innovative programmes of wage and

self-employment. ICT is the new tool for rural development. Information and

Communication Technology, if used properly can be of great advantage for the development

at grass root levels. At the same time challenge remains with the administration to capture the

minds of the rural masses, mostly illiterate, to make them adapt the new technology which is

completely alien to them. There are various Rural development schemes run by the

government of India and also organizations are present to look after the implementations of

these programmes.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

We see the letters ICT, everywhere. ICT stands for Information and Communication

Technology. The concepts, methods and applications involved in ICT are constantly evolving

in our daily lives. The Rural development in India is one of the most important factors for

growth of the Indian economy. The present strategy of rural development mainly focuses on

poverty alleviation, better livelihood, provision of basic amenities and infrastructure

facilities. Even after so many years after independence India have not been able to move to

the stage of “developed nation”, the nation is still developing. Public administration,

governed by bureaucratic structures built on rationale principles, that dominated the twentieth

century, has failed to respond to the changing requirements of the present times. Application

of ICT is a paradigm shift to the traditional approaches that the government has been using

past so many decades. With the use of ICT, government renders services and information to

the public using electronic means.

With the rising awareness amongst the citizens and their better experiences with the private

sector– the demand for better services on the part of government departments became more

pronounced. The infusion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a

prominent role in strengthening such a demand.

Combining ICT in Rural Development can not only speed up the development process but it

can also fill the gaps between the educationally and technologically backward and forward

sections of the society.

Several e-governance projects have attempted to improve the reach, enhance the base,

minimize the processing costs, increasing transparency and reduce the cycle times.

Introduction of simputers, e-chaupal are some of the initiatives by the government that has up

to an extent been able to bring the rural population in contact with the information

technology. The opportunities of ICT application in rural development are immense at the

same time the government will also be facing some challenges also. This article majorly

focuses on the scope of ICT in Rural Development, the opportunities and the challenges that

can come along.

THE TERM “ICT”

ICT (information and communications technology - or technologies) is an umbrella term that

includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, television, cellular

phones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as

the various services and applications associated with them, such as videoconferencing and

distance learning. ICTs are often spoken of in a particular context, such as ICTs in education,

health care, or libraries. The term is somewhat more common outside of the United States.

According to the European Commission, the importance of ICTs lies less in the technology

itself than in its ability to create greater access to information and communication in

underserved populations. Many countries around the world have established organizations for

the promotion of ICTs, because it is feared that unless less technologically advanced areas

have a chance to catch up, the increasing technological advances in developed nations will

only serve to exacerbate the already-existing economic gap between technological "have" and

"have not" areas. Internationally, the United Nations actively promotes ICTs for

Development (ICT4D) as a means of bridging the digital divide

Converging technologies that exemplify ICT include the merging of audiovisual, telephone

and computer networks through a common cabling system. Internet service providers (ISP)

commonly provide Internet, phone and television services to homes and businesses through a

single optical cable. The elimination of the telephone networks has provided huge economic

incentives to implement this convergence, which eliminates many of the costs associated with

cabling, signal distribution, user installation, servicing and maintenance costs.

ICT is often used as an extended synonym for information technology (IT), but is a more

specific term that stresses the role of unified communications[1] and the integration

of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as

necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable

users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.[2]

The term ICT is also used to refer to the convergence of audio-visual and telephone

networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system. There are large

economic incentives (huge cost savings due to elimination of the telephone network) to

merge the telephone network with the computer network system using a single unified system

of cabling, signal distribution and management.

The money spent on IT worldwide has been most recently estimated as US $3.5 trillion and is

currently growing at 5% per year – doubling every 15 years. The 2014 IT budget of US

federal government is nearly $82 billion.[8] IT costs, as a percentage of corporate revenue,

have grown 50% since 2002, putting a strain on IT budgets. When looking at current

companies’ IT budgets, 75% are recurrent costs, used to “keep the lights on” in the IT

department, and 25% are cost of new initiatives for technology development.[9]

The average IT budget has the following breakdown:[9]

31% personnel costs (internal)

29% software costs (external/purchasing category)

26% hardware costs (external/purchasing category)

14% costs of external service providers (external/services).

