Information Communication Technology (ICT) at the grassroots level can be a significant and cost-effective way of responding to the needs of large disadvantaged sections of the Indian population. ICT can be the best answer to poverty, injustice, illness, inequality, discrimination, exploitation and hunger. The ICT can greatly help the rural poor meet their basic needs and assert their fundamental rights.
Rural India with its population of more than 700 million and a GDP of over Rs.6,00,000 crore is ripe for progress, representing enormous potential in terms of economy and human resources. Rural connectivity is the key to harnessing its resources. Suitably equipped, rural India has the potential of being a catalyst in taking the country to the forefront of powerful nations. The effort of the TeNet (Telecommunication and Computer Networks) group of faculty members at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Chennai conceptualized the vision of achieving connectivity in all Indian villages at the earliest.
In a major attempt to bring the remote rural areas into information technology fold, a rural broadband venture was launched at Venkatachallam village in Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh on January 17, 2003. "Cyber Grameen" is an ambitious project set up by the Swarna Bharat Trust, an NGO. It aims at an IT convergence hub in the heart of rural India. The power of rural Internet broadband can be harnessed through this project. The first Cyber Grameen Centre of India set up at Venkatachallam village will provide a variety of applications and services stimulating the village growth prospects and act as a driver to the traditional projects currently being undertaken by the Government and NGOs.
It provides telephony services which are extremely low- cost alternatives to normal telephone facility. It also provides the facility of telemedicine which includes medical information, diagnostics and services from reputed hospitals. It can be accessed at the village level itself. The best of adult literacy, educational, information and training programmes for farming techniques can be imparted through distance learning. The high speed Internet broadband connectivity and multi-media content can be provided at phenomenal speed. E-mail facility can also be given in native languages.
This Cyber Grameen Centre (CGC) provides agriculture and horticulture services that emphasize on expert advice on crop protection, market facilities and agriculture produce. The extensive insurance services under it, especially in the areas of crop, cattle, medical and life insurance, are worth mentioning. The rural folk will be accessible to banking services like online deposits, withdrawals, demand drafts, pass books and customer service. A convenient retail store that will stock all essential commodities under one roof is an added advantage.
The video conferencing facility in this Centre indicates a two-way interactive isochronous video and voice to facilitate easy communication between individuals. The CGC offers the best of digital entertainment making it a hub of community interaction. This project also helps in delivery of government services and information to the public using electronic delivery methods which facilitates electronic governance as in the IT Act, 2000 enacted by Government of India.
The launch of the CGC was itself an online feat with the Centre being inaugurated by Shri Venkaiah Naidu, MP and a former Union Minister, at the remote village of Venkatachallam with several Ministers including Smt. Sushma Swaraj, Shri Ananth Kumar, and Smt. Sumitra Mahajan sitting in New Delhi. They interacted with the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Shri N. Chandrababu Naidu from New Delhi through video-conferencing facility.
The United India Insurance Company Ltd. is associated with the First Cyber Grameen Centre in India. The launching of the Centre is intended to facilitate the rural India leap into the information age.
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