Mobiles for Development : June 2008 Issue

Page 1

Vol. VI No. 6

June 2008

The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

World Resources Institute, USA Mobile telecoms in rural areas

A review of IDRC projects Mobiles are leading the way Information for development

LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka Benefiting the bottom of the pyramid?

ISSN 0972 - 804X

Mobiles for Development

w w w. i 4 d o n l i n e . n e t

Turn to page 32 and stand a chance to WIN a HCL Leaptop!

knowledge for change


INDIA

2008 29-31 July 2008 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, INDIA

Can rural India empower itself with IT? Find out this July at Telecentre Forum 2008

The Indian Telecentre Forum 2008 (ITF 2008), fifth in the series of Telecentre Forums organised by CSDMS, will provide a platform for all key stakeholders representing the government, the private sector, the civil society, and funding agencies to join and discuss the achievements, challenges and the progress in the telecentre movement. The forum will create a common ground for equitable learning which will facilitate a process of overall development of the country. It will shape the way forward for the telecentre movement within India, and make it an example for the world to learn from.

Key Speakers

.

Prof. M. S. Swaminathan MP & Chairman, MSSRF

R. Chandrshekhar Additional secretary DIT, Ministry of Communication & IT, GoI

S. Abbasi Senior Director, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, GoI

Ashis Sanyal Senior Director, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, GoI

Dr. Basheerhamad Shadrach Telecentre.org/IDRC

Chetan Sharma Founder, Datamation Foundation Charitable Trust New Delhi

Rufina Fenandes CEO, NASSCOM Foundation, Mumbai

Aruna Sundararajan CEO, CSC Programme, IL&FS

Key themes

Who will attend

• A Close Examination of Telecentre Movement in India

• • • • • • • • •

• • • •

Demystifying Social Enterprise Model Discussions on Achieving Balance between Financial and Social Objectives Asian Telecentre Leaders Knowledge Sharing Session The Need of New Technologies and Innovations in the Areas of Content and Connectivity • Upgrading the Skills of the Grassroots Managers • Examining the Role of NGOs in Common Services Centres Programme • Will Mobile Phones Take Over Telecentres?

Telecentre Practitioners and Telecentre Leaders Technology Solution Providers Social Investors Researchers and Project Implementers Private Sector Investors Government Implementers Funding Agencies Content Developers and Consultants Community Mobilisers

International Supporting Partners

Supporting Partner telecentre.org is a global community of people and organizations committed to increasing the social and economic impact of grassroots telecentres. The founding investors include Canada’s International Development Research Centre, Microsoft, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.The association will bring a knowledge sharing session for Asian telecentre leaders, an open conclave of service centre agencies, State IT secretaries and a high level delegation from Africa and telecentre.org village, at eINDIA2008. www.telecentre.org

www.eINDIA.net.in/telecentreforum Contact Person: Vignesh Sornamohan: Mobile No: +91-9999654458, Email: ITF@eINDIA.net.in For Exhibition or Sponsorship Enquiries: sales@eINDIA.net.in, For Registration Enquiries: registration@eINDIA.net.in


Contents

Vol. VI No. 6

June 2008

Mail box

Features

Rendezvous

5

Editorial

36

6

World Resources Institute: USA Mobile telecoms in rural areas Allen L Hammond

Riding the mobile bandwagon

10

A review of IDRC projects

14

D.NET, Bangladesh

18

Infoshare, Colombo, Sri Lanka

22

Digital Green: Agricultural Extension

Mobiles are leading the way Ahmed Tareq Rashid, Kathleen Diga

38

Conference on NRHM, SSA & NREGP, April – May 2008, New Delhi, India Common Minimum Programme: A review

42

National seminar on ‘Grassroots Level Informatics Development Programs’, 9 May 2008 Empowering villages and islands:

Participatory video for argicultural extension Rikin Gandhi, Rajesh Veeraraghavan, Kentaro Toyama and Vanaja Ramprasad

29

LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka Benefiting the bottom of the pyramid? Anu Samarajiva, Harsha de Silva, Ayesha Zainudeen

23 29-31 July 2008 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

1 2 4

Climate Supplement

The ICT way

Columns 40

Bytes for All

45

What’s on

46

In Fact Mobile connectivity in developing economies

Interview 13

Sarbuland Khan, UNGAID

16

Noeleen Heyzer, UNESCAP

Global network for development

Bridging the divide: A southern perspective

Climate Change News Protection certificates for private sector

34

Ravi Ghate, SMSONE Building SMS network for empowering poor

News 10

World News

21

e-Agriculture News

31

India News

netgov Speak: Researcher and Coordinator, Sulakshana Bhattacharya, CSDMS

et

online.n

info@i4d

Connecting the rural communities

Converting mobile lady to info lady Muhammad Atiqur Rahman

Mobiles for better governance? Sanjana Hattotuwa

Conference on ‘Last Mile Solutions for Sustainable and Inclusive ICT Connectivity’, 15-18 April 2008, Cochin, India

32

Part II: Internet Governance Issues – Access

Thank you for sending the i4d magazines. We appreciate the high quality of the articles, and the diverse places they come from. I wish there was more from Latin America and the Caribbean, and have offered to provide some. We also look forward to the online news letter. It is an excellent magazine. Please keep sending it. We also use the website to get some of the news items. Vidyaratha Kissoon Projects Officer DevNet,Guyana vidyak1@gmail.com I write to assure you that I have been receiving the magazine regularly and as matter of fact it has been very useful and educative. We enjoy your magazine but worry about your costs in mailing it to us. We would read it here if it was digital instead of the beautiful print job that you send. www.WorldComputerExchange. org is an international educational non-profit working through 360 Partner organisations in 54 developing countries to help connect more youth to the opportunities of the Internet via our online support volunteers, sister-schools, and donated used computers. Timothy Anderson President, World Computer Exchange, Canada I would like to acknowledge with thanks the regular receipt of your excellent publication. I would be grateful to continue to receive it. Let me congratulate all the staff on the high quality and relevance of the articles featured therein. Mariana Patru Programme Specialist in ICTs and ODL Division of Higher Education, Education Sector UNESCO, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris, France m.patru@unesco.org

info@i4donline.net www.i4donline.net/feedback.asp


Subscription Form

EDITORIAL GUIDELINES

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Information for development www.i4donline.net

All correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor-in-chief, i4d G-4, Sector-39, Noida, India Tel +91-120-2502180 to 85 Fax +91-120-2500060 Email info@i4donline.net

Subscription

Price Rs.

Rs.

12

2400

2160

2

24

4800

3

36

7200

Vol. V No. 7

The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

July 2007

Vol. V No. 8

August 2007

Extention of ICTs to youth in Vietnam

Information for development

i4d Awards 2007

w w w. i 4 d o n l i n e . n e t

A galaxy of luminaries

15% (Rs. 720)

US$ 320

5040

30% (Rs. 2160)

US$ 400

Vol. V No. 10

October 2007

The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

Vol. V No. 11

November 2007

UIRI ICT project, Uganda

Opportunities for rural India

Technology enabled farm women

Information for development

Interactive Multimedia Compact Disc (IMCD)

w w w. i 4 d o n l i n e . n e t

The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

Learning skills for small scale entrepreneurs

Equalising growth in outsourcing

Story telling for knowledge sharing - iConnect series

Beyond the mainstream... i4d Film Festival India 2007

Wealth creation in India by KPOS

4080

Practical Action, Sri Lanka

Indian Telecentre Forum, 2007 Information for development

w w w. i 4 d o n l i n e . n e t

Employment in IT sector, India

US$ US$ 200

Reviving indigenous paddy cultivation

Telecentre tales

Creating livehood opportunities Rural livelihoods

Differential scenarios in employment

Subscription

10% (Rs. 240)

The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

September 2007

CSC programme review, NeGP, India

Youth livelihood

Information for development

w w w. i 4 d o n l i n e . n e t

Vol. V No. 9

The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

A journey through three states

Saving

Phones at the bottom of the pyramid

Information for development

Telecom accessibility

w w w. i 4 d o n l i n e . n e t

Applications of ICTs in virtual universities Distance education and ICTs

Campus with no gates

ICTs and the challenges ahead

Barefoot College

Addressing the digital divide

Emerging technologies in African and Latin American countries

Vol. VI No. 1

Lead up to GK3 - Emerging People

Lead up to GK 3 - Emerging Markets knowledge for change

knowledge for change

ISSN 0972 - 804X

knowledge for change

ISSN 0972 - 804X

e-Agriculture Left to Right: H.E. Mohammed Al Amer, Preseident CIO, Govt. of Bahrain; Niranjan Meegammana, E-Fusion Pvt. Ltd., Sri Lanka; Ms. Bela Diwan, Computer Teacher, Springdales School, New Delhi; Santosh Choubey, Director, AISECT; Ravi Gupta, Director, CSDMS; Ms. Simmi Kher, Head, Computer Dept., Springdales School; William D Dar, Director General, ICRISAT, India; Dr. M.P. Narayanan, President, CSDMS; Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed Eisa, Chairman, GDCO, Sudan; Subhash Kuntia, Joint Secretary, Dept. of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development. Govt. of India; Saurabh Gupta, State Informatics Officer, NIC Bihar, India; K. Anvar Sadath, Head, e-Krishi.

ISSN 0972 - 804X

knowledge for change

ISSN 0972 - 804X

ICTs for livelihoods

Government investments in ICT4D

Knowledge process outsourcing

knowledge for change

The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

January 2008

Vol. VI No. 5

May 2008

GK3 overview

The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

Climate Change: An overview

Experencing the global knowledge

Shared responsibility for climate control

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India

India as a trendsetter An emerging digital India Information for development

w w w. i 4 d o n l i n e . n e t

i4d film festival@GK3

Information for development

w w w. i 4 d o n l i n e . n e t

ICT4D in motion

Equipping ourselves better

Climatic Change and Climate Impacts (C3I), University of Geneva, Switzerland Weather events and changing climate

w

Climate Change and ICTs ISSN 0972 - 804X

Editorial guidelines are available at http://www.i4donline.net/Editorial/Editorial_ Guidelines.asp

News stand

1

ISSN 0972 - 804X

The Editor’s decision to select, accept, modify or adjust your write-ups due to space constraints will be final.

Issues

(Year)

Global Knowledge Conference (GK3) special

Please also consult the editorial calendar to choose the theme of your interest. We also accept soft or hard copy submissions of your contributions. We encourage you to share your original research with our readers.

Duration

ISSN 0972 - 804X

i4d contains articles and features on the theme of ‘ICT for development’ and related issues. Authors are requested to follow the guidelines while sending their articles to i4d.

knowledge for change

I/We would like to subscribe for (circle as applicable)

1

2

3

knowledge for change

Turn to page 32 and stand a chance to WIN a HCL Leaptop!

Nocribe subs ne! onli

years.

First name............................................................................................ Last name .......................................................................... Designation/profession ........................................................................ Organisation ...................................................................... Mailing address ................................................................................... City .................................................................................... State ................................................... Country ................................ Postal code ......................................................................... Tel (o) ................................................... Tel (r)................................................................. Fax .......................................................... Email ................................................... Website ............................................................................................................................. Payments for mailed subscriptions are only accepted via cheque or demand draft. Cash payments may be made in person. (tick one and fill as applicable) Please find enclosed my/our cheque/demand draft numbered dated ......................... for Rs......................................... in favour of CSDMS a/c payable at New Delhi. I am submitting this form in person and paying by cash Please use photocopies of this form as required.

The CSDMS team

i4d news Now available in daily, weekly, and monthly email newsletters!

Subscribe at www.i4donline.net 4

i4d, G-4 Sector 39, Noida 201 301, India Tel +91 120 250 2180 to 85 Fax +91 120 250 0060 Email info@i4donline.net

i4d Editorial Calendar 2008 Month

Theme

January

Global Knowledge Conference (GK3) Special

Feburary

Open Publishing

March

Differently Abled and ICTs

April

Financial Inclusion and ICTs

May

Climate Change and ICTs

June

Mobiles for Development

July

Gender and ICTs

August

New Media in Development

September

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and ICTS

October

Community Radio

November

HIV/AIDS

December

Internet Governance i4d | June 2008


Editorial Riding the mobile bandwagon

ADVISORY BOARD M P Narayanan, Chairman, i4d Chin Saik Yoon Southbound Publications, Malaysia Karl Harmsen United Nations University Kenneth Keniston Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Mohammed Yunus Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Nagy Hanna e-Leadership Academy, University of Maryland, USA Richard Fuchs IDRC, Singapore Rinalia Abdul Rahim Global Knowledge Partnership, Malaysia Walter Fust Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Switzerland Wijayananda Jayaweera UNESCO, France EDITORIAL BOARD Akhtar Badshah, Frederick Noronha GROUP DIRECTORS Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar EDITORIAL TEAM Editor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta Programme Co-ordinator Jayalakshmi Chittoor Content Editor Rajat Banerjee Sr. Research Associate Ritu Srivastava, Ajitha Saravanan Sr. Graphic Designer Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Graphic Designers Om Prakash Thakur, Shyam Kishore, Chandrakesh Bihari Lal (James) Web Programmer Zia Salahuddin i4d G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA, UP, 201 301, India Phone +91 120 250 2181-85 Fax +91 120 250 0060 Email info@i4donline.net Web www.i4donline.net Printed at R P Printers, Noida, India i4d is a monthly publication. It is intended for those interested and involved in the use of Information and Commnication Technologies for development of underserved communities. It is hoped that it will serve to foster a growing network by keeping the community up to date on many activities in this wide and exciting field. i4d does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors. i4d is not responsible or accountable for any loss incurred directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided.