For ICTs to benefit women in agricultural production and to challenge existing gender

imbalances in rural livelihoods, it is necessary to understand women’s status and the gender

roles and responsibilities in the society. It is also important to have an understanding of the

multiple gender dimensions which impact on accessing and using ICTs. Rural women are less

likely to prioritize ICTs in their daily lives as they have less time and less comfort in using

ICT based services.

If gender is missed in rural ICT4D initiatives then an opportunity to improve the socio-

economic conditions of women, who are the largest and most active component of the rural

population, is missed. Government support and promotion of rural infrastructure and equal

access to and use of ICTs among women and men is critical. Policy makers need to include a

gender lens on every policy that affects access to and use of ICTs in rural communities.

Role of ICT in development of rural areas

According to Richardson, the role of ICT in the development of rural areas is divisible in 5

categories.

Social benefits

African culture is all about being together rather than progressing as an individual. Therefore

the main purpose of ICT in rural Africa should be a tool of being/getting together. This can

either be explained in ways of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter for one on one

or group communication, or using the Internet as an addition to current group activities. For

example, wedding invitations can be sent easily to distant relatives. ICT can still be presented

as a way of gathering information, for educational purposes or community purposes.

Community development

As community is the central way of life in rural Africa, people should strive to community

development rather than individual development. This is a difficult concept for western

people, because we do not have such tight communities. A development should be beneficial

for the whole community, such as sanitation or clean drinking water rather than a bigger

house or a faster car. ICT can support these developments in ways of education and providing

(access to) resources that can be used for community activities such as building a borehole or

setting up an agricultural branch in sunflower farming. Besides these benefits, integration of

ICT in rural areas provides many jobs and opportunities. In the local village of Macha,

Zambia, an ICT project has provided over 65 new jobs, trained 10 IT-specialists and trained

more than 200 people in computer literacy. The wireless network provides connectivity to

approximately 300 community workers and visitors living around a mission hospital and

medical research institute.

Education

In many ways ICT can be beneficial in the educational branch. Teachers can have access to

more educational programs and can compare these among each other to strive to the best

education possible. Students have an unlimited supply of knowledge and data that they can

use for research.

Small/medium enterprise development

Rural economies are disadvantaged by consisting mostly of small or medium sized

enterprises, which find it very difficult to compete with global enterprises which control the

market. With access to the Internet, local farmers and government farms can get real-time

access to market data, prices and potential buyers. This makes it easier to sell surplus stock

and get under the global prices for easy competition.

Media networks

ICT supports media networks in ways of easy information sharing. Radio- or video streams,

connecting the local people with everybody across the globe, can broad cast major events,

happenings and global newsflashes. One big community can be created.

Limitations of ICT in poor remote rural areas

As you might imagine, integrating ICT in rural areas encounters many problems. The high

population spread makes it difficult to offer ICT opportunities to many people at the same

time. In larger villages an Internet cafe would supply a large population, but in the common

African villages very few people could benefit of such a central Internet location. The

problem is that this limitation is difficult to overcome; it is very unlikely people will leave

their family villages to move to bigger villages, just to have access to the Internet. The easiest

solution is to place many satellites and routers across the country, but this solution is also the

most expensive. At this moment there is a small consuming market for ICT services, as there

is a very limited amount of hardware available. Supply of hardware is expensive and must

come from western countries. During the slow and ineffective transport a large amount of the

hardware arrives malfunctioning or broken. This problem is also difficult to solve, because

there are no resources making it possible for rural area’s to provide their own hardware.

Improved logistics and transport can result in a greater percentage of hardware arriving fully

functioning and a lower cost of transportation.

Another limitation is the very low to no basic knowledge about ICT. The majority of the

population in rural areas has never used or even seen a computer. The computer literated

population (1.5 million in whole Sub-Saharan Africa) is mostly young (25-35years old),

predominantly male, well educated (87-98% has an university degree),has an above-average

income, speaks English and works at NGO’s, news media, private companies and

universities. The amount of internet-using Africa is approximately 0.5% of the whole

population. Educating people in using ICT, which is most effective at young ages, can

increase this amount.

