Rural
India finds a connect
A
non-profit is using the government’s unutilised spectrum to provide internet
connectivity in rural areas
Seventeen-year-old
Rajkumari spends much of her time on the computer and surfing the internet.
What sets her apart from other urban teenagers is that she lives in Baran
district in western Rajasthan and edits a newspaper, ‘Khoj Khabar’ that focuses
on the Sahariya tribe. “The paper only covers news about the Sahariya people,”
she says. When the day’s work is done, she spends time at the Jan Jagriti Gyan
Kendra, teaching science to school children. There are other skills that tribal
youth can acquire at this centre run by NGO Sankalp. Apart from basic
word-processing and accounting software, they can surf the Internet and
converse with students and faculty across the six centres in Baran via video
conferencing.
Wireless technology may have democratized access to information in urban areas, but the vast and sometimes inaccessible rural India was, until recently, excluded from the digital map. That tribal students like Rajkumari can communicate with a universe of information providers is due to the work of organizations like Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF).
Technology providers for NGOs like Sankalp, in collaboration with the Internet Society, are the force behind projects like “Wireless For Communities”, responsible for Internet connectivity and low-cost wi-fi technology in areas like Baran in Rajasthan, Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh, Tehri in Uttarakhand and the Garo Hills in Meghalaya. The project has established seven wireless networks across rural and tribal India, and introduced over 100 youth to wireless technologies. DEF utilized the unlicensed spectrum made available by the government.
These license-free bands, 5.8GHz and 2.4GHz, were used to develop wireless networks. Osama Manzar, founder of DEF, says, “The Internet provides a huge opportunity to overcome information poverty. Without quick access to information, the rural Indian is left in the dark about things that matter to him or her - government subsidies, new policies, education initiatives and more.”
Grappling with “information poverty” has led DEF into uncharted terrain. Manzar says, “Once we identify the location where we have to create a network, we explore low-cost equipment for the networking. Our average cost of connecting a node is Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000.” Low-cost alternatives open up the possibility of point-to-point networking and multi-point networking, known as the mesh network — effective for connecting hilly areas. Once a network is set up in difficult terrain, it can support schools, hospitals, local NGOs and panchayats.
The organization’s foray into Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh led to the establishment of the Chanderi Weavers’ ICT Resource Centre, popularly known as the Chanderiyaan project. Chanderi is famed for its hand-woven saris. Till 2009, when Chanderiyaan was launched, the weavers spent long hours on intricate designs that they had produced for years. The Chanderiyaan project provided information communication technology (ICT) support to the weavers and fused traditional knowledge with technical knowhow. A few weavers were trained on Wonder-Weave, a software customized for textile and apparel design. Their newly acquired skills enhanced their design, tailoring and embroidery skills, without encroaching upon traditional artistic sensibilities. More than 400 patterns were developed and archived. The Chanderiyaan initiative included the installation of 30 looms for economically deprived weavers.
For a few, like Mohammad Furqan, it has brought renown. Furqan, a 27-year-old weaver who designed the monogram of the Commonwealth Games in 2010, attributes his success to the computerised pattern design course he joined. “There is no dearth of talent in Chanderi,” he says, “But there has been a change in design philosophy only after we learnt computer skills.” Furqan’s monogram was woven on 11,000 stolesproduced in Chanderi and gifted to athletes during the Commonwealth Games.
Like Chanderi, there are other regions that are no longer isolated from a digital world. Websites of local panchayats appear promptly on computer screens, upon typing the names of once-obscure villages and districts. The digital panchayat programme, an initiative of DEF in collaboration with National Internet Exchange of India, has connected elected representatives to the people via a dynamic web interface. It encourages good governance and transparency by making information available on web portals.
Kamaljeet, executive director of Sristi Gyan Kendra, the regional partner of DEF in Haryana, has helped set up 34 web portals in the region. “The websites have opened these villages to the world,” he says. “Anyone can find the name and telephone number of the sarpanch.” The portals have a database of local administrators, school teachers and doctors.
