Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 08:55:41 +0530
From: Subbiah Arunachalam
Friends:
Here is a report that appeared in The Communication Initiative
[http://www.comminit.com/pds72004/sld-10439.html]. Best wishes.
Arun
National Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for
Basic Human Needs - India
Summary
Formed in May 2004, the National Alliance for Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) for Basic Human Needs will seek to take the
knowledge-led services harnessed by ICTs to all of India's 600,000 villages
by August 2007, when the country celebrates its 60th year of independence.
The Alliance sees itself as acting as a catalyst for technology innovation
for rural ICT applications and connectivity. "It will work to bring the
private sector and the academia together with strong support from civil
society organizations for experimenting every innovation among the target
communities." The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and OneWorld
South Asia are jointly organising the Alliance.
Main Communication Strategies
The Alliance is using networking and partnership as strategies for taking
ICTs to the poor and the disadvantaged in India's rural and urban
communities. To begin the process of creating the alliance, 50
representatives drawn from civil society organisations, government
departments, the private sector, and academia took part in consultations in
May 2004. They set up 7 task forces, including connectivity, content,
policy, capacity building, resources, organisation and management, and
programme design.
One focus of these task force activities will be how to use the ongoing
efforts by the government and the private sector in creating an ICT
infrastructure, human networks, and political institutions to provide
multipurpose information kiosks in rural areas. "The info-kiosk of tomorrow
would serve as a communication hub, providing multiple telephone and
communication services to the village, a virtual academy and training center
and banking, financial, insurance and trading outlet and much more."
Face-to-face interaction will continue to be the Alliance's key strategy for
sharing ideas and engaging in strategic planning toward the 2007 goal. These
conversations take the form of "Policy Makers Workshops" like the May and
July 2004 consultations. (Other such workshops were held in October 2003 and
February 2004 to organise other MSRRF programmes designed to bridge the
digital divide; please see Key Points, below). According to organisers, a
number of key government people attended and spoke at the July 2004 meeting.
According to MSRRF, these representatives expressed firm support for the
National Alliance's work and a strong desire to collaborate. Here is an
excerpt from the May 2004 meeting report, which indicates the Alliance's
strategic direction (this document is available as a PDF document; please
see contact section, below):
The emergence of Rural Knowledge Centres and info-kiosk movement in
our country has demonstrated that the local panchayats and self-help groups
can take advantage of appropriate information and communication technologies
and that they can easily access the scientific and technical knowledge they
need to solve local problems and enhance the quality of their lives, as well
as to communicate their own insights and needs back to Government
departments and scientists. A national movement of knowledge centres needs
to be established in mission mode to ensure quick implementation at the
local level, create information infrastructure and locally appropriate and
relevant content for rural economy through active involvement of Gram
Sabhas, Local Self-Help groups and NGOs. For this a Rural Knowledge Centre
Fund may be established by NABARD to cover 100,000 villages within 3 years.
To provide the fillip the Government of India may provide necessary matching
assistance to NABARD to the tune of Rs. 300 crores a year. These NABARD
supported knowledge centres should work towards creating sustainable
livelihood opportunities, and also serve as service providers and
communication enablers for the landless and the poor, especially those
belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward
Classes, women and the disabled - the most vulnerable groups in rural
India....It will be useful if Government can proactively promote
public-private and institutional partnerships facilitating outreach of the
knowledge centres to cover the unreached villages in rural India. The active
participation of this elected women and men members of local bodies crucial
for the success of this movement. An integrated use of the Internet and
Community Radio will be an effective means of reaching the unreached and
voicing the voiceless.
Development Issues
Technology, Economic Development.
Key Points
The Alliance's work will be guided by the philosophy of MSSRF's Chairman,
Prof. Swaminathan. Here is a synopsis of that approach, provided by MSSRF:
"His focus is people. He looks at their contexts and needs and then proceeds
to satisfy those needs within their context. He is ready to use any
technology that comes in handy. For example, in our Information Village
(Rural Knowledge Centres) project we use noticeboards, public address
systems (loud speakers put up in different streets of a fishing village) and
a local language twice-monthly community newspaper along with solar
(photovoltaic) energy, the Internet, spread spectrum technology and Motorola
two-way radio...For us technology is often a mere enabler. What people want
delivered is healthcare, education, agriculture, markets, entitlements,
credit, and better livelihoods. We work towards achieving the MDGs
[Millenium Development Goals]."
The National Alliance is a natural progression from MSSRF's ongoing efforts
to set up rural knowledge centres in several villages - efforts that can be
characterised as using a bottom-up approach and involving the community from
the beginning. MSSRF comments, "These are not mere kiosks. They have become
an integral part of the life of the village communities." This work is
described in detail in "Rural Knowledge Centres: Harnessing Local Knowledge
via Interactive Media Policy Makers Workshop" [PDF]
http://www.mssrf.org/publications/pmw.pdf>. For a summary
of this workshop, click here http://www.comminit.com/st2003/sld-9144.html.
Additional information is available on the MSSRF website
http://www.mssrf.org> (click on the words "Special
Programmes" on the left navigation bar).
Click here http://www.comminit.com/DiscussionForums/sld-10232.html to find
out how to participate in a related Discussion Forum entitled "Information
kiosks in every Indian village by 2007 - a myth or reality?".
Partners
The July workshop was supported by the International Development Research
Center (IDRC), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), NASSCOM
Foundation, and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. It was
organised by M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and OneWorld South Asia.
Source
"National Alliance on ICTs for basic human needs launched"
http://www.digitalopportunity.org/link/gotoarticle/addhit/8
6557/1138/2150>, on the OneWorld South Asia website. Featured in the Digital
Opportunity Channel - weekly newsletter - May 20-26, which was forwarded by
Atanu Garai to the bytesforall_readers list server on May 26 2004 (click
here to access the archives
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/>); and
posting to the bytesforall_readers list server dated July 6 2004; and letter
sent from Subbiah Arunachalam to The Communication Initiative on July 15
2004.
For more information, contact:
Subbiah Arunachalam
Distinguished Fellow
arun@mssrf.res.in mailto:arun@mssrf.res.in
subbiah_a@hotmail.com mailto:subbiah_a@hotmail.com
Prof. M.S. Swaminathan
Chairman
msswami@mssrf.res.in mailto:msswami@mssrf.res.in
M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF)
Third Cross Street, Institutional Area
Taramani, Chennai - 600 113, India
Tel.: +91-44-22541229, 22541698
Fax: +91-44-22541319
MSSRF website http://www.mssrf.org>
Dr. Basheerhamad Shadrach
Director, OneWorld South Asia
Basheerhamad.shadrach@oneworld.net
mailto:Basheerhamad.shadrach@oneworld.net
Placed on the Communication Initiative site July 15 2004.
Last Updated July 15 2004.
Please also see: http://www.comminit.com/pds72004/sld-10439.html
National Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for
Basic Human Needs http://www.comminit.com/pds72004/sld-10439.html
A network formed in May 2004 is working to bring ICTs to all of India's
600,000 villages by August 2007, when the country celebrates its 60th year
of independence. The National Alliance sees itself as a catalyst for
technology innovation for rural ICT applications and connectivity.
Networking and partnership will be key strategies for taking ICTs to the
poor and the disadvantaged: "It will work to bring the private sector and
the academia together with strong support from civil society organizations
for experimenting" with ICT innovations. The M.S. Swaminathan Research
Foundation and OneWorld South Asia are organising the Alliance.