Distribution of ICT in PRRAs

The most important place where ICT could be a useful tool is at schools. First of all because

here many people come together, so many people can benefit from ICT at once. This keeps

the costs down. In PRRA’s, one of the main obstacles is the enormous expenses of ICT and

Internet especially. Therefore it is a good idea to start with ICT at places where there is a

relative high population density.

Another reason to introduce ICT at schools is the ability to teach the new generation how to

deal with the new medium. Children learn much faster than adults and since learned young is

done old, schools are an excellent place to start introducing ICT.

Also ICT can be used to improve the education program. By comparing one school’s lessons

to another, weaknesses can be identified and successes can be shared.

The hospital is another institution where ICT can play a beneficial role. Health institutions

require high quality telecommunication services to offer efficient healthcare. In the first place

it can be used to access worldwide information regarding all kind of subjects. This can be a

huge improvement to a hospital. Because the developments in medicine are very rapid, it is

important to stay updated and Internet is a very useful tool to achieve this. Also for

describing new findings and comparing clinical cases, PubMed is essential and therefore an

Internet connection is crucial.

Finally, governmental institutions like the police force and firefighters can benefit from ICT

mainly because of the speed of the Internet. Police officers can be constantly in contact with

the office in case of emergency. Firefighters can be quickly updated about a potential

hazardous situation. Also the relative dense population plays a role in introducing ICT and

Internet in these places.

Apart from introducing ICT to an institution from scratch, it can also be very good to expand

existing ICT projects. In these emerging villages surrounding ICT-equipped cores are often a

lot of highly educated local talents. These people could benefit a great deal from having

access to Internet.

ICT and community development

When introducing ICT to a community in a PRRA, people do not know what to do with it

because it is completely new to them. ICT will only be used when the community realizes

that it can be beneficial for them.

But it is not easy to determine what is beneficial for communities here because they do not

measure that like we do, in terms of profit. Being together is what is valued most in this

communities, and Internet does not directly help in this situation. Internet does come in handy

when it is used to obtain basic needs. For example: instructions of building a borehole via the

use of YouTube® can be very useful. Ordering supplies for the build and also information for

the maintenance of the borehole can be obtained by using the Internet. Another important

aspect of Internet is being able to communicate with someone all over the world. Although

people value face-to-face contact, Internet can also help by using things like Skype® to talk

to relatives living far away. Successes and failures .No specific failures were found, but we

realized that an ICT-project would not succeed when the intentions are wrong.

When ICT is presented as an information technology people will not use it because they do

not understand it. But when they understand that it can be used as a communication tool,

people will use it because then it has a specific purpose. The key thing to do is to start

demonstrating the possibilities, but not too many at the time. Communication is a term that

everyone can understand and everyone needs, so this is a great aspect of Internet to promote.

When people are starting to get used to this aspect, the time is ripe to start showing other

aspects of Internet. One of the greatest successes in Africa is LinkNet, which is one of the

fastest connections in Zambia. For example, via the use of Internet a connection between two

students in rural Zambia and a teacher in the US was established. On a weekly basis the

students received lessons.

Teacher and student were able to communicate with each other by the use of a webcam. The

piano sound of the student’s keyboard was sent via Internet to the teacher’s keyboard, so

there was no loss of sound quality. When the Internet connection is poor, lessons can be

exchanged by the use of pre-recorded videos. Another advantage of this method is that you

don’t have to taketime zones into account.

Sustainability

The sustainability of these developments depends on different factors. First of all, each

community in which ICT is introduced must be convinced that ICT is beneficial. Therefore

the population has to be sensitized by telling them the benefits from Internet in both social

and economic way. When the community is not convinced, the chance of sustainability is

very low.