DEF and its partners have picked 500 panchayats from 20 states as a pilot project. Manzar is optimistic that a time will come when all 2.5 lakh panchayats that represent 5.45 villages will go online. “Grassroots workers should have their own websites,” he says. “How else will they tell people about their work or raise funds for developmental projects?”
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Wireless technology may have democratized access to information in urban areas, but the vast and sometimes inaccessible rural India was, until recently, excluded from the digital map. That tribal students like Rajkumari can communicate with a universe of information providers is due to the work of organizations like Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF).
Technology providers for NGOs like Sankalp, in collaboration with the Internet Society, are the force behind projects like “Wireless For Communities”, responsible for Internet connectivity and low-cost wi-fi technology in areas like Baran in Rajasthan, Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh, Tehri in Uttarakhand and the Garo Hills in Meghalaya. The project has established seven wireless networks across rural and tribal India, and introduced over 100 youth to wireless technologies. DEF utilized the unlicensed spectrum made available by the government.
These license-free bands, 5.8GHz and 2.4GHz, were used to develop wireless networks. Osama Manzar, founder of DEF, says, “The Internet provides a huge opportunity to overcome information poverty. Without quick access to information, the rural Indian is left in the dark about things that matter to him or her - government subsidies, new policies, education initiatives and more.”
Grappling with “information poverty” has led DEF into uncharted terrain. Manzar says, “Once we identify the location where we have to create a network, we explore low-cost equipment for the networking. Our average cost of connecting a node is Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000.” Low-cost alternatives open up the possibility of point-to-point networking and multi-point networking, known as the mesh network — effective for connecting hilly areas. Once a network is set up in difficult terrain, it can support schools, hospitals, local NGOs and panchayats.
The organization’s foray into Chanderi in Madhya Pradesh led to the establishment of the Chanderi Weavers’ ICT Resource Centre, popularly known as the Chanderiyaan project. Chanderi is famed for its hand-woven saris. Till 2009, when Chanderiyaan was launched, the weavers spent long hours on intricate designs that they had produced for years. The Chanderiyaan project provided information communication technology (ICT) support to the weavers and fused traditional knowledge with technical knowhow. A few weavers were trained on Wonder-Weave, a software customized for textile and apparel design. Their newly acquired skills enhanced their design, tailoring and embroidery skills, without encroaching upon traditional artistic sensibilities. More than 400 patterns were developed and archived. The Chanderiyaan initiative included the installation of 30 looms for economically deprived weavers.
For a few, like Mohammad Furqan, it has brought renown. Furqan, a 27-year-old weaver who designed the monogram of the Commonwealth Games in 2010, attributes his success to the computerised pattern design course he joined. “There is no dearth of talent in Chanderi,” he says, “But there has been a change in design philosophy only after we learnt computer skills.” Furqan’s monogram was woven on 11,000 stolesproduced in Chanderi and gifted to athletes during the Commonwealth Games.
Like Chanderi, there are other regions that are no longer isolated from a digital world. Websites of local panchayats appear promptly on computer screens, upon typing the names of once-obscure villages and districts. The digital panchayat programme, an initiative of DEF in collaboration with National Internet Exchange of India, has connected elected representatives to the people via a dynamic web interface. It encourages good governance and transparency by making information available on web portals.
Kamaljeet, executive director of Sristi Gyan Kendra, the regional partner of DEF in Haryana, has helped set up 34 web portals in the region. “The websites have opened these villages to the world,” he says. “Anyone can find the name and telephone number of the sarpanch.” The portals have a database of local administrators, school teachers and doctors.
DEF and its partners have picked 500 panchayats from 20 states as a pilot project. Manzar is optimistic that a time will come when all 2.5 lakh panchayats that represent 5.45 villages will go online. “Grassroots workers should have their own websites,” he says. “How else will they tell people about their work or raise funds for developmental projects?”
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