Out and away, mobiles have been revolutionising the ways of community living. Mobiles have become the most ubiquitous gadget that are used by almost all kinds of people representing the socio-economic hierarchy. These electronic devices have become the most viable tools of communication and information interchange in many countries including the least developed ones. In the last couple of years, the number of mobile phone users has increased exponentially throughout the globe. According to Wikipedia, the number of mobile phone subscribers by the end of November 2007 stood at a staggering 3.3 billion which is nearly half the world population. Mobiles are no longer mere cellphones, they are rather potentially gigantic platforms that integrate content, technology and embeded telecom applications. While in many rich and developed countries, mobiles are still a mark of status and luxury, in developing countries, mobiles play an instrumental role in information dissemination, social networking and knowledge transfer. In many African countries, for example, mobile telephony is used to disseminate vital content on public health and agriculture. Even in least developed countries, mobile platforms are used to create mass awareness and foster inclusion of the underserved sections of the society. Mobile technology is also used in certain important sectors such as agriculture, finance, banking — ever received an SMS from your bank telling you that your credit transaction has been accomplished. Present mobile platforms support a plethora of services and accessories like SMS (Short Messaging Service), MMS (Multimedia Messeging Service), e-mail, web browsing, video recording, gaming, photography, MP3, etc. apart from its regular voice services. Staring from Martin Cooper’s official invention of mobile phone in 1973 to the official launch of mobile phones by Japanese firm NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) in the year 1979 till the present date, mobile phones have really come a long way. We see a lot of convergence and present-day mobile phones function more as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), MP3 players and web browsers and less as mere telephone devices. In this issue, we have tried to comprehend whether mobiles really expedite the process of development or not. We have also tried to know what mobile technologies are presently available, what is the level of mobile penetration in different geopolitical locations, what is the extent of usage of mobile telephony in e-Governance, how mobile phones can be effectively used (mainly in developing countries) as an information dissemination tool etc. The issue is replete with case studies, interviews and articles on mobiles and their roles in the development process. We ardently hope that the present issue will certainly ring up the curtain and open up unexplored dimensions before the reader.

Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, 2008 Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

i4d is supported by:

Ravi Gupta Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in

December 2007 | www.i4donline.net

5


WORLD RESOURCES INSTITUTE, USA

Mobile telecoms in rural areas Mobile telephony facilitates connectivity in rural areas and stimulates socio-economic growth and reconstruction process

Mobiles for development Mobiles have had an undoubted impact on access to jobs, incomes, and emergency help, on personal security and social cohesion in households with migrant workers, and even on GDP growth and foreign direct investment. In fact, a recent review of the literature found dozens of studies documenting economic and social impacts of mobile telecommunications. Use of mobiles by local fishermen in India, for example, enabled them to sell their catch for higher prices and, for the industry as a whole, lowered transaction costs and eliminated waste and thus made it more competitive. In Niger, mobiles enabled a more efficient market for buying and selling grain, generally lowering prices for consumers and raising profits for farmers-and may have helped avoid severe hardships during a 2005 food crisis. A study in Rwanda found that mobiles enabled micro-entrepreneurs to develop more business contacts. Surveys in Latin America and in Tanzania found that mobiles were particularly important in finding work or employment possibilities. At a macro scale, there is evidence that the mobile industry generates significant number of jobs, facilitates wealth accumulation and foreign direct investment for a country as a whole, and that a rise in penetration of mobile phones by 10 phones per 100 people accelerates GDP growth by 0.6 percent, on average.

The rural telecommunication wave Allen L Hammond Vice President for Innovation and Special Projects,World Resources Institute Washington DC, USA Allen@wri.org

6

The next wave of growth for mobile telecommunications in emerging markets is likely to come from rural areas. The growth will eventually bring new challenges, because the areas to be covered are much

larger, the populations sparser, and incomes lower compared to urban areas. Can mobile telecommunications have the same impact in rural areas? Can mobile companies afford to provide coverage in rural areas?an important question, since if rural networks are not profitable, companies will hesitate to provide services. This article will suggest that the answer to both questions is yes, although it may require mobile telecoms to adopt some radically new approaches. The first question is relatively easy. A farmer who brings his or her produce to the owner of a market stall in an urban market often does not get paid until the next trip into town, which could be a month or more. If the farmer is paid the next morning on his or her mobile, it would make a huge difference. Likewise, if a rural household can find out market prices before bringing their produce to town, or even pre-sell it for the best available price, their income will rise. The lack of other infrastructurefinancial, electrical, transport-in many rural areas subtly implies that telecom infrastructure can be uniquely valuable. And this value will only increase as remittances and other financial transaction services, even mobile banking, begins to roll out over mobile networks. But what about the second question? The capital investment required to build a cellular tower in a remote rural area, powered by a backup diesel generator, is very substantial. And more than half of the cost of operating that rural network, typically, is the fuel and maintenance costs of the diesel generator. Without as many customers as in an urban area, and with low penetration of phone ownership and relatively limited use, the mobile company may not see an adequate return on that investment. i4d | June 2008


The Vietnamese experience Fortunately, there are a number of options for extending mobile networks into rural areas that can lower both the capital investment required and the operating expense. We are piloting one such option in Quang Ngai Province in central Vietnam. This heavily rural province has over one million people, and less than three percent of rural households own a phone-either because they lack coverage or don’t think the benefits are worth the cost. Our pilot-a joint effort with a rural development project, the provincial government, and a Vietnamese mobile company, EVN Telecom, with support from USAID and AUSAID-covers some 15 villages in three communes, more than 15,000 people and a total of 127 square kilometres.

WiFi and rural networking The technology involved is both familiar and yet amazing. It’s WiFi, like that found in many urban hotspots. It is also advanced WiFi mesh that can provide service over an area of several kilometers from a single unit and automatically provide good signal quality and route traffic in the most efficient way. It also includes advanced WiFi backhaul that can send lots of data, up to 100 megabits per second over distances of up to 50 kilometres, so that even remote areas can be reached with several wireless links. The phones involved would be WiFi-enabled mobile phones-in effect, low-cost smart phones-that work either on the urban cellular network or the rural WiFi network. The voice service in the rural areas is provided over the Internet, which is much more efficient, but in a way that integrates seamlessly with the mobile network-users will not generally know that they are using the Internet for voice service. The network is a broadband network, so it also provides Internet access, wirelessly, to desktop and laptop computers, potentially at speeds far higher than those typically found in urban wired networks.

A win-win solution Why build such an advanced, cutting-edge network in a remote, rural area? Because it is very inexpensive, compared to a conventional mobile network, and enables services that fit the needs of low-income, rural people. For example, it may make sense to provide local calling-within the WiFi network-for free, and charge normal pre-paid costs when calling into town via the conventional mobile network. Free local calling-typically about half of the traffic in rural areas-would be a big incentive to own a

June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

phone, probably resulting in larger penetration and ultimately in more customers and more revenue for the mobile company. And because the WiFi network is tied into the mobile network and uses mobile phones, it can deliver text messaging, mobile banking, and other advanced services. At the same time, such a WiFi network is potentially much less expensive to build than extending a conventional mobile network into rural areas, and-because it can be easily powered by small solar panels-avoids the operating expenses of diesel generators. So the WiFi solution can be more profitable for the mobile company, or profitable with far fewer customers, as well as allowing the company to ‘green’ its energy supply. It’s a win-win solution.

Reversing isolation Other less radical approaches are also possible to lower the costs of extending mobile service into rural areas. However, if coverage is provided, it will bring the economic benefits to rural areas, where they are needed even more desperately than in urban areas. The WiFi solution also brings Internet access, permitting a wider range of services and application tailored to the needs of rural communities, including agricultural extension services, improved education at a distance, even remote medical diagnosis and treatment. Internet-based voice service enables easy migration of voice-based services to other dialects and languages-important in a country such as India. Most fundamentally, bringing mobile communications and Internet access to rural areas enables them to participate more fully in the evolution of their societies and in the global economy, ending the traditional isolation and easing the distance penalty from which rural communities have always suffered.

7


World News Kuala Lumpur to go wireless

Information for development www.i4donline.net

e-Government egov Biometric passports to replace e-Passports in France

Kuala Lumpur will go wireless by the end of this year. The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has publicly announced that by end of 2008, about 1,500 Free WiFi zones will be created to cater ro the needs of the community at large. As of now, around 250 WiFi zones are available in selected areas of Kuala Lumpur City. Interested residence of the city can register via wireless to get their account activated. The service is based on WiMAX 2.3 Giga Hertz and runs at 512 kbps. The WiFi service is free till 2010. The city-wide project involves the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), Synapse Technologies Sdn Bhd and Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd. The first phase of the project aims to make the city wireless with the collaboration of Packet One Networks, while the second part is to have the city’s own portal www.kul.com.my managed by Synapse Technologies.

France is all set to introduce RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) enabled biometric passports. This is an attempt of the French government to make national security conditions more stable. The new RFID enabled passport documents can be read from several feet away. These biometric passports will contain a digital photo of the bearer’s face and eight fingerprints. The fingerprints of children under six years old will not be required. The French government informed that the dates for the implementation of the new system in metropolitan France, French overseas departments and territories and for the citizens living abroad have not been determined due to regulatory issues. The passports will be made available from Autumn 2008 and will be issued with a ten-year validity period. Introduction of biometric passports will eventually replace e-Passports.

for educational institutes and training the educational community on ICTs. Under this initiative, the Ministry would modernise the administration set up and incorporate ICT in the teaching process as well. The country is looking at further consolidating its efforts towards bridging the digital divide through three additional projects - ‘Get Digital’, ‘Portable Computer for every Student’ and ‘Blog out’. The three new projects have been proposed jointly by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. The main objective of the projects is to promote broadband Internet and incorporate new technologies as part of the syllabus at various levels of secondary and tertiary education.

Education e-Education to help Greece bridge digital divide

With e-Health applications playing a significant role in doctor’s practices in Europe, about 80 percent of European Union (EU) general practitioners increasingly store and send patients’ data like lab reports, diagnostic reports, prescriptions etc. electronically. According to a pan-European survey by European Commission on electronic services in healthcare, 87 percent of European doctors use a computer, of which 48 percent have a broadband connection. The commission is planning to make recommendations on cross-border interoperability of electronic health record systems. Besides, it is also planning to

Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs of the Hellenic Republic (Greece) has decided to include ICT tools in education. Is is an an effort of the government to enhance digital literacy, strengthen ICT infrastructure and support development of digital content and educational software in the country. The Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs has chalked out a plan to support and install network and computational equipment, besides developing software and digital content

8

Health Survey: ICTs revolutionising healthcare in Europe

launch, in several countries, a project on cross-border e-Health services for patients travelling within the EU. The survey found that there is lack of training and technical support as major barriers posing for doctors not using ICT. In order to spread e-Health, the doctors (who are willing to share clinical information) under the survey, asked for more ICT intervention in medical education, increased training and better electronic networking among healthcare practitioners.

Telecentre NigComSat to provide Internet facilities in 400 communities NIGCOMSAT (Nigerian Communication Satellite) Limited, a company under the Federal Ministry of Science Technology, Nigeria, announced that the company will provide Internet facilities to over 400 Community Tele-Centres (CTC) nationwide. The project is meant to provide Internet access (at affordable rates), multimedia and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in remote and underserved urban areas. NIGCOMSAT’s project is designed to provide value-added service such as e-Learning centres for distant learning students, e-Health care delivery, wireless access to homes, repair centre and space education. NIGCOMSAT is trying to enter into strategic partnerships with pioneering organisations such as Linkserve Limited and Sub-Urban Telecoms to ensure cost-effective and high quality service delivery. i4d | June 2008



A REVIEW OF IDRC PROJECTS

Mobiles are leading the way According to some research studies pivoted by IDRC, mobile telephony has become a predominant mode of communication in many developing countries

Ahmed Tareq Rashid Researcher Pan Asia Networking of International Development Research Centre , Canada arashid@idrc.ca

Kathleen Diga Researcher, Acacia – ICT4D Africa of International Development Research Centre, South Africa kdiga@idrc.or.ke

10

In recent years, there has been a rapid growth of mobile phone networks in developing countries. Most of the countries in the developing world have skipped fixed line infrastructure and leapfrogged directly into mobile technology. Currently mobile telephone is the predominant mode of communication in the developing world. In a span of just five years, the average mobile phones per 100 inhabitants in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has risen by 100-400% (see Table belowi). Regional average of mobile phones (per 100 inhabitants). Region

2001

2005

Asia

19.7

40.9

Africa

4.3

16.0

Latin America and Caribbean

16.7

50.0

The mass adoption of mobile phones has largely been attributed to pre-paid subscription or ‘payas-you-go’ method. S i g n i f i c a n t l y, mobile phones h a ve re a c h e d a greater strata of the population within countries, including the poor. While developing countries are still lagging behind highincome countries in overall ICT usage and applications, mobile phones have gone a long way in reducing the digital divide.

The IDRC initiative Until recently, very little systematic evidence that shed light on the economic and social impacts of mobile telecommunication in developing countries was available. The Information Technology for Development (ICT4D) programme of International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has played a critical role in identifying the operational effectiveness of mobile phones in developing societies. As penetration rates of mobile phones increase rapidly, ICT4D programme endeavoured to investigate developmental potential and impact of mobile phones. So far, ICT4D has supported around 20 research projects with a focus partly or fully on mobile phones. The research projects were executed by organisations and institutions based in Asia, Africa and LAC in close collaboration with ICT4D staff. These projects assess the diverse range of innovative applications of mobile phones in different sectors. Some of the examples include agricultural price transmittal through SMS, remittances, etc., health (disease prevalence or demographic

i4d | June 2008


surveillance applications), education (distance education, learning, management etc.), governance (electronic voting, access to services etc.). The figure provides a percentage breakdown of the IDRCsupported projects by research themes. Some of the projects cut across more than one dimension.

The impact the mobile telephone has had on livelihoods is a central concern of ICT4D. More specifically, a focus on livelihood means understanding how mobile phones help people protect themselves against vulnerability and provide opportunities for a more prosperous future. Of particular importance is the contribution of mobile phones to sustainable livelihoods of the rural poor. Evidence from all the three regions indicates a dramatic impact of mobile phones on livelihoods. A cross-country survey of 7,000 respondents in LAC suggested that the acquisition of mobile phones by the poor has an economic impact reflected mainly in improved social capital variables such as the strengthening of trust networks and better coordination of informal job marketsii.