Also education is an important factor . As told before, the basic level of ICT knowledge in

PRRA’s is relatively low. To improve the mean level, good education is required. That is

only possible if there are enough abilities to learn and people which teaches students. In

Macha there is LITA (LinkNet Information Technology Academy),a school for educating

teachers and students in ICT. The Ubuntu primary school has got daily computing hours

where children are learning to use ICT in a proper way. These are examples of an improving

PRRA where the deplorers noted the importance of sustainability. People who are living in

PRRA’s use the Internet for the same purposes as people in Western countries, such as to

communicate, to search for information and to buy things . However, Internet is even more

important in rural areas because of lack of alternatives, such as telephone lines, libraries,

newspapers, roads in good condition, and public transport. For long-term sustainability, local

talent is required. They can control and, when necessary, intervene when for example the

level of education is not high enough. They can also introduce new developments and teach

and inspire the community. Actually, local talent is the key-factor to long-term successes.

Deployment plan Sensitization is the first step in introducing ICT in a PRRA. The purpose of

this step is to determine the current state of ICT (which in most cases is absent) and to get an

impression of how ICT might be useful for a community. If the outcome is that ICT is not

beneficial in any way, it makes no sense to introduce it. But when is concluded that ICT

could be beneficial for a community in certain areas, proceeding to step two can be

considered. In this stage, it is important to cooperate with the local people to find out whether

people are likely to be using this new technology.

In most cases, people only will do this when they understand that it ICT can be beneficial for

both the community and the individual, and that it can create opportunities. When it is

considered likely that people will be benefiting from ICT and that they are going to use this

new technology, people need to be trained on how to use a computer and thereafter how to

use the Internet . ICT has to be integrated in a playful and enthusiastic way in primary

education, so that children will like it and that they will understand the enormous possibilities

that ICT has to offer. When children understand and like the importance of Internet, a new

generation is ‘created’ that has the capacity to expand and transfer their knowledge to other

people [8]. After having taught people how to deal with ICT, the next important thing is to

improve overall access. Having easy access to the Internet is an important condition to start

and stimulate the use of Internet. Secondly, cheaper access to computers is needed in areas

where there are no computers. The costs of sustaining an Internet connection in a PRRA are

excruciatingly high, especially for the local people, with monthly costs up to $1200,- [4, 5].

In order for them to be able to use the Internet, it is important to reduce the costs.

A breakthrough, most probably through more providers provisioning capacity over Africa,

must emerge, with prices going down instead of the current rise of prices . Also, the

proximity of Internet must be improved [10]. Most of the people that use Internet have access

at their homes or at their workplaces. There need to be more possibilities to have access to

Internet, such as Internet cafes. In Macha, for example, there is a small Link Net building

next to the restaurant where are computers and Internet. People who do not use the Internet

themselves can also benefit. This can be explained by the Zambian culture being a more

collectivistic culture [10]. People share their ideas with community members. There are

PRRA’s (such as Sibajene and Mizinga near Macha) that contain people who are relatively

well educated and have a good access to Internet at their workplaces. Those people can

inspire and teach community members so that the gap between them and other members gets

smaller. Local talent is very important

What can ICT bring for the inhabitants of 600,000 Indian villages? How India is empowering

the poor and marginalised citizens to participate in the emerging knowledge society? How

will India provide voice to her millions of citizens? ‘Taking ICT to every Indian village:

Opportunities and challenges”, attempts at answering such questions and exploring the

complex interactions between ICT and society.

For the first time, a conscious effort has been made to bridge the gaps existing between

research and practice – a matrix of development verticals, founded upon the principles of

human development approach, tests and validates the planning, implementation and

evaluation of ICT projects. An insightful analysis of rural India portrays the complexities of

social, political and economic environment in which institutions and initiatives function and

operate. Argumentative, analytical and thoughtful – the collection raises many questions for

practitioners, policymakers, planners and researchers on the emerging ICTD paradigm in

India. A whole new direction has emerged through this discourse – making government,

private sector and civil society leaders think on the social, economic and cultural

consequences of taking ICTs to Indian villages.