The Senegal experience In Senegal, mobile phones have been used to increase income levels of small-scale farmers and fishermen. In a country were more than 70 percent of the population are found in the rural areas, farmers and fisherman have no way of finding out the prices before they make the difficult journey to the market, and often have to rely on middlemen who take advantage of this ignorance. Through using mobile phone based Internet technology (Wireless Application Protocol), farmers can access reliable, up-to-date information on market prices. An independent group, Manobi, a 2002 joint partnership between Senegal and France, helped to identify the market prices for agricultural and fish products in the market, uploaded wirelessly the information into a database to their central server. The test project looked at 150 farmers and fishermen usage of the best price information tool as well as provided the users with weather updates and other local news. It was found that using the technology contributed to a 50 percent increase in prices for the fruit and vegetable farmers of Niayes- a West Senegal market gardening areaiii. Secondly, the project found the fishermen able to reduce the amount of spoiled fish while in search for a market buyer.

Mobiles in education Given the inadequate social infrastructure in developing counties, a lot of attention has also been given to how mobile phones can be integrated into the education and health systems. Mobile phone’s portability, simplicity, and affordability make it a natural fit for education initiatives in regions where other forms of ICT are not easily available. For example, one project in Philippines and Mongolia explores the feasibility and acceptability of using SMS technologies for delivering non-formal distance learning to different socioeconomic, cultural and gender groupsiv. The expected project output include SMS Learning Packs - courseware in SMS format and other ancillary materials on different subjects and topics identified as learning needs of different groups; an SMS server to handle student registration, storage, and deployment June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

Photo credit: Kathleen Diga (2008)

Impact of mobile phones on livelihoods

of the educational materials, trained personnel on SMSenabled technologies.

The Ugandan case In Uganda, health workers learned to use Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs and helped to drive a more efficient system of Uganda’s Health Information Network (UHIN)v. In five Ugandan pilot sites, researchers found health workers used timely two-way electronic information transmission to and from District offices and such innovation clearly improved on disease surveillance, health reporting and up-to-date prescription drug inventory. In the current project, partner organisation SatelLife Inc., hopes to expand on the understanding of impact of the electronic system particularly in regards to health delivery costs and savings. As human resources is also an important factor in health care, an evaluation of the effect on health care worker performance will also be completed. The Health Management Information System (HMIS) and Disease Surveillance will be the main focus of electronic system, improving on the previously implemented pilot projects. The project also plans to improve human capacity through Continuing Medical Education provision to the health care workers at the pilot sites. Lastly, the Uganda UHIN project hopes to collaborate its efforts with the exploration of Rwanda’s electronic health system as well as existing Health Information Networks in Mozambique. Another Ugandan case study suggested that while the mobile phone was clearly substituted for transport expenses and daily shop-bought household items, the mitigation of loss during unpredictable shocks was significant. Households better managed and coped with difficult situations including lowering emergency

11


Photo credit: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-8117-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

conducted in India and Sri-Lanka gives particular emphasis on mobile phone use by low-income groupsvii. The study revealed that low-income groups are willing to spend a significant proportion of their monthly household income (4-8 percent) on mobile phones. Mobile communication was particularly valued due mainly to convenience afforded in terms of saving time and money in travel. The case studies illustrate the active social and economic role played by mobile telephones. Mobile communication is transforming the lives of millions in developing countries. A particularly important issue is the effects mobile phones are having on the vulnerable groups like small-scale farmers and rural poor. While evidence in this regard is emerging gradually, further research is necessary to fully understand how mobile phones are positively impacting these groups. Finally, the research findings indicate how the adoption, use and benefits of mobile phone vary across regions, which underscores the importance of taking into account different contextual social and economic factors of developing countries. Sources (i) Orbicom. (2007). Emerging Development Opportunities: The Making of Information Societies and ICT Markets. Ottawa: IDRC. (ii) DIRSI. (2007). Mobile Opportunities: Poverty and Mobile Telephony in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ottawa: IDRC (iii) http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-8117-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html (iv) http://www.pandora-asia.org/ (v) Uganda Health Information Network: http://pda.healthnet.org/ (vi) Diga, K. (2008). Mobile Cell Phones and Poverty Reduction: Technology Spending Patterns and Poverty Level Change among Households in Uganda. Dissertation Report submitted to IDRC. January 14, 2008. (vii) Samarajiva, R., and Zainudeen, A. (eds.) (2008). ICT infrastructure in emerging Asia: Policy and regulatory roadblocks. Ottawa: IDRC.

travel costs, acting in timely manners, improving information access and lessening trauma for affected groupsvi. IDRC-sponsored Gender Research in Africa into ICTs for Empowerment (GRACE) very recently concluded the training of 14 research teams in 12 African countries. Five projects in particular look specifically at the impact on women on mobile phone usage. Similarly, research has been undertaken to investigate how mobile phones can assist in the economic empowerment of women in Asia.

Conclusive findings The mobile phone is an increasingly accessible technology for marginalised groups like the rural poor and women. A survey

France leads the way in telephony and data transmission The time is ripe for radio technologies: 3G+ mobile networks, WiMAX, ZigBee, RFID. The size of the French mobile telephony market reached about 22 billion Euros in 2007 and was the source of 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in France. In the field of mobile networks, France is already preparing for 4G networks. The French company Alcatel-Lucent recently announced with the Japanese company NEC, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona 2008, the creation of a joint company in the field of Long Term Evolution (LTE) infrastructure, which will enable in the year 2011-2012 a speed of almost 100 MB/s compared with approximately 3.6 MB/s for current 3G networks. On the operator end, France Telecom is investing heavily in research and development, with a budget of 600 million euros, for 4,200 researchers and engineers. In addition to these industrial resources there are the internationally renowned public laboratories: • Among the Federation of Grandes Écoles and research bodies, the ‘Groupe des Ecoles de Télécommunications’ (Group of Telecom Schools) plays an internationally unrivalled role in the development and sharing of knowledge in information sciences and technologies.

12

The INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Automatique & Informatique, or National Institute for Research in Automation and IT) dedicates 3,500 personnel to key promising areas within the Information and Communication Technologies (ITC) field. • Clusters of leading technological companies and training centres devote significant resources to innovative development: Systém@tic in Ile de France, the Brittany cluster Images et Réseaux, and the Solutions Communicantes et Sécurisées (SCS) cluster in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. “Texas Instruments in Sophia-Antipolis illustrates this excellence,” says Philippe Favre, President of the Invest in France Agency. ‘Texas Instruments has gained from this location half of the international market for mid-to-top-range phones. They have contributed to the development of the SCS competitive cluster in a unique collaboration with the INRIA and soon the ENSI (Ecole nationale Supérieure d’Ingénieurs), also based in Sophia-Antipolis.’ •

Source: Invest in France Agency (IFA), (www.investinfrance.org)

i4d | June 2008


INTERVIEW: SARBULAND KHAN, UNGAID, WWW.UN-GAID.ORG

Global network for development

Sarbuland Khan Executive Coordinator, UNGAID

During the recently held Global Forum on ‘Access & Connectivity: Innovative Funding for ICT for Development’ at Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, Jayalakshmi Chittoor and Vignesh Sornamohan of Centre for Science Develeopment and Media Studies (CSDMS) caught up with Sarbuland Khan, Executive Coordinator, United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technologies and Development (UNGAID). Prior to joinining UNGIAD as an Executive Coordinator, Sarbuland was assigned to the role of Director, ECOSOC Support and Coordination of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, where he directed the preparation of the Ministerial meeting of the Economic and Social Council on ICT for development and has been responsible for its follow-up and the establishment of the United Nations Information and Communication Technology Task Force. Here, his opinions, views and perspectives on the role of UNGAID in creating an ICT-enabled society are discussed.

What was the key learning from the UNGAID meeting held recently alongside the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2008 conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia? The UNGAID conference was most encouraging. We talked about innovative ICT funding mechanisms. There were presentations that addressed the issue of access, and connectivity for improving people’s livelihoods, empowering them and creating new opportunities for economic growth. How will the lessons feed into the coming WGIG forum to be held in India in December 2008? The key recommendations that we make is that when the four pillars of development (education, entrepreneurship, governance and health), cooperate among themselves and collaborate, joint projects with lower cost input and higher outcome result. This is the power of UNGAID. The findings of this meeting, focusing on resources highlighted that resources do not mean only cash but also expertise sharing, capacity building, etc. which were discussed in this meeting. How does UNGAID engage with the private sector? Private sector engagement is very important and plays a key role in committing to the UNGAID. Since the constitution of Intel as Chair, we have had a very positive response from the private sector. This meeting in Kuala Lumpur has been organised in cooperation with World Information Technolgy and Service Alliance (WITSA), June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

GSM Association (GSMA), Wipro, software firms, electronics goods manufacturing association, etc. who have joined hands to support the vision and mission of UNGAID. How do they actually get connected with you? The process is really very simple. We have the Strategy Council and the Steering Committee, both of which are involved in governance and there is also an Experts’ Advisory Council. Most of the organisations who wish to join hands with UNGAID are joining as Champions Network members. Just a few minutes ago, two organisations have evinced an interest to join, and they are already part of the UNGAID Champions Network. People can easily join hands and pledge their support. With respect to large organisations and networks, we also enter into specific MoU and Letters of Intent (LoI), identifying areas of support and cooperation. Could you share with the readers of i4d magazine, the details of the eSDDC CoE project? This project has been initiated to enable developing countries to share scientific knowledge and databases with countries like China, India, Brazil, South Africa, all of which have a vast knowledge base, but remain unavailable. This network is envisaged to allow free flow of information and knowledge, scientific publications, access to journals, etc. so that they can gain value especially for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) who cannot afford expensive learning materials, journals, books, etc.

13


D.NET, BANGLADESH

Converting mobile lady to info lady Info Lady delivers livelihood information door-to-door in a cheaper and effective way through advanced ICT tools in Bangladesh

Reversing poverty through information Poverty is multidimensional. Poverty of information or the lack of access to information is one of the main causes of poverty. In Bangladesh, villagers often have lack of information that they need to help improve their livelihoods. The poor people do not generally have access to presently available information resources. They do not own TV and Radio, they cannot buy newspapers and in fact most of them do not know how to read newspapers. They do not also have adequate access to the government extension services. Even ICT kiosks or telecentres, though successful in various parts of the world, did not provide an immediate solution. It was apparent that what was needed was a combination of technology and human interface that would bridge the gap between the people and the new ICTs imaginatively.

Creating the mobile information lady

Muhammad Atiqur Rahman Sr. Assistant Director and Helpline Coordinator D.Net, (Development Research Network), Bangladesh atiq@dnet.org.bd

14

An impending need to create a comprehensive and responsive platform that bears a human-friendly interface, networks community people and fosters accessibility and interactive communication led the creation of mobile lady. Though ‘Mobile Lady’ can be either a male or a female but emphasis is given on female because in the context of household culture, a man can’t access every household whereas a women can get entry in any house and communicate with the house members. Mobile lady can give phone services and digital photography services. The idea of creating mobile lady evolved from the fact that in Bangladesh, mobile phones have a much higher penetration than fixed land phones, estimated as covering 85 percent of the territory, and considered cheaper than making phone

calls through fixed phones. Also, mobile services are uniquely popular in most parts of the country, including rural areas.

The D.Net initiative Following the global ICT boom and some successful applications in development, in 2004, a young team at D.Net (Development Research Network), Bangladesh, worked on expanding the access of the new ICTs to rural areas. D.Net (Development Research Network) decided to explore the value addition rendered by mobile phones as well the quantum of use and application of mobile telephony as information service in Bangladesh. D.Net also tried to decipher the functional effectiveness of mobile telephony in rural areas and for the same conducted a field research to explore new initiatives and ideas of delivering livelihood information through mobile phones and then began the experiment of a ‘Help Line for the Poor’. D. Net identified certain key ingredients to make the concept of the helpline a success. These ingredients are: • The Mobile lady, • Help Desk with a Searchable Knowledge base in Bangla language (the official language of Bangladesh) • A Directory Database to refer the users to service provider and • Partners including local, national or international organisations whom Help Line can refer the users. Once questions were put to the Help Desk, an associate at the service end, usually a domain expert replied to the query, using the specially created computerized knowledge base created by D.Net. To make information easily understood, both the database and the search engine are in the local language, Bangla. Most frequent queries are about where to access certain i4d | June 2008


services. The help desk expert searches an online directory, created through an extensive and rigorous survey and suggests the relevant options. The users pay for the phone call only. Requisite information can also be retrieved dynamically from the telecentres’ offline livelihood content (if user has the opportunity to visit telecentre) which is stored in the PC of the telecentre. At the D.Net end, both the knowledge base and directory database are being updated regularly for providing latest information to the information seekers.