Despite the tremendous growth in telecommunication network, rural India is yet to witness a

robust and seamless voice and data connectivity. Evolution of wireless network protocols

provides an opportunity to create community-based, bottom-up internet infrastructure at the

village levels. Prominent among such network standards is Wi-Fi. Theissues of electricity and

connectivity is remain a challenge primarily for the government and the private sector who

are in the process of rolling-out ICTs throughout the country.It is recommended that

appropriate political, regulatory and governance mechanism be created that facilitates growth

of shared ICT infrastructure in local communities.

According to Drew and Foster , “The term “information technology” embodies a

convergence of interest between electronics, computing, and communications, all of which

are leading to the rapid development of micro-electronics. These technologies are being

utilized to restructure and reorganize the spheres of production, distribution, and circulation.”

ICT for quality health services

IICD’s health projects are principally aimed at improving the health of populations in small

urban centres and remote rural areas through ICT. It is predominantly in these areas, where a

vicious circle of poor health, inequality and social exclusion prevent people from

participating in other aspects of society that can improve their quality of life. Improving

health in the community, rural access to resources and the qualitative improvement of basic

medical services that are needed to tackle these adverse conditions, are central to IICD’s

health programmes. IICD is currently supporting 24 projects in the health sector. We are

reaching around 55,000 medical workers, of whom 67% are women and approximately

830,000 beneficiaries, 82% of whom are located in rural areas.

The starting point of our health programmes is the improvement of healthcare services using

ICT. Improving information channels in rural communities can have an enormous impact on

diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, diarrhoea and water-related illnesses, all of which are

continuing to have a devastating impact upon the health of the rural populations in

developing countries. In addition, by improving information flows the projects we are

supporting are helping to provide communities with information on issues such as family

planning, prenatal and maternal care. Aside from empowering remote individuals and

communities in this way, it is also crucial to then provide a connection to knowledge and

expert diagnoses. In Mali, for example, there are 11 radiologists, of which only one works

outside of the capital, Bamako, serving a population of 15 million, spread across an area the

thirty times the size of The Netherlands. IICD has been helping to tackle these realities in

several ways, most of which have already shown to have a direct impact on the quality of

health amongst rural populations. One way has been through peer-to-peer exchange among

health professionals; connecting isolated doctors to normally hard to-reach expertise in larger

urban centres (see projects below). The other has been through Continuing Medical

Education (CME), which can motivate and equip health workers with the knowledge they

need and thus tackle the human resource shortage in the rural health sector (see projects

below). Underpinning these efforts, there is also a need to address issues of inaccurate,

missing, or unavailable information. Hindering numerous locally developed health initiatives

is an inability to capture, store manage and access accurate health information and patient

records. Developing an information system that can accurately capture information on, for

example, reliable blood donors can simultaneously improve the level of repeat blood donors -

something identified by the WHO as a key strategy to ensuring blood safety – and improve

communication and coordination between hospitals that require large quantities of donor

blood.

Improving access to information for patients and/or people in the community

This can involve health education and promotion and disease prevention using radio, Internet

or television in the appropriate location, transmitting the appropriate content, in the

appropriate language.

Improving the management of and access to information and knowledge

Health data is arguably one of the most important aspects of effective health care

intervention. We provide support in three areas:

a. Telemedicine: can be an effective tool in the delivery of health care services, improving

the delivery of health care where distance is a critical factor. Information and communication

technologies are used for the exchange of vital information for diagnosis, treatment and

prevention of disease and injuries, research and evaluation, and for the continuing education

of health care providers, all in the interest of advancing the health of individuals and their

communities (WHO, 2004).

b. Professional development and Continuous Medical Education (CME): although health

staff often works in rather isolated areas it is crucial to be kept up-to-date with the latest

news. Therefore tools like Internet, audio conferencing, CD Roms and Personal Digital

Assistants can help to keep health staff informed and allow health staff in turn to get access to

knowledge and information.

c. Health, hospital and patient information: accurate and timely data helps to plan and

prepare health policies. An efficient information system also has the potential for better

coordination, transparency and accountability. The health sector in most developing countries

suffers from inefficient management practices due to a number of factors, including a

shortage of staff and high turnover rates, the low quality of information from health facilities

and the long time needed from health staff to collect the data.

ICT-enabled agricultural development services

1. Online services for information, education and training, monitoring and consultation,

diagnosis and monitoring, and transaction and processing

2. E-commerce for direct linkages between local producers, traders, retailers and suppliers

3. The facilitation of interaction among researchers, extension (knowledge)workers, and

farmers

4. Question-and-answer services where experts respond to queries on specialised subjects

ICT services to block- and district-level developmental officials for greater efficiency in

delivering services for overall agricultural development

5. Up-to-date information, supplied to farmers as early as possible, about subjects such as

packages of practices, market information, weather forecasting, input supplies, credit

availability, etc.

6. Creation of databases with details of the resources of local villages and villagers, site-

specific information systems, expert systems, etc.

7. Provision of early warning systems about disease/ pest problems, information regarding

rural development programmes and crop insurances, post harvest technology, etc.

8. Facilitation of land records and online registration services

9. Improved marketing of milk and milk products

10. Services providing information to farmers regarding farm business and management

11. Increased efficiency and productivity of cooperative societies through the computer

communication network and the latest database technology

12. Tele-education for farmers

13. Websites established by agricultural research institutes, making the latest information

available to extension (knowledge) workers and obtaining their feedback.

Education Agriculture Sustainable livelihoods

Offline multimedia e-

learning tools in CD-ROMs

etc

Access to market information

through portals, radio, mobile

phones

Exploring employment op-

portunities

E-learning using chat

andvideo-conferencing

facility

Expert advice on farming,

animal husbandry, fishing,

dairying etc.

Income opportunities for info

kiosk entrepreneurs

Distance education through

internet; capacity building of

rural teachers

Detection of catch fish zone

using satellite tracking

systems

Payment of bills through

infokiosk

Radio broadcast for

educational contents

Knowledge sharing of

indigenous farming practices

Money transactions with

non-resident Indians

Health Community development Small business

development

Telemedicine applications

e.g. remote diagnosis and

expert medical consultations

Interactive portals with local

content in native languages,

web-based newspaper

Micro-credit financing

Improved health recording

system

Local culture preserved and

flourished through

community radio

E-commerce for local

artisans

Better delivery of training

modules for In-service train-

ing of semi-skilled health

workers using ICT

Local jobs, matrimonial

portals, Interaction with

family members living in

cities, abroad

Improving logistics, e.g. pre-

arranging payment and deliv-

ery details before

transactions

Better monitoring and knowl-

edge sharing on disease

andfamine

Facilitate knowledge sharing

among community, local

government and grassroots

NGOs

Market information,

marketing of products

Governance Emergency Situations Environmental

Lodging complaints and

grievances to state and

redressal

Calling police, fire, and

ambulance and location and

rescue of victims in

emergency

Weather forecast

Payment of state services Emergency assistance in

vehicle breakdown

Neighbourhood mapping,

natural resource management

Applications for

certificates,Copy of land

records

Radio broadcasts (esp. Using

ham radio) in natural

calamities

Satellite based tracking of

bush fires

Information on state schemes

e.g. credit and below poverty

line amenities

Disseminating early warning

from national and

international disaster warning

systems via local infokiosks

Local planning using GIS

Realising the potentials of ICT

Promises of ICT in enhancing citizen’s capacities remain unmet so far largely because ICT

infrastructure is lacking in rural areas. ‘India’ lags far behind other Asian developing

economies like China, Korea and Malaysia in the usage of computer, cable TV, fixed

telephony and ‘mobile’ phones. A recent estimate shows that per 100 people, rate of PC

usage in Korea, Malaysia and China is as high as78.6, 15 and 2.8 respectively, compared to

only 0.8 in India. Similarly, in mobile telephony, India’s rate of usage stands at 2.6 per 100

persons, compared to that of China’s 18.3, Korea’s 75 and Malaysia’s 43.9

Digital Dividend (2003) shows that 33 and 37 per cent of world’s infokiosk projects are

concentrated in Africa and Asia respectively. A survey of the projects submitted to the

Digital Dividend database shows that most of the ICT-enabled development projects are

concentrated only in 10 states in North and South India – Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,

Tamil Nadu,Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar

Pradesh.Paul, Katz and Gallagher (2004) observed that, “Almost half of all projects in India

are located in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

Together, these states account for just 22% of the country’s total population. A fifth of Indian

projects are located in the capital city of New Delhi. Another 15% are found in the western

states of Gujarat and Maharashtra”

Moreover, selective ICT pilots accentuate social and economic disparities further within rural

population clusters. Motivation for providing access to all was first enunciated in the

recommendations of the National Taskforce on Information Technology and Software

Development, set up in May 1998, to draft a National Informatics Policy. The impetus for

rolling out citizen-centric ICT services thus emerged out of the ‘Information Technology

Action Plan’ by the National Taskforce in 2001. Limited progress has been made until 200

July when a national level policy consultation was convened to formulate an action plan

for ‘taking ICT to every Indian village by 2007,’ initiated by civil society organisations. The

July 2004 consultation led to the formation of the ‘National Alliance on ICT for

Basic Human Needs,’ a consortium comprising more than 120 organisations representing

government, private and civil society sectors. The Second Convention of the National

Alliance also provided further boost to this idea.

DISCUSSION

Rural ICT centers are the initiative of the third millennium and widen the accessibility

horizons of information and Communication Technology among disadvantaged groups of

societies, and play a significant role in rural development processes. Consequently the rapidly

growing gap between urban and rural economy has reinforced the critical role of ICT in

creating an equal society. Identifying the factors which foster adoption of ICT is among the

important challenges of alleviating digital divide. ICT centers attract different groups within

rural communities and create a forum for unprivileged rural settlers to learn about and to use

computer and internet.

 It can contribute in almost every area such as human rights protection, health, environment

protection, education and agriculture etc. Especially in rural context, it acts as an

intermediary between the government and the people.

Looking at the high population and higher incidence of poverty in rural India, implementation

of ICT & e-governance to cover all the villages is a very tough task. Also existing e-

governance models are more technology centric & have been adopted from the west. So they

do not ensure complete rural development in a developing country like India. There are

several gaps found in the execution of the ICT projects for rural India, where the larger goal

of empowerment, digital and preservation of traditional technologies are lot considered.

Therefore, taking in view of such limitations it is an important task to propose some

alternative approaches to rural ICT projects.

There is much evidence that information and communication technologies (ICTs) are drivers

of economic growth. As a result, government is keen to promote ICT take‐up, particularly

where there is economic development need. The rural economy in most countries is regarded

as that which requires intervention in order to foster sustainability and development, and

there have been many empirical studies of both the value and the use of ICTs in rural areas.

These are, however, highly disparate, often being industry‐, country‐ and, indeed, type‐of‐technology‐specific. Aims to draw together the highly eclectic literature on the use of ICTs in

rural small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to provide an overview of generic

issues, relevant to policy.

CONCLUSION

The foregoing discussion shows that knowledge is a key ingredient for sustainable human

development – hence, for furthering human development access to knowledge is a

prerequisite for the Indian citizens. While urban India is relatively well connected to multiple

knowledge gateways, rural India lags far behind. Though ICT infrastructure in rural India is

steadily growing as part of the recent state sponsored initiatives like Common Services

Centres and NeGP, their impact on human empowerment has yet to be mainstreamed into the

project deliverables and outcomes. Researches on the interconnections across ICT andhuman

development demonstrate multi-facted inter linkages across the social, cultural, political and

economic issues and institutions. It is recognised that the impact of ICT in human

development will much depend on the efficacy of such linkages across state, market and civil

society institutions in rural India. While ICT is expected to work for human well-being in

health, education, livelihoods, women empowerment, environment and other sectors,

development of human capabilities in sustaining the development assistance is seen as the

key goal.

It has become clear that ICT is a medium that can offer many opportunities in poor remote

rural areas. But it is important to ensure that local people benefit from this new technology,

only then can ICT play a role in the development of poor remote rural areas.

The private sector knows its customers. When they spot business opportunities, private

companies can better address the needs of rural people through demand-driven technologies.

A solution is most likely to attract customers, if it serves their needs and individual

requirements. Locally embedded and knowledgeable about local markets, it is local

enterprises that have the most profound and comprehensive understanding of their customers.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To date, a big portion of ICT for development projects (ICT4D) still resembles a black box.

There is a lack of profound assessments, and scientifically valid evidence is weak, often due

to the fact that detailed impact analyses are costly and time-consuming, taking up resources

that might otherwise be spent for other project activities.

However, in order to replicate successful experiences, there is no alternative to systematic

impact assessments of ICT4D projects. One should better document, share and capture the

impact of ICT4D projects and feed these back into the learning and development loops.

Without indicators that demonstrate how ICT affect rural livelihoods specifically, the success

of any strategy is subject to coincidence rather than target-oriented planning.

One important step towards more coherent and effective ICT4D projects is to share

information on impact, failures, and the methodology used, as well as on successful

interventions. It is important to bear in mind that even if technology matters, the role of ICT

cannot be overestimated, ICT is a tool and not an objective in itself. It is instead the people

who will use and benefit from ICT that must be at the heart of any policies. Any ICT

implementation must at any time follow a needs-based approach.

Addressing market limitations

The market has its limits. ICT infrastructure is often not available in remote rural areas.

Although the telecommunication sector in developing countries has been growing

tremendously in recent years, connectivity (or rather the lack thereof) – especially with regard

to broadband – remains one of the major hurdles for the development of ICT projects in rural

areas.

Challenges could be overcome through policy and regulatory interventions that provide

incentives for the operators to invest (e.g. though public private partnerships or universal

service schemes). In this context, development cooperation organisations have an important

role in strengthening the capacities of regulatory institutions and in promoting sound policies.

These policies – elaborated in dialogue with rural communities – can significantly contribute

to narrowing the “digital divide”.

Beyond the policy level, development cooperation organisations can also address the

demands of rural customers that are typically not catered by the market. Their engagement in

development partnerships with the private sector can stimulate new business activities and at

the same time buffer risks by sharing responsibilities.

Finally, it must be noted that market mechanisms are not able to address all development

requirements, in particular the needs of the “poorest of the poor”. Activities beyond the scope

of these discussions are required to delve into this issue.

What can ICT do for rural economic development?

ICT in general and mobile technology in particular have significant potential to contribute

positively to economic development in rural areas. However, beyond a handful of successful

large scale schemes, most of the ICT4D projects – including the ones using mobile phone

technology – focus on small-scale solutions and have not yet matured beyond the pilot stage.

While some would say that small is beautiful and can come in handy, the limits of this focus

become apparent. The discussions and exchanges that took place during the three public

events demonstrated the need to promote a holistic approach that allows markets to function.

At the same time it is critical to address the limitations of the markets and to assess the

impact of ICT4D projects systematically.

While the provision and maintenance of appropriate software and other technical services is a

compulsory exercise, providing services in the local language and featuring local content

makes an even more attractive package to consumers and creates an advantage in the

markets. It could thus be worthwhile for development cooperation organisations to promote

home-grown ICT solutions and innovation through strengthening the local private IT sector.

One means to do so is to support developing countries in establishing national IT strategies,

to foster the development of local professional organisations in the IT sector and to facilitate

the incubation of local IT firms.

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Ballantyne, P. 2002Collecting and propagating local development content.Synthesis and

conclusions.

De Silva, H. 2008. Scoping Study: ICT and Rural Livelihoods South Asia Component‖.ICT

for Rural Livelihoods Research Scoping Report. New Delhi. International Development

Research Center.

Glendenning C., Ficarelli P., 2011. Information Development.Content development and

management processes of ICT initiatives in Indian agriculture.

Kumar, R., Best M.. 2006. Social Impact and Diffusion of Telecenter Use: A Study from the

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