Enabling the Info Lady It was identified that if a bundle of services are integrated with mobile lady then overall financial sustainability might be possible and mobile lady will become a telecentre in herself. The modified mobile lady or the ‘Info Lady’ was thus created. Info Lady possesses the following components for giving the entire livelihood information services in a cheaper and expedient way: • Portable laptop device like ASUS EEE or Classmate PCs. • GPRS Modem with SIM for Internet Connectivity. • Headphone for making messenger calls. • Webcam (may be built in the PC) for voice call through messengers. • Digital Camera for photography Services. • Livelihood Local Language Content • Mobile Phone for commercial use. The services offered by Info lady are: a. New way of providing help line service: Info lady can offer Pallitathya Help Line (a livelihood information service provider) services to every villager. This again can be offered in two ways: 1. She can connect through mobile phone and charge for example BDT 3-4 per minute. If she pays per minute charge to a mobile phone operator, the rest of the profit can easily be her income. 2. She can connect the Help desk (www.dnet.org.bd/Pallitathya_pcc.pdf ) to contact the expert through Instant Messenger (IM) like Skype or Google talk (whichever works better in a particular area), for which there is no per minute charge to the mobile phone operator. The info lady can offer a flat rate for calling the Help Line, for example BDT 10 for first five minutes, which would be much cheaper for the villager and s/he can describe the problem without any hurry as there is no per minute bill. b. Traditional commercial phone services: The info lady can offer common commercial phone service, like any other mobile phone with her mobile phone. c. Photography services at the door step: If she uses a Standard digital camera then info lady can offer photography service at the door step and earn money. Currently, the photography service is offered through the Telecentres, where villagers have to visit. The volume of photography would be doubled or tripled if it can be offered instantly at the doorstep. d. Livelihood information and knowledge services make it a mobile telecentre: The info lady can offer a whole range of livelihood information and knowledge services from off-line version of the “Jeeon-IKB (www.jeeon.com)”, loaded in the ASUS EEE or Classmate PC, as at least two GB memory slot is available. The info lady with the ASUS EEE or Classmate PC can go to field for June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

talking to farmers; inside houses to converse with housewives or physically handicapped people for giving livelihood knowledge and information. This facility could enhance outreach dramatically and also raise income. e. International and local voice call services: The info lady can also provide voice call services to the villages through the Internet & messengers for making calls within and outside the country, which could be a huge income source. f. Video and Animation services: The info lady can show video and animation files on various livelihood and awareness related issues at homes of the rural people. This can be an effective tool for awareness campaign for health, education, human rights etc. g. Internet-based information services: The info lady can offer browsing service for extracting Jeeon-IKB content online and other contents, which cannot be useful without real-time browsing. For example, filling the diversity visa form; downloading a government form, seeing the results of public exams etc. h. Problem of financial viability resolved overwhelmingly: The estimate shows that an info lady’s monthly gross-profit can be within USD 75 to USD 200, depending on mobility and demand for the services, which can be offered using ASUS EEE or Classmate PC, as the demands may vary from location to location. This estimate considers all fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs have been distributed over three years on a monthly basis. i. Availability of telecentre services across the country: If information and knowledge services are not there, a telecentre may be a mere cybercafé, or a phone-fax shop. The ASUS EEE or Classmate PC can bring in a whole-range of livelihood information services. Currently, the initiators of telecentres face problems with electricity availability to run the telecentre with desktop PCs. As the solution is available for the ASUS EEE or Classmate PC within USD 400 to 600 in Bangladesh (may be different in other parts of the world) with the loaded livelihood contents, digital camera, headphone, mobile phone & GPRS modem with internet connectivity, the info lady can offer all telecentre services through ASUS EEE or Classmate PC. If WiMax chip is integrated in a portable laptop device and WiMax is active in that particular area, then it will be utilised more effectively.

Conclusion Info Lady, a primary information dissemination platform with a human interface, is making high-end information available to many poor & marginalised people of Bangladesh. Info Lady is also enabling the creation of knowledge networks in the villages of rural Bangladesh. The poverty of information is reversed indeed.

15


INTERVIEW: NOELEEN HEYZER, UNESCAP, WWW.UNESCAP.ORG

Bridging the divide: A southern perspective ment Programme’s (UNDP’s) Human Development Report, the UNDP Eminent Persons Group on Trade and Sustainable Development. In 2007, Noeleen joined as the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific at the level of Under Secretary General. In the course of discussion with i4d, Noeleen highlighted the role of technology, actions of UNESCAP in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and role of ICT in bridging gender equity. Here, her perspectives on the effective use and application of ICT tools in strategic areas of development are discussed.

Noeleen Heyzer Under Secretary General, UN and Executive Secretary, ESCAP heyzer@un.org On the occasion of the Government Leaders Forum, held at Jakarta Indonesia between 8th and 9th of May 2008, the telecentre team of Centre for Science Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) met with Noeleen Heyzer, Under Secretary General, United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Noeleen has been working as the Executive Secretary of ESCAP since 2007. She is the first woman to occupy this leadership position. Before joining ESCAP, Noeleen worked as the Executive Director of the United

16

Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). She is the first woman from the South to hold such post. Under her leadership, UNIFEM assisted over 100 countries to formulate and implement legislation and policies to realise women’s security and rights. She also played a critical role in addressing violence against women and in the Security Council’s adoption of the landmark resolution 1325 (in the year 2000) on women’s peace and security. Noeleen served numerous boards and advisory committees of international organisations, including the United Nations Develop-

How do you envision the use of technology in the betterment of society especially in the rural economy? I believe that technology has an important role in building e-quality and developing a strong networked society. The benefits of technological advancement and the technological devices should be made available in rural areas to reduce disparities within region and nations. Hence, it is time to probe into questions pertaining to rural connectivity. How does one connect rural communities to the new emerging markets? How does one ensure that rural voices are added to global conversations, making content relevant to rural communities? How does one mobilise the rural communities to even audit some of the basic services that are delivered to them through government and other agencies? How does one make sure that their voices are involved in the on-going process of decision-making? What role do you foresee for ICTs in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015? Information and Communication Tools (ICTs) are effective in spreading i4d | June 2008


information and awareness. I think in the Asia-Pacific region and more specifically in Asia there is an impressive amount of progress. But this progress is uneven. Some countries are on track and achieving many of these goals. Some countries are yet to achieve the same. Many least developed countries and small island nations are still lagging behind. Within many of the countries that are on track, there are intra-country differences. Within them, we find marginal groups like the tribal communities being neglected. Phenomena like maternal mortality and child mortality have not been reversed in many countries and the mortality rates have not gone down. In addition, there are other problem areas like environment. Some of these unsolved issues can be addressed through the medium of ICTs by accelerating the achievement of the MDG by 2015. For example, ICT can support distance learning or make telemedicine available to remote communities. As an Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, how do you catalyse these Least Developed Countries in achieving the MDGs? UNESCAP is trying to bring together developing countries and high-growth countries into a common platform of regional cooperation. I talk about regional cooperation for inclusiveness and sustainable development. It means that I try to make sure that these countries share good practices and policy options, provide technical support and solutions, are accessible to each other by means of social networking. At the same time, we also focus on infrastructure development, opening up of markets, trade issues etc. to ensure that the developing nations need not depend on aid alone but are able to develop viability and sustainability to make a difference in their economies. How is India placed with respect to e-Readiness index as compared to the other developing countries in the Asian countries? I think India is doing extremely well. In many of the offshore work like in the areas of IT and data processing, India is making a very big difference. I am impressed that India has developed

not only its education but also many enlightened government policies including in social protection, and making investments in these areas. You are also working on issues like ICT and Gender and especially on gender equity for the last 15-20 years. How ICTs can bridge the gender equity gap? Every small step and action taken on behalf of women in the poorest strata of rural society can eventually add up to become the foundation on which more basic changes can be built. The development process, whether we like it or not, has already released many forces of change in society. It is crucial now to influence and intervene in the process to ensure that these forces create more opportunities than barriers for the poorest women to gain more control over their lives and to have more choices. This includes training women in ICT skills, which are in demand and which would allow them to be employed more productively, rather than concentrating on skills associated with home-based informal work. I feel at the present moment, it is extremely important to bring older women in. Younger women are fast to adapt to information and technology. The ones left behind are rural women. So, we have now to concentrate on elderly women as well as rural areas. How do we go about the implementation of a multilateral treaty? How to steer government to action? A multilateral treaty has several parties, and establishes rights and obligations between each party. Multilateral treaties are often (but not always) open to any state; others are regional. Treaties may be seen as ‘self-executing’, in that merely becoming a party puts the treaty and all of its obligations in action. Other treaties may be non-self-executing and may require ‘implementing legislation’—a change in the domestic law of a state party that will direct or enable it to fulfill treaty obligations. I think at the end of the day there is a need for international peer pressure to make treaties, consultations and monitoring work. Vignesh Sornamohan, vignesh@csdms.in

A future within reach During the annual session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNESCAP launched (on 29th April 2008) a report entitled ‘A Future Within Reach 2008’. This is third region report on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) produced by ESCAP, ADB and the UN Development Programmes’ Millennium Development Goals Initiative team. The report carried out a review of 14 Asia-Pacific countries. The report talks about policies, reforms, macroeconomic stabilisation, sectoral growth, expenditure patterns, global cooperation etc. The report gives a roadmap outline to all development partners to take a coordinated approach and ensure the realisation of the MDGs. The report focuses on the progress of MDGs across Asia and Pacific and the means towards achieving the same. The report states that Asian countries need around $ 8 billion more to achieve the MDGs. Pointing out that MDGs are not strongly integrated with budgetary plans, the report tries to find out the financial gap in making the MDGs a reality. Barring the financial gap, the report also explores policy gaps, growth gaps, strategy gaps and implementation gaps. According to the report, economic growth, though a necessary condition, is not sufficient enough for achieving the MDGs. The report states that if per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increases by one percent, the headcount poverty ratio falls by 0.86 percent. But this growth will not make significant effect on other MDGs like under-nutrition, child and maternal mortality. The report not only attempts to evaluate the existing and potential challenges faced by Asia and the pacific while implementing the MDGs in their region, it also underscores the need for international organisations to coordinate with the regional organisations to make the MDGs a reality. June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

17


INFOSHARE, COLOMBO, SRI LANKA

Mobiles for better governance? The influx of mobile telephony is revolutionising lives and expediting vivid forms of accessibility and communication in Sri Lanka

“Don’t get grandma hear it” was what US soldier Stephen Philips was reported in the Newsweek as saying when his cell phone redialled home during a fire-fight in Afghanistan and broadcast the chaos into his parent’s answering machine1. Though it would have been traumatic for the parents of Stephen Philips, yet this is an example of how mobile phones connect us all to farflung yet vital realities. From Zimbabwe2 and Kenya3 to China and Kuwait4, from electoral processes and women’s suffrage to the voicing dissent against oppression, mobiles are already revolutionising our approach to and understanding of public participation in governance. Mobiles have already demonstrated in many countries around the world that in the hands of a vibrant civil society they are powerful tools that hold government and public institutions accountable, their interactions transparent and their transactions efficient. Conversations inspired, produced, stored and disseminated through mobiles are rapidly changing the manner in which we imagine the State, interact with government and participate in the mechanisms and institutions of democratic governance.

Conflict, mobiles and development

Sanjana Hattotuwa Head of ICT and Peacebuilding, InfoShare Colombo, Sri Lanka sanjana@info-share.org

18

There is today a healthy interest in the economic benefits of mobile phone use, ownership and access. The connection between a per capita increase in mobile phones ownership/usage and economic growth is a field of increasing study. A well known example is the finding by Leonard Waverman (2005), of the London Business School, which says that an extra 10 mobile phones per 100 people in a typical developing country leads to an additional 0.59 percentage points of growth in GDP per person.5 My problem with this kind of stand-alone analysis is that it ignores the underlying socio-political fabric and

realities of a country. Protracted violent ethnic conflicts, as is found in Sri Lanka, severely vitiate sustainable economic growth and channels State resources into aspects of national security (border protection, army, policing, intelligence, propaganda and war) to the detriment of investment in communications infrastructure, health and education, to name a few aspects vital to our long-term development. Often, this just ends up in alienating more peoples and communities. Yet, when marginalised communities and peoples find a voice – a way in which they can articulate their aspirations - it is often the case that they feel a greater sense of belongingness in the socio-political fabric by seeing, hearing and reading their opinions in discourses on democracy and also others who engage with them. Violence becomes a last resort instead of a first option. Mobiles are increasingly providing the vital means of communication to marginalised people, in a manner more effective and sustainable than previously thought with PCs alone and even under repressive regimes6.

The Sri Lankan experience In Sri Lanka, the exclusively PC-centric e-Government vision and its subsequent islandwide rollout is very much hostage to the trappings of real-world partisan politics and majoritarian government. There is sadly no ignoring the corrosive effects of the overarching corruption, pervasive nepotism and parochialism of government even when it comes to the implementation of national ICT strategies. Millions of dollars in attempts to re-engineer government structures and processes have failed to make public institutions and service delivery more responsive, accountable and transparent. Good governance in 2008 is no better and arguably in a condition far worse after the introduction of e-Governance than before i4d | June 2008


it. This is not to say that e-Governance initiatives per se have contributed to the deterioration of democracy, but suggest instead to the heady telecentre idealists who reside in the stratosphere that on the ground, few citizens actually access telecentres to strengthen and interact with mechanisms and institutions of (local and national level) governance that are failing them daily. Some Government forms are readable and downloadable on PCs (and that too not always in Tamil), and one can see how the local government representative looks like on a webpage (for one never see him in real life) and get the numbers of telephones and faxes that are many-a-times outdated and dysfunctional. For answers to these vital problems, we must turn to citizens themselves. Using mobile phones and through other Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), citizens in civil society now increasingly use a range of methods to hold State institutions and public officials accountable and place on record their grievances. These new conversations amongst citizens (on old problems) are decentralised, two-way, adaptive, resilient and pervasive. More importantly, the conversations take place in the vernacular as well as in English.

Realising the mobile potential Mobiles help development in the long-term and not just in purely economic terms. For example, transactional corruption (which is economic) caught on mobile phones can serve both as a deterrent and as a way in which public officials can be brought to book for malpractices (which is good governance). More traditionally, from taking the middleman out and bringing the market closer to the producer to the ability to monetising and leverage ideas and talents in remote areas, mobiles and wireless communications have radically altered traditional economic models of consumption, production and delivery. As noted media commentator Nalaka Gunawardene suggests in a recent essay7, “… the mobile phone is slowly killing the telecentres, into which governments, the United Nations agencies and other development organisations have pumped tens of millions of dollars of development aid money in the past decade… If everyone could carry around a miniaturised, personalised gadget that has the added privacy value, why visit a community access point?”. Nalaka’s larger point that millions of mobile phones in the hands of citizens is a powerful and pervasive way of facilitating citizen to citizen, citizen to government and government to citizen interactions that can be leveraged to strengthen democracy and governance, gives rise to some quintessential ideas in this regard: • Mobile telephones as two-way information services: Citizens are the first responders and the first witnesses to any hazard or disaster. Mobiles empower them to spread the word. SMS-based alerting and collaboration (e.g. TXTmob8) to deliver a range of timely information from citizen to citizens on issues such as utility breakdowns and hazard early warning to the organisation of mass protests (swarming) is highly effective. • Creating awareness in civil society: Raising awareness amongst civil society on the potential of mobile phones to strengthen democratic governance can in turn animate many more citizens to use their mobiles for public good. Focussing for example on capturing the positive aspects of June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

government and governance (rare though they may be) can be a powerful catalyst for change by encouraging transformation from within the public sector. On the other hand, naming and shaming public official and instances of corruption for example through a photo or an audio recording can also bring about significant results over the long term. • Fostering Public Private Partnerships (PPPs): Amongst others in Sri Lanka, the nascent Easyseva entrepreneurship model9, based on the increasing footprint of relatively lowcost wireless broadband in Sri Lanka, suggests that innovative public sector and private sector partnerships can avoid the pitfalls of state subsidised and unsustainable cybercafé models as we have seen in the past. On the other hand, citizen-to-citizen knowledge transfers through text, audio and video no longer depends on statesponsored e-Governance mechanisms. Anyone with a mobile phone is potentially a witness to an event or process. Going by the number of active SIM cards, we have 11 million potential witnesses in a population of 20 million10. What can we do to get voters to recognise their civic duty and stand up for good governance? • Encourage Citizen Journalism (CJ) initiatives: Groundviews11, Vikalpa12, Vikalpa YouTube Channel13 and Voices of Reconciliation Radio14 are pioneering citizen journalism websites that are edited, designed and developed in Sri Lanka. All of them clearly demonstrate a growing interest in and focus on that content produced by citizens. Groundviews for example, was the first in Sri Lanka to offer mobile phone access and feedback mechanisms. Access through a mobile phone is automatically detected by the site and content rendered accordingly. In general, citizen journalism shows a real potential to transform repressive social, political and economic conditions that hinder sustainable development. • Development of mobile government (m-Government)15 - As Lirneasia’s path-breaking research suggests16, mobiles are used extensively in the lowest economic groups in Sri Lanka and owned by those who will never buy a PC. m-Government can complement e-Government (at the moment anchored to PC-based access) by providing services through SMS and voice telephony such as free calls to services such as the Government Information Centre (GIC), automated voice prompt services (IVR services) for information on a wide range of services and fundamental rights, on-demand SMS multilingual information services and mobile-PC mash-ups that can aid policymakers ascertain, in real time, the issues and challenges facing various constituencies. Going further into the future, using augmented reality (as demonstrated by Nokia on some of its phones17) and location aware services (e.g. services like Mscapers in the UK - www.mscapers.com) citizens can be informed on the availability of and proximity to various government services and products though their mobiles, when mobile. Another idea would be to set up kiosks in remote villages (or place the equipment in existing tele-centres) with equipment that print government forms and other local government information on demand upon an SMS instruction. The possibilities are as exciting as they are endless.

19


Problems All this however is not without its challenges. As is noted in a recent essay18, “Governments can also clamp down hard on citizen journalism. The French Constitutional Council approved a law in early 2007 that criminalises the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists... In Sri Lanka, the significant deterioration of democracy in 2006-2007 has resulted in a country where anxiety and fear overwhelm a sense of civic duty to bear witness to so much of what is wrong. No amount of mobile phones and PCs is going to magically erase this deep rooted fear of harm for speaking one’s mind out.” Citizen journalism is itself under threat in Sri Lanka19, a country that is one of the most dangerous in the world for journalists to live and work in20. Mobile phone providers, both State owned and private, have no qualms about shutting off all services without any prior warning or notice in the embattled regions in the North and East of Sri Lanka, severely debilitating the ability of communities resident in these areas to communicate with each other and others outside for extended periods of time. Sadly, even private telecoms operators are not above censorship21. These are challenges that can only be surmounted by a greater emphasis on the potential of mobile phones and the collective action of citizens who use them to strengthen democracy.

Conclusion Love them or hate them mobile phones are the new glue of good governance and democracy. The Sri Lankan Government

has not yet woken up to the possibilities of leveraging mobile phones to augment governance. Whether the government is just uninterested or unwilling to support such mechanisms is open for debate. But the fact that citizens are increasingly using mobile phones to share news and information on precisely that which the Government seeks to clamp down on – independent free expression that questions the status quo, exposes corruption and interrogates its war effort – is impossible to ignore. Civil society has a responsibility in this regard to encourage this growing use of mobile phones to strengthen governance through processes such as citizen journalism and the self-organisation of concerned groups to protest the breakdown of democracy and abuse of human rights. This is will be a challenging, interesting and ongoing social and political experiment. As noted in a recent paper on e-Governance22, We’ve arrived at an important moment in history. Governments can play an active, positive role in their own transformation, or change will be imposed upon them. The transformation process will be exhilarating and sometimes painful, but the price of inaction is a lost opportunity for government to redefine its role in what could be a new golden age of democracy. Strategic complementarity is what is needed and desired, to leverage (or as some would argue, salvage) the massive investment already gone into telecentres with the potential of mobile phones to redefine how we imagine and interact with the State, our elected representatives in Government and the overarching institutions of democracy and governance in a more meaningful, pervasive and sustainable manner.

References: 1

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136373?tid=relatedcl Kubatana reaches out with FrontlineSMS in Zimbabwe, http://www.blogspot.kiwanja.net/2008/04/kubatana-reaches-out-with-frontlinesms.html 3 Kenya in crisis, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6241603.stm 4 New political tool: text messaging, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2005-06-30-politics-text-tool_x.htm?csp=34 5 To do with the price of fish, http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9149142 6 http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2006/05/10/defeating-repressive-regimes/ 7 http://movingimages.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/i-just-called-to-sayi-love-my-mobile-phone/ 8 http://www.txtmob.com/ 9 EasySeva is a network of centers across Sri Lanka, owned and operated by local entrepreneurs, providing Internet access, IDD & local calls, faxes, train ing and other services. See http://easyseva.com/ 10 http://www.lbo.lk/fullstory.php?nid=816028430 11 www.groundviews.org 12 http://www.vikalpa.org 13 http://www.youtube.com/vikalpasl 14 http://radio.voicesofpeace.lk 15 Taking e-Gov to the Bottom of the Pyramid NOW: Dial-a-Gov?, Helani Galpaya, Rohan Samarajiva (LIRNEasia), http://www.cprsouth.org/dspace/ bitstream/123456789/232/2/cprs2_HG_B.pdf 16 http://www.lirneasia.net/projects/current-projects/bop-teleuse/ 17 http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2006/11/20/mobile-phones-augmenting-reality/ 18 “Who’s afraid of citizen journalists?”, Communicating Disasters: An Asia Pacific Resource Book, http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2007/12/21/whosafraid-of-citizen-journalists-chapter-from-communicating-disasters-an-asia-pacific-resource-book/ 19 http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/shooting-in-public-citizen-journalism-under-threat-in-sri-lanka/ 2

20

http://freemediasrilanka.wordpress.com/2008/01/16/rsf-says-sri-lanka-is-the-fourth-most-dangerous-country-for-journalists/ http://ict4peace.wordpress.com/2007/11/11/reuters-breaking-news-alerts-no-more-on-dialog/ 22 http://www.cioinsight.com/c/a/Expert-Voices/Web-20-Reinventing-Democracy/3/ 21

20

i4d | June 2008


e-Agriculture News attracting the participation of the private sector through cost sharing.

Clinics to support agricultural initiatives in Bangladesh

Information for development www.i4donline.net

National Farmers Information Service to aid farmers of Kenya

It yet another endeavour to integrate agriculture with information technology, the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of Bangladesh, has planned to provide agriculture clinics in aid of the rural farmers. The clinics will use mobile telecommunication networks and Internet to amass and disburse agro-business information to the farmers and community stakeholders. C S Karim, Agriculture Adviser, said in a recent meeting that Information Technology (IT) can play an important role in developing the country’s agriculture. Karim further stated that Bangladesh could gain profit from international potato market if potentials in the IT sectors are utilised.

FICCI to strengthen the mandi system in India

In one of the major pathfinding initiatives, the Government of Kenya has launched National Farmers Information Service to expedite community farming. The initiative will enable the farming community to receive and exchange timely news and information on agriculture, weather patterns and other related issues through their mobile phones. Through this endeavour, the government of Kenya is planning to double its effort in boosting the agricultural productivity by implementing the necessary conducive policies. The government has extended a Kenya shillings 3.5 billion grant to the East African country as development assistance in this present financial year. The funds will be channelled to areas like roads, health, water and sanitation, agriculture and urban sectors while some funds will be allocated towards democracy and human rights initiatives. To ensure the sustainability of the service, the envoy called on the government to set aside some funds for it and also to develop modalities for June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India which has prepared a road map for agri-marketing reforms, stated in one of its report that Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) regulated markets have to co-exist with other marketing channels that are presently shaping up. FICCI pointed out that there was concern among various stakeholders about changes needed in the functioning and management of the mandis and how to make these markets competitive with other marketing platforms. It said, while allowing private mandis, the government must keep them out of the purview of APMC. FICCI has also suggested that the present mandis have to be professionally managed and revenue generated as market fees should be utilised for developing mandi infrastructure. In order to resolve disputes arising out of violation of contract, FICCI stated that there should be an institutional arrangement (may be at panchayat, state or central level) to record contractual arrangements. The report also recommended the government to facilitate food processing companies’ direct procurement from farmers. The chamber has proposed that strategy groups,

comprising of central and state government officials, private entrepreneurs and farmers, should be set up in every region to bring about uniformity in implementing APMC reforms across the states.

Bhutan to introduce modified agro-marketing system The Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), Royal Government of Bhutan is all set to introduce an Agriculture Market Information System to cater to the need of farmers and people from the agro-retail business. The Ministry, in conjunction with the suggestion and recommendations of Agriculture Marketing Services (AMS), Information and Communication Services (ICS) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Department of Information Technology (DIT), Ministry of Information and Communication (MoIC), converged on developing an agricultural marketing system that disseminates agriculture retail and auction prices in different markets throughout the country. MOA organised a discussion group to finalise the domain name and the name of the Agri-marketing system. The system will also help in generating different reports and market trends. The system is going to be launched in June 2008. SRIT (Sobha Renaissance Information Technology), a Bangalorebased IT firm will help in the development and deployment of the system.

Farmers market in Columbia to allow food stamps, debit cards First time, the Columbia Farmers Market will bring foods in the market with electronic food stamp cards and debit cards. This will be the first market in the state which will have wireless terminals by 2009. The wireless machines will cost $1,600 each. This movement is a part of the Missouri Department of Agriculture Speciality Crop Block Grant, which is designed to boost sales at markets and encourage lowincome people. The programme will work by allowing people to use their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) or debit cards to buy tokens, which can then be used at the stalls. Project for Public Spaces, a New York-based not-for-profit organisation is providing funds for the project.

21


DIGITAL GREEN: AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION

Participatory video for argicultural extension Digital Green is a project to raise the incomes of smallholder farmers in South Asia and Africa by the production and dissemination of locally relevant agricultural information through participatory video and mediated instruction. Digital Green has been shown to be at least ten times more effective per dollar spent than classic approaches to agricultural extension. A typical day of an extension worker begins by commuting one-hour over five km of poor roads and rough terrain to help a farmer on his field. At least 20 percent of the time, the farmer who requested the visit is not on his field. The worker then may choose to wait for the farmer or set out to find an alternate farmer. If the worker finds an interested farmer, one half-hour is often spent on introductions, two-hours on supervising the farmer take a particular action, and one half-hour on goodbyes. Half of the extension worker’s day is sunk in an uncertain visit to hand-hold a single farmer. Extension workers concentrate their activities on few farmers. As also found in the World Bank’s Training and Visit extension system, in each village, the workers restrict their work to the one or two farmers who are willing to work with them. Though extension systems may aim to use these farmers as models for others in the community, field staff is rarely able to show the progression of these farmers to wider audiences because of social and resource constraints.

technologies and farming practices that farmers accessed in the preceding year. The survey showed increasing debt and declining returns have led some farmers to make desperate choices, which include selling their land below market rates and sometimes even taking their own lives. Small and marginal farmers often lack knowledge that could at no time improve their livelihoods. But, to educate such a vast, scattered population, two key areas need to be developed: content production and distribution. Classical extension programs have typically followed either a push-based approach in which in which information is broadcast to farmers or a pull-based approach in which farmers pose questions to experts. These systems have shown some success in the field; however, the programs are either too general because they aim to be highly scalable (push-based) or too costly because they require experts to provide advice on an individual basis (pull-based).

Introduction

The Digital Green system (www. digitalgreen.org) disseminates locally relevant agricultural information to small and marginal farmers in India using participatory video and mediated instruction. Since September 2006, DG has been iteratively designed, deployed, and evaluated in Karnataka as a project of Microsoft Research India in collaboration with the GREEN Foundation NGO and Karnataka’s Joint-Directorate for Livestock Extension. The unique components of DG

India, like most other developing nations, is still primarily an agricultural country. Over 60% of the population relies on agriculture as a means of livelihood. Though a generational vocation, farmers have difficulty sustaining a living for their families due to social, economic, and environmental change. The National Sample Survey Organization’s (NSSO) 2005 Situation Assessment Survey of Indian Farmers studied the sources of new

22

The Digital Green (DG) System

are (1) a participatory process for content production, (2) a locally generated digital video database, (3) human-mediated instruction for dissemination and training, and (4) regimented sequencing to initiate a new community. Unlike some systems that expect information or communication technology alone to deliver useful knowledge to marginal farmers, DG works with existing, people-based extension systems and aims to amplify their effectiveness. While video provides a point of focus, it is people and social dynamics that ultimately make DG work. Local social networks are tapped to connect farmers with experts; the thrill of appearing ‘on TV’ motivates farmers; and homophily is exploited to minimise the distance between teacher and learner. Video Content The DG content repository is videocentric. This is important for a developing and predominantly rural country like India, which, by optimistic estimates, has an adult literacy rate of less than 60%. In farming communities, the literacy rate is substantially lower. A video-based approach has several important advantages i4d | June 2008


knowledge for change

India's Largest ICT Event 29 - 31 July 2008 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi www.eINDIA.net.in

Co-Organisers

Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT Government of India

Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India

UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development

Supporting Partners

The World Bank e-Development Thematic Group

eINDIA2008 Thematic Tracks INDIA

INDIA

2008

2008

INDIA

INDIA

INDIA

2008

2008

2008


Unlimited opportunities for the ICT community of India!!

4th

29-31 July 2008, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

Distinguished Speakers

D. Purendeswari Minister of State for Higher Education, MHRD, Govt. of India

Alain Madelin President, Global Digital Solidarity Fund

Prof. M. S. Swaminathan Chairman, MSSRF

Dr. K Kasturirangan MP, Rajya Sabha

Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu MP, Lok Sabha

Dr V S Ramamurthy Chairman, Board of Governers IIT Delhi

R. Chandrashekhar Additional Secretary, Ministry of Communication & IT DIT, Govt. Of India

Subhash C Khuntia Jt. Secretary, Dept. of School Education and Literacy, MHRD Govt. of India

Sanjeev Gupta Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India

N Ravi Shankar, Joint Secretary, E-Learning Group, Ministry of Communications & IT, DIT, Govt. of India

S. Regunathan Advisor National Knowledge Commission

Vivek Bharadwaj Principal Secretary, Dept. of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, Govt. of West Bengal

Dr Rajashekharan Pillai VC, IGNOU

Deepak Pental VC, Delhi University

Terry Culver Executive Director, Global Nomads Group

Michael Riggs Information Management Specialist, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

Oleg Petrov Coordinator e-Development Thematic Group, The World Bank

V. Shunmugam Chief Economist, Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. ...Among many others

eINDIA 2008 Thematic Tracks

INDIA

INDIA

2008

2008

INDIA

INDIA

2008

2008

INDIA

2008

eINDIA 2008 Presented by

Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT Government of India

UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development

knowledge for change

REGISTER NOW @ www.eINDIA.net.in For Exhibition or Sponsorship Enquiries: sales@eINDIA.net.in, For Registration Enquiries: registration@eINDIA.net.in Contact: eINDIA2008 Secretariat, G-4, Sector-39, Noida, UP, INDIA Tel: +91-120-2502180-85, Fax: +91-120-2500060, Web: www.eINDIA.net.in

Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India


Introduction

Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) announces and invites you to join the premier ICT4D (Information and Communication Technology for Development) event - 'eINDIA2008'. The event aims to examine the myriad challenges which appear in integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) with different spheres of life, to share and work together, to analyse and assess, as well as to work towards realising a technology enabled knowledge society. eINDIA2008, the fourth annual ICT4D forum in India will be convened at New Delhi, India from 29th to 31st July 2008. The three day forum aims to render active conferencing, networking and showcasing, while organising six seminal tracks- egov INDIA, Digital Learning INDIA, Indian Telecentre Forum, eHealth INDIA, mServe INDIA, and eAgriculture INDIA. As an international event, apart from the general public and the media, the eINDIA2008 Conference and Exhibition expects to bring together 4000 high level representatives of the ICT industry, government, civil society, academia, and the private sector, from all across the globe to share the best practices and digital opportunities for development, to discuss and exchange knowledge and ideas that will shape the future of global ICT development. The Conference offers a perfect platform for establishing and fostering high level networking contacts with leading representatives of the world's ICT sector on both governmental and business levels.

Conference Objectives •

Provide a collaborative forum to participants to share knowledge and ideas, enabling them to develop cross-

eINDIA2008 will feature more than 300 speakers, addressing all forms of technology-enhanced knowledge needs and will attract more than 4000 participants from around 50 countries representing all continents, making it Asia’s largest ICT conference and exhibition. sectoral contacts and partnerships, as well as to enhance their knowledge, expertise, and abilities; •

Give a reference framework for describing impact, and looking at approaches and methods currently used in the ICT4D sector, and their suitability;

Highlight barriers of ICT integration in India and other countries, and identify gaps in current research;

Synthesise the main results of experience sharing and the progress made in recent years to provide a baseline for discussion with policy makers, and community of practitioners.

Organiser Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (www.csdms.in) is a leading Asian non-governmental institution engaged in advocacy, research and community building in e-Government, ICT for Development, and knowledge management issues, through capacity building and media initiatives. .

Programme Advisory Board Chair

Co-Chair

R Chandrashekhar

S C Khuntia

Additional Secretary, DIT, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India

Joint Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of HRD, Government of India


Exhibition Floor Plan

Media and Partners Zone Conference Hall

132 No. of Seating

Hall No. 11,10

132 No. of Seating

49

12 sqm

Help desk

Pragati Maidan, New Delhi 50

51 52

Educomp

For Exhibition Enquires: 108 sqm

120 sqm

Lunch Area

9 sqm

47

12 sqm

12 sqm

36

27

46

54 sqm

15 sqm

60 sqm

35

37 16 sqm

20 sqm

28

26

20 sqm

20 sqm

12 sqm

34

12 sqm

38

43

32 sqm

29

25

Edurite

Merittrac

40 sqm

40 sqm

20 sqm

39

42

33

24 sqm

24

30

20 sqm

25 sqm

25 sqm

25 sqm

40

32

31

23

Rex Rotary India

25 sqm

25 sqm

30 sqm

Metalearn

24 sqm

18 sqm Hitachi

21 sqm 27sqm

54

40 sqm

12 sqm

41

18 sqm

53

EI India

44

12 sqm

16 sqm

MKCL

12 sqm

Julong Education

9 sqm

25 sqm

55

27 sqm

9 sqm

30 sqm

OneRoof Inc.

56

32 sqm

9 sqm

36 sqm 40 sqm

57

21

22

25 sqm

25 sqm

21 sqm 48 sqm

20

54 sqm

19

S Chand

56 sqm

40 sqm

58

Luidia Inc.

21 sqm

13

17

16 A Edutech 16

130 sqm

42 sqm

18 sqm

59 Mindstec Distribution

Designmate

54 sqm

ACTIS

63 sqm

81 sqm 108 sqm 120 sqm 130 sqm 190 sqm

Cargo Entry

Lunch Area

12

21 sqm

White October

18 sqm Promethean

18 sqm

Almoe

60

90

12 sqm

EdistaLearning

89

87 86 21 sqm 88 Government 85

9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm 9 sqm

84

9 sqm

98

9 sqm

103

93

24 sqm

9 sqm 108 sqm

ICAR

RB COMTEC

Nextenders

102

8

9

99

100

9 sqm 12 sqm

101

Microsoft

11

10

The Exhibition will be a critical space for professional interactions amongst participants, within the conference.

84 sqm

Everonn

18

18 sqm

60 sqm

12 sqm

Lunch Area

42 sqm

In Vidya

15

42 sqm

97

104

120 sqm

9 sqm

92

CSC 48 sqm Pavillion

91

24 sqm

Globus Infocom Ltd.

6

82 81

56 sqm

49 sqm

30 sqm

15sqm

95 65 sqm

7 61 108 sqm

120 sqm

4

3

190 sqm

27 sqm

Schnellopt

mimio

Globus Infocom Ltd.

94

96

105

78

Crane Global Solutions

77

80

76

80

Safenet

79

73

9 sqm Seed Healthcare

48 sqm

36 sqm

24 sqm

32 sqm

36 sqm

72A

9 sqm

74

75 60 sqm

6 sqm

24 sqm

72 15sqm

71

1

2

SMART Technologies 18 sqm

9 sqm 9 sqm

9 sqm

15 sqm

5

83

Pavillion

Digital Learning Exhibition Area

Nettsupport

14

eINDIA2008 will feature an Exhibition and Demonstration area, where leading international ICT4D players, manufacturers, suppliers and service providers will present their latest products and services.

42 sqm

70 sqm

18 sqm

Exhibition

Ceeco

Inter Systems

Digital Learning Exhibition Area

6 sqm

48

45

sales@eINDIA.net.in

48 sqm

Sudiksha Learning

9 sqm

54 sqm

84 sqm

62

63

64

PMA

65

66

27 sqm 9 sqm 12 sqm 9 sqm 12 sqm

67 9 sqm

68

GKP/One World Southasia

12 sqm 6915 sqm 7015 sqm

indicates tentatively blocked

Digital Learning Exhibition Area

egov, eHealth and mServe Exhibition Area

21 sqm


to traditional forms of agricultural content, which is typically not in the local language, intended for a literate audience, uses expert terminology, lacks grassroots level practicalities, and remains inaccessible in a sea of scattered media. Video creation tends to be faster and less expensive than other types of media, as advanced preparation in ‘lesson’- planning can minimise postproduction editing. The video recordings can be grossly classified in the categories of awareness, training, advisory, and entertainment. Experts and farmers provide the direction to record content, based on factors that include the appropriateness of farming season, the accessibility of resources, and the interests of local beneficiaries.. Content Production Video recordings facilitate the aggregation of scattered information into a systematic and comprehensive format with a localised context. For example, demonstrations of a particular agriculture technique typically follow the structure of: (1) a brief verbal overview of the entire process, (2) an itemisation of the required resources and associated costs, (3) step-by-step instructions in the field, (4) a showcase of the uses and benefits and (5) interactions with farmers to address common questions and concerns. The recordings in the DG database are made by teachers of agriculture at the grassroots level. Expert reviewers ensure the accuracy, clarity, and completeness of the content, and guide the construction of a time and location-sensitive videobased curriculum. Content Dissemination In each farming community, local mediators are hired on a parttime basis. These mediators are members and residents of the same communities with which they share DG videos, to reduce the logistical challenges of regularly visiting a village and to provide local access to agricultural knowledge from a familiar source. Each week, the mediators conduct a minimum of three screenings per week during suitable evening hours. They transport DG equipment to different segments of their communities, maintain attendance records, and track the interest and adoption of promoted techniques. These mediators are additionally supported by a full-time extension staff (in our case, either government or NGO), which provides mechanisms for feedback and audit for a cluster of villages. The mediators are given a performance-based honorarium of up to INR 1,500 (US$ 38) per month, which is calculated from a mutually agreed set of metrics that take into account the local population of farmers and the agro-ecological conditions of the current season. An obvious question is whether farmers will adopt new practices by just watching TV. The short answer is no. The long answer starts by noting that effective extension provides not only training, but also mechanisms for personalised advising and feedback. Undeniably enough, the TV, allows a village mediator to provide farmers with comprehensive and accurate knowledge about a particular practice. Short videos, that are generally eight minutes in length, provide clear descriptions of practices and help maintain the interest of a fluid audience, which may come and go during outdoor screenings in the night. June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

Regimented Sequencing Introducing a village to new agricultural practices cannot occur with a single screening. So, communities are approached in a particular manner and order: First, a village gathering is organised in a central location to showcase highlights of the services that will be provided; interested farmers are identified; new content is recorded, with extension staff introducing a particular practice to the identified farmers in the field; informal screenings of content of peer farmers are held; then, small groups of interested farmers are formed with a regular schedule of content screenings (as described in the previous subsection); finally, community participation is encouraged through peer pressure to learn, adopt, and innovate better agricultural processes. Small groups that regularly participate in the recording and screening of DG content are also founded within existing structures of local farmer cooperatives and Self Help Groups (SHGs) or are sometimes initiated by DG itself. Diffusion Reinforcement The described techniques motivate farmers by featuring local field staff and peer groups. Following from the sociological models of Everett Rodgers, the diffusion of better agricultural practices is reinforced by tapping into the social fabric of the community. Content is localised in terms of contributors, agroecological, and societal dynamics. In fact, some farmers volunteer to be included in the content, so that they can be seen by their peer as adopters of new practices. Peer content often initiates curiosity and establishes itself as a medium for transference through community participation. The quality of content recorded as members of a community attempt a particular practice may diminish as experts become unavailable in the field; however, expert content juxtaposed with farmer content provides both training and motivation for others to try the same. Village mediators use the videos as a tool to disseminate content to a larger audience while maintaining personalised support. That is, village mediators will typically reiterate concepts between each clipping, pose questions to gauge interest, and announce follow up visits and subsequent screenings. Village mediators encourage farmers to attempt processes on their own, and announce their availability to individually visit farmer plots as required. Village mediators sometimes also provide farmers with the required ingredients or tools during the screenings of certain agricultural practices or technologies. Case-Study of Popularising Azolla Cultivation During one particular screening, 16 farmers were introduced to a low-cost method of cultivating azolla, an aquatic fern that can be used to add nutrients to animal feed and to fix nitrogen for paddy. Twelve of the farmers expressed interest in the practice and were provided plastic sheets and cultures to attempt the method on their own. The remaining four claimed the technique was either not applicable or not understandable to them. Finally, farmers required more than a single session of video to absorb the material. Frequently, they requested the same content to be shown multiple times during a screening to build sufficient confidence to embark on attempting a procedure. In other cases, extension support was required for adoption. In the case above,

27


of the twelve interested farmers, only three farmers successfully completed the process without any field support, three farmers began the process on their own but requested follow-up support to validate their work, and six farmers required the full-time supervision of extension staff. Our finding was that mediation is essential to the process of extension that farmers were most convinced by appropriately targeted and pitched content, and that concrete, short-term incentives are critical in the beginning. Promoting participation in both recordings and screenings builds momentum in a community to be involved in the process of learning, adopting, and innovating better agricultural practices. When farmers attend content screenings, village mediators encourage these farmers to share their personal experiences to motivate their peer groups. The local generation of the content allows farmers to verify actual instances appearing in video, by authenticating a known source or physically visiting the recorded field. During DG screenings, viewers frequently ask for the names and villages of recorded farmers. Some farmers even compete to be included in the content, so that they can be seen by their peers on TV. In other cases, farmers refusing even to participate in screenings would later become die-hard DG farmers when they themselves were featured in a video.

Scalability Model The DG database is not intended to be a physically centralised system. Instead, DG is designed to work as a decentralised network of hubs and spokes. The hubs-and-spokes model is how we may effectively scale up the DG system. Each hub is a demonstration village, which is transformed into a centre of excellence through the concerted efforts of NGOs and experts, and the hubs themselves are ‘networked’ together. The spokes are typically neighboring villages that also need help, but which are difficult to reach because of a lack in expert resources. Each hub is responsible for expert content production for the local region, content distribution in its local neighborhood, teacher training, and interactions with other hubs. Recording hubs in which field extension activities are concentrated provide a sequential stream of new content that can be screened to surrounding hubs and spokes.

Conclusions and Future Work In a one-year trial involving 20 villages (1,470 households) in Karnataka, India, DG increased the adoption of certain agriculture practices seven-fold over a classic Training and Visit-based approach. This system still requires the support of the existing extension system, but it magnifies its effectiveness by using relevant content and a local presence to connect with farmers on a sustained basis. DG was shown to be ten times more effective per dollar spent. Investments included a performance-based honorarium for a local facilitator, a shared TV and DVD player in each village, and one digital camcorder and PC shared across the project area. The table below summarises the cost-benefit analysis of DG in comparison to Training and Visit: A key factor that resulted in the substantial gain of DG over Training & Visit is the sustained presence of a local facilitator who regularly engages his or her community. In addition, DG

28

improves the efficiency of extension officers who can reach a greater number of villages with the support of a local facilitator and shared TV and DVD player. The on-demand nature of video offers the capacity for repetition to ensure that concepts are grasped System

Cost (USD) Village/Year

Adoption (%) /Village/Year

Cost/Adoption (USD)

Training & Visit

$840

11%

$38.18

Digital Green

$630

85%

$3.70

and novelty is introduced by showcasing a building ‘critical mass’ of farmers adopting practices. Some farmers are incentivised to adopt practices just to be featured ‘on TV’. This reduces the perceived disconnect between experts and farmers, and allows farmers to authenticate the viability of the content. Using costrealistic technologies, like TVs, DVD players, and camcorders, DG cultivates an ecosystem of educational, entrepreneurial, and entertaining content. Local relevance stimulates the viral diffusion of agricultural practices. In fact, some farmers compete to appear on a sort-of ‘Farmer Idol’ program which reinforces existing social networks and generates motivational ‘currency’. We believe the project can have much wider impact, so we have rolled out DG as an independent non-profit that will seed the system with organisations that have the interest and capacity to integrate DG it into their existing operations. We are building a hub-and-spokes network of partners, including agricultural universities, ministries of agriculture, and NGOs, in regions across South Asia and Africa that could benefit from the system. Rikin Gandhi, riking@microsoft.com Rajesh Veeraraghavan, rajeshv@berkeley.edu Kentaro Toyama, kentoy@microsoft.com Vanaja Ramprasad, greenfound@vsnl.net

References: C. H. Antholt, “Agricultural Extension in the Twenty-first Century,” In C. K. Eicher and J. M. Staatz (eds.), International Agricultural Development, Third edition, Baltimore, MD., The John Hopkins University Press: 354-369, 1998. R. Gandhi, R. Veeraraghavan, K. Toyama and V. Ramprasad, “Digital Green: Participatory Video for Agricultural Extension,” in Proc. IEEE/ACM Int’l Conf on ICTD2007 and in Proc. Annual Meetings of American Society of Agronomy (ASA, CSSA, and SSSA), 2007. G. Feder, A. Willett, and W. Zijp. “Agricultural Extension: Generic Challenges and the Ingredients for Solutions,” In S. Wolf and D. Zilberman (eds.), Knowledge Generation and Technical Change: Institutional Innovation in Agriculture. Boston, Mass, Kluwer, 2001. National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), “Access to Modern Technology for Farming, Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers,” 59th Round, Report No. 499, Government of India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, New Delhi, 2005. E. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, Fourth Ed., Free Press, New York, 2003. G. D. Stone, “The Birth and Death of Traditional Knowledge: Paradoxical Effects of Biotechnology in India,” In C. McManis (ed.), Biodiversity and the Law: Intellectual Property, Biotechnology and Traditional Knowledge: 207-238, Earthscan, 2007.

i4d | June 2008


LIRNEASIA, SRI LANKA

Benefiting the bottom of the pyramid? LIRNEasia conducted a comprehensive survey to find out the efficacy of telephones in expediting socio-economic development and buttressing accessibility

Anu Samarajiva Freelancer and Junior at Reed College, Portland, Oregon, USA samaraja@reed.edu

Harsha de Silva Lead Economist, LIRNEasia Sri Lanka harsha.lirne@gmail.com

Ayesha Zainudeen Senior Researcher, LIRNEasia Colombo, Sri Lanka zainudeen@lirne.net

June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

Technology for development Roller and Wavermani argued in a paper (2001) that a significant amount of the output increase in OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries from 1970-1990 could be attributed to the increase of fixed-line telecommunications; Waverman, Meschi and Fussii suggested in a paper (2005) that the growth of mobile phone networks is playing a similar role in increasing output in developing countries. These papers and others provide strong evidence for the connection between phone access and development. The claims about the impact of technology on development can seem astounding in their scale and range, but this is certainly the case for telecommunications. However, while the theory on large-scale, macroeconomic benefits of telecom access is supported by evidence studies like those by Roller, Waverman, Meschi and Fuss, the issue is less well researched at the household level, especially for developing countries. It is in these countries where the theorised economic benefits of telecom access would have the greatest impact, providing a possible means to escape poverty. Yet, the results of a comprehensive 2006 survey by LIRNEasia indicate that these economic benefits are not perceived to be as high by those very users at the bottom of the economic pyramid who have the most to gain. This article aims to explore why the advantages of phone ownership are not perceived as such, and what may be done to remedy the situation.

Thailand, and Philippines, respondents were asked to rate the impact of phone access on various activities on scale of 1 to 5, with 1 representing the worsened situation, 5 being an improved one and 3 being neutral. The non-economic implications of phone ownership at the bottom of the pyramid were strong across the board. The most important improvement from phone ownership was the ability to act in an emergency; a fairly obvious (and universal) finding. The results were similarly optimistic with respect to the ability to keep in touch and maintain social relations as well as in improving social status. The survey findings demonstrated that impacts of the phone on ‘the efficiency of daily activities’ and ‘income earning or cost-saving ability’, the two which perhaps have the largest economic ramifications, were less strongly perceived among the bottom of the pyramid respondents. With regard to the efficiency of daily activities, users said their day-to-day efficiency was somewhat improved, with the most satisfaction coming from telecom users in the Philippines and Thailand with scores of 4.40 and 4.37 out of 5, respectively, and the lowest from users in India and Sri Lanka, who rated the improvement at 3.90 and 3.98 respectively. Respondents, when asked about increased income or decreased costs associated with phone use,

A summary of findings In the survey, which gathered data (on telephone usage –mobile and fixed) from phone owners at the bottom of the pyramid in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,

Figure 1: The impact of direct access to telecom on the efficiency of daily activities (mean response) Source: LIRNEasia, 2007

29


said that they had experienced almost no improvement (Sri Lanka in particular) or ‘somewhat’ of an improvement. The results varied across the countries, with the strongest perception of the economic benefits from telecom use in the Philippines, perhaps because the popular SMS (texting) services offer a cheaper alternative to high priced calls. Overall, the level of satisfaction on this aspect was significantly lower (statistically speaking) than that on the previous aspect in all countries except India. It appears that, except for in India, there is a ‘disconnect’ in peoples’ perception of efficiency gains versus economic gains, indicating that they do not feel this efficiency translates into any economic impacts as strongly. Indian respondents however, rated the former at 3.90 and the latter at 3.97 (statistically speaking, not a significant difference), indicating that users were perhaps relating how efficiencies gained in time or increased information could result in economic benefits. This distinction between indirect efficiency benefits and direct economic benefits is a key point in understanding why financial improvements are not being perceived on a household level, and we will return to it in a moment. Figure 2: The impact of direct access to telecom on the ability to earn more using the phone or save a certain expense that would have been incurred without the phone (mean response) Source: LIRNEasia, 2007

The not-so-palatable trend Results from the survey responses of 8,660 households do not manifest a strong correlation with the macroeconomic evidence that access to phones carries significant economic benefits. Where then is the disconnect coming from between what households perceive as the limited economic benefits of phone use, and the significant increases in macro-level output? One possibility is that many users at the bottom of the pyramid prefer face-to-face interactions in their business dealings (where perhaps the most obvious economic gains can be made), and access to phones will not quickly change the situation. Along with a more personalised approach to business, many developing countries also feature a significant barter economy, where increases in income and decreased costs play out in a less evident manner. Thus, it may be that, services are exchanged between family and friends in a social manner, but in a way that is very much economic as well. In this situation, it is not always clear that using the phone to maintain a social connection is actually helping a financial situation. A third option is that users may not be taking into account the indirect economic effects of their phone ownership, as was alluded to earlier. The direct benefits of phone access come when users gain actual income from owning a phone, such as the case in the ‘Bangladesh Village Phone Program’ where phone owners can sell the access to their phone to their neighbours. However, these direct economic benefits only accrue to a limited number of people, and would not be perceived by the majority of survey respondents or those at the bottom of the pyramid. The indirect benefits, such as efficiency gains because a brief call can be made in place of physical travel, or the ability to make good business decisions because data about transactions can be obtained via the phone,

30

would be more widespread, but are also harder to pinpoint, so much so that only recently, have researchers been able to quantify such benefits among fishermen in Southern Indiaiii and farmers in Sri Lanka iv. As such, it is not surprising that most users, with the exception of some in India, did not feel there was a strong connection between efficiency gains and economic ones. Finally, it may be that users perceive an increase in their economic wellbeing from phone ownership, but these benefits are outweighed by the costs of owning the phone itself. This belief is most pronounced in Sri Lanka, where users also perceive phone call costs as being very high, burdened by a lack of a ‘Calling Party Pays Regime’, where incoming calls on mobiles are free.

The reverse trend It is important to note that this disconnect does not mean that the benefits of phone ownership do not exist. For example, the results from the survey revealed that in India, Pakistan and the Philippines, users in the agricultural sector said that phone ownership improved their efficiency and their ability to earn or save more. The study also indicated that people involved in service sector jobs like tailoring in Pakistan use their phones to contact clients and thus improve their business efficiency. These examples demonstrated the importance of addressing this disconnect so that users clearly identify how the efficiency gains they’ve seen in their social relations can also come into play financially.

Policy alternatives The survey results demarcated two definitive policy objectives that may be undertaken. Firstly, the importance to advertise and promote the economic efficiency gains from phone ownership, providing users with relevant examples of how telecom can save them money or even help them to earn it by improving their efficiency needs to highlighted. For example, by demonstrating that farmers can use their phones to quickly obtain market prices and introducing uses for SMS to quickly and easily settle financial matters. Secondly, the issue of whether the costs of telecom are actually greater than the potential benefits needs to be addressed. The survey found that prices were one of the greatest issues in Sri Lanka, and it is clear that high prices --perceived or actual-- will hinder users from taking full advantage of telephone access. With these policy objectives, the true potential of telecom access can be realised at the bottom of the pyramid, starting with the millions of households at the base and working its way up to truly stunning improvements at the macro level.

References: i Roller, L., & Waverman, L. (2001). Telecommunications Infrastructure and Economic Development: A Simultaneous Approach. American Economic Review, 91(4), 909-23. Retrieved Thursday, October 19, 2006 from the Econlit database. ii Waverman, L., Meschi, M., & Fuss, M. (2005). The Impact of Telecoms on Economic Growth in Developing Countries, in Africa: The Impact of Mobile Phones in the Developing World. Moving the debate forward: The Vodafone Policy Paper Series, No. 3, March 2005. Pp.10-23. Retrieved: November, 02, 2005, from http://www.vodafone.com/assets/files/en/SIM_Project_download_2.pdf iii Jensen, R. (2007). The digital provide: Information (technology) market performance, and welfare in the South Indian fisheries sector. The Quarterly Journal of Economics , CXXII (3), 879-924. iv http://www.lirneasia.net/2008/02/workshop-on-transaction-costs-and-traceabilitypotential-for-icts-in-the-agricultural-value-chain/

i4d | June 2008


India News Indian embassy introduces machine-readable passport

Information for development www.i4donline.net

e-Governance egov Tamil Nadu launches portal for e-Processing of lands In yet another endeavour to improve e-Governance, the Government of Tamil Nadu has a launched a website for online processing of land documents. The website was launched at a regional review conference organised jointly by the Land Resources department and Union Ministry of Rural Development. Initially, the website was launched in Dindigul, Vellore and Coimbatore districts of Tamil Nadu. The website will subsequently be launched in interior districts of Tamil Nadu in a phased manner to cover the entire state. The website ‘www.eservices.tn.gov.in’ incorporates all land-related details such as ‘Patta’, ‘Poramboke land’ etc. So far, the website has registered INR 32 billion of land resources with full details of the owner/enterprise across the State. This kind of e-Processing of land resources has already been launched in various states of India like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana etc. and also in countries like England, Australia, Thailand and Kenya.

Education Madurai University plans to digitise library In one of the pathfinding endeavours, Madurai Kamaraj University has undertaken a project to digitise its library. Madurai Kamaraj University is the first Indian University to take up a project of this sort. Vice-chancellor of the university, R Karpaga Kumaravel has taken several initiatives as part of implementing e-Governance and e-Content in administration and June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

The Indian Embassy in Doha has introduced Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) in consonance with the guidelines issued by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). The new passport document is not only machine-readable but also machine printed. The new system will help the Indian embassy to maintain the current schedule of service delivery though the population of Indians has ballooned to 310,000. The new booklet conforms to the international specifications. The new e-Passports will make it easy for travellers to get easy clearance at immigration counters across the world. The new application form is slightly different from the earlier form. The photographs (to be pasted on the passport form) should have a light background, neither white nor black, and should not be signed across, unlike in the past. The signature should be on the front page. The entire data on passport will be uploaded on the government system and this would make it easy to seek other government services.

academic affairs and make the institution an international centre of learning and excellence. The digitisation of library books would eventually help students to refer and download books online. The digitalisation of the library would be done through the Consortium of Educational Communication(CEC), an inter-university centre of UGC on electronic media. The project will be implemented in phases.

Health Coimbatore hospital adopts e-Governance model The Medical Council of India has made mandatory the computerisation of outpatient and inpatient services and the functioning of laboratories, pharmacy and medical records department. Subsequent to this, the Directorate of Medical Education, is focusing on adopting e-Governance model in healthcare to make outpatient registration, consultation and prescription of medicines smooth in all medical college hospitals in the state of Tamil Nadu. Director of Medical Education, T.P. Kalaniti, has said that the focus would be on emulating the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, which computerised outpatient registration, consultation and prescription of drugs a month ago. The outpatient registration slip (of the proposed model) bears a bar code, which

when scanned by the doctor, provides details (which appear before a computer screen) of the patient such as name, age, address etc. After diagnosis, the doctor makes the prescription on the computer and forwards it to the pharmacy wing. The bar code on the slip is scanned by pharmacy staff to get the e-Prescription.

Wirelesss Manipal University campus goes wireless Manipal University has implemented a campus-wide wireless mesh network, so that students can access fast and convenient wireless Internet and university’s Local Area Network (LAN) service from anywhere in the campus. To implement the campus wide wi-fi mesh network, the University has tied up with D-VoiS Broadband. After the implementation of the network, students will be able to access Internet, intranet and other value-added applications anytime, anywhere within the campus. The network is spread across five sq. km. and is capable of supporting more than 15,000 subscribers. Under the aegis of Manipal University-D-VoiS Broadband partnership, the university will also implement other value-added applications such as streaming video, e-Library and video on demand in a phased manner.

31


netgov Speak: Lead up to IGF 2008

www.nixi.in

In Collaboration with:

Part II: Internet Governance Issues – Access

32

The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) added a whole new dimension to the issues of Internet Governance in its Tunis Agenda. Development came into focus as a key agenda. The Internet governance discussions expanded from DNS (Domain Name System) Wars and root servers and critical infrastructure to a wider realm encompassing issues like access, content, multilingualism, security etc. In this issue, we will discuss the issue of access or the lack of it, i.e. the phenomenon called ‘digital divide’. Digital divide cannot be seen as an independent phenomenon separate from the broad socio-economic inequalities such as access to drinking water, electricity, education, health care etc. These inequalities exist between the global North and South as well as within each nation. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines digital divide as the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels in terms of both their opportunities to access Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and to their use the Internet for a wide variety of activities. The differences in access to information and ability to use the information are due to geography, race, gender, economic status and physical ability. We will explore some of the disparities in access within India. In most nations, as with India, economic status often dictates the access to technology and therefore is a major factor perpetrating the divide in the digital era. More than 700 million Indians live in rural areas, much of which is untouched by modern communications. Around 30% of rural homes do not even have electricity. In 2005, The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimated that there were around 60 million Internet users in India, about 5% of the population. Only a fraction of these have Internet access in their home. The percentage of Internet users in India is slightly higher than the percentage PC availability in the country. This can be vastly attributed to public access points such as Internet cafes, various kiosks and telecentres operated by the private and public sector. Compared to other modes of information dissemination, the availability of PCs is still scanty in India. Radio being the oldest mode of information dissemination amongst the four has a much higher penetration than television or computers. However, the mobile telecommunication

Distribution of access to modes of information dissemination in India industry has shown explosive growth in recent years in India and has overtaken all other modes of communication and information dissemination. Within Asia, India has the third highest number of users in absolute figures, surpassed only by China and Japan. The Indian Subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan) comprises of about 16% of the Internet users in all of Asia. India herself makes up 13% of that. Even though that figure gives an impression of high penetration it is not a true reflection of reality. The actual penetration (% population) is only 5.3% in India, 0.3% in Bangladesh and 2.0% in Sri Lanka. The low Internet penetration in these countries can be broadly attributed to the following factors – high deployment cost, lack of infrastructure, regulatory issues, limited and expensive international bandwidth, and lack of relevant and localised content.

The case of India The per capita public sector IT spending is an indication of the focus of the country on enhancement of IT services in the country. Data in the chart indicates that India has one of lowest per capita IT spending when compared with some of the Asian countries. Even with such low comparative figures, the efforts to span the digital divide is gaining momentum. This is largely due to the combination of contributions of the public, private and civil society sectors. i4d | June 2008


Per Capita IT Spending in US Dollars The government of India has declared IT as one of the thrust areas for the country’s development and has recognised it as an essential service. States like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharastra, West Bengal and now Tamil Naidu have been playing a significant role in introducing IT for industrial and economic development. These states have active action plans emphasising the growth of IT industries that will extend the benefits of IT application to all types of industries, enterprises, and private and public organisations and institutions. Several state governments have started investing in an IT infrastructure for e–Governance projects. e-Governance in India is growing at a rapid pace with a further investment of INR 400 billion (USD 9.4 billion) this year. Some success stories include Project Akshaya, an IT dissemination project launched in 2002 in Malappuram, a district in Kerala. The project’s objective was to develop 5000 networked Multi-purpose Community Technology Centers – Akshaya eKendras – to provide ICT access to entire population of the state. In Malappuram alone, the project has trained more than 5.9 lakh people. 65% of their trainees are women. The success of this project at district level has led to a state wide roll out of the project at all levels. Another successful example of positive efforts by the public sector to bridge the gap between agricultural production and

agro-retail market felt by farmers is eChoupal. eChoupals are information centres connected to the Internet and represent an approach to seamlessly connect subsistence farmers with global markets. eChoupal has helped link the largest labour force with the mandis, the international markets as well as the final consumer at much reduced transaction costs. Digital divide also affects those with physical or mental disabilities. Turning Point, a small organisation in the city of Calcutta tries to bridge the gap by introducing ICTs to victims of mental health illnesses. The founders of Turning Point, Calcutta, found that computers and the Internet provided better forms of access and connectivity which was not available in ‘real’ life for these people. The computer being a machine, most victims felt safe experimenting, providing them ample opportunity to remain connected with the outside world and share their experiences with other member of Self Help Groups (SHGs) from across the world. Big businesses are also throwing their considerable muscle behind initiatives to connect India. Microsoft, for example, revealed plans to set up a network of 50,000 internet kiosks across India over the next three years. The Saksham project, a Microsoft endeavour to set up PC kiosks in at least 200,000 vilages by 2010, aims to use existing phone lines or VSAT satellite link-ups that are run by local entrepreneurs. n-logue is another organization which has run pilot kiosk projects for over five years. n-Logue was launched to fulfil the need for Internet and voice services in every underserved small town and village in India. Marketed under the brand name ‘Chiraag’, which means enlightenment, n-Logue has developed several services that provide benefits to rural areas while also contributing to the kiosks sustainability. These varied efforts all amalgamate in helping to bridge the digital divide. However, concerted efforts are required as they are more efficacious with minimum wastage or duplication of projects and resources. The development agenda of the Internet Governance Forum being held in the city of Hyderabad from the 3rd to the 6th of December will bring the issue of digital divide to the forefront for all concerned stakeholders. Utilisation of public sector funds, penetration of private sector efforts in bridging digital divide and up-scaling of smaller successful initiatives by the civil society organisations will be some of the key discussion topics at the upcoming event.

References and resources • Digital Divide Network, http://www.digitaldividenetwork.org/ • Asia Internet Usage and Population statistics, http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm

Share your thoughts and Win a HCL Leaptop! The i4d magazine in association with the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) will open discussion and debate forum through the magazine and their portals – www.igf2008.in and www.i4donline.net. We invite all our readers to participate by reacting and responding to the issues raised in the article above. Please note that all relevant responses will be published online at the two addresses given above. Some selected responses will be published in the next issue of i4d and the best response will win a HCL Leaptop* sponsored by NIXI. Please send your responses to response@i4donline.net *the image may not correspond with the actual product to be given

June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

33


INTERVIEW: RAVI GHATE, SMSONE, WWW.SMSONE.IN

Building SMS network for empowering poor

Ravi Ghate, Chief Coordinator, SMSONE, Pune, India ravighate@eth.net What made you initiate the idea of launching SMSONE? Everyone is aware that ‘Mobile’ has changed the entire communication scenario of the World. In India, mobile telephony has brought the communication revolution so suddenly that nearly 230 million of Indian population are now connected!!! And right from street hawkers to businessmen every one is now ‘mobile’. Indian Government is expecting around 70 crore of mobile users by 2015. This will eventually result in higher number of SMSs being transmitted through mobile networks. Personally, I think that SMS as a medium is faster and more effective than any other medium. And if advertisements are considered, it has a high response rate, say 9 percent as per international reports. SMS readability ratio is 95 percent. And strong messages send through SMS services can bind the community too. In a bid to unite all the community users under a single umbrella and also to form location-based, integrated, interconnected

34

On the occasion of Baramati Initiatives – ICT 2008, the i4d team caught up with Ravi Ghate of SMSONE, Pune. Ravi Ghate, National Youth Awardee by Govt of India is the Chief Coordinator of SMSONE. As a Social Entrepreneur, Ghate has been working towards the empowerment of grassroots and marginalised people since the last 15 years. As a coordinator of SMSONE, Ghate has been working since the last two years. His pathfinding innovation, ‘Self Employment Promotion Through Local SMS Community Newsletter’ won the Manthan Award last year & Clinton Global Initiative’s YES FUND Award for Best Business Plan this year. Here, his perspectives and views on connecting every household, empowering them through SMS news & services and providing employment opportunities for the school/college dropouts are discussed. and interactive communities, SMSONE was launched. How are you going to develop SMS as a media ? Considering the high numbers of SMSs, we are trying to develop SMS as a MEDIA. Apart from using SMSs to transmit messages at one-to-one level, we are also using bulk SMS technology to communicate one-to-many type of messages for the welfare of common citizens. Banks and insurance companies are already using bulk SMS technology to extend their reach. SMS as a media can be as powerful as Print, TV, Radio or Internet. On an average, every household has a mobile phone. For watching TV one has to be at home. For sending e-mails one has to have Internet connectivity and supporting logistics, but with a mobile in hand, any message or information can be sent out to you. It is a media which is always on and is always with you. Any news, message, alert, update can be transmitted within a minute to a specific

community which is faster than any other media. A day will come when every media house will mark SMS as priority media. What is the Local SMS Community Newsletter model that you follow? Local SMS Community Newsletter is a location-based citizen centric information & knowledge focused update & alert service through SMS which is free for the members and is run by a local – social entrepreneur. How do you regulate the SMSONE network? Through our network, we identify on a priority basis,10th/12th failed or highschool/college drop outs, opportunity less – street wanderers, demoralised and financially backward youths. We give them one day training and explain our system, procedures and social agenda. We call these boys ‘Community Leaders’. These boys are the main link to the community. The community leader’s first task is to conduct i4d | June 2008


a survey in the community and get some basic information from each household. During the survey we explain the community people that our service is free of cost and convince them about the efficacy and importance of our messages. We take their written consent before sending them any kind of message. Once information of 1000 mobile users is collected, the community leader sends it to our Head Office (HO) at Pune. We do the analysis regarding the profile of the community and after rewriting it and approving it, HO sends it to the 1000 community members. Then we create a location specific sender ID for the community. For eg. if we are operating in Karolbaug, then the sender ID will be Karol News or Karolbaug4U. We usually send family related messages between 6-8 PM as this is the time when most people come back from offices and are relaxed. As a matter of policy we send only one message per week, maximum four commercial and 2 or 3 social messages per month. If someone wants to send any kind of message in a particular locality, he/she contacts our community leader. Community leader has the full freedom to negotiate the price for each message that he sends, usually it is between INR 2-3 per message. What is the source of revenue for you and for Community Leader? Out of each message sent, I take 50 paisa, irrespective of the rate charged by the community leader. Rest of the money is kept by him and that is his income. There are instances when two or three people want to avail of our service in the same week. In such cases whoever is ready to pay more money, we circulate his message. During elections all the political parties want to use our service so whoever is ready to pay more for each message, we circulate their messages. But my share remains the same, i.e. 50 paisa per message, out of which 40 paise goes as SMS credit charges. What are the kinds of messages that people send through SMSONE. All kinds of messages are transmitted through our service. From Birthday announcement of a local politician to social messages like socio-cultural programmes to events and initiatives like blood donation campaigns, health camps, spiritual lectures etc. Our community leaders are popularly called ‘Mobile Journalists’ and at times government agencies contact them to reach out to the community. Like for example, if there is water cut in a particular area then through our service we tell all subscribers that there would be no water during a particular hour of the day. Through our service, we also provide community help and social service. For example, some time ago, in Pune, a woman fell ill and she didn’t have any financial support. Through our service, our community leader raised around INR 7000 and paid for her treatment. What is the total spread of your operation? We are currently working in 21 districts of Maharashtra with more than 275 local communities and have more than two lakh subscribers. Mention the challenges that you face while implementing SMSONE project? There are a couple of challenges that we face. One of the most June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

difficult challenges is the mentality of the young boys who come to us for work. As I mentioned earlier, we take only 10th and 12th fail students. When they come to us, they are totally demoralised and have very low self esteem. Convincing them that, the opportunity we are providing is going to change their lives and they can earn upto INR 6000 per month is the biggest and the toughest challenge. What are your future plans for expansion? We want to have a pan India presence with 10 million subscribers under 10,000 community leaders. We follow the franchisee model and partner with good statewide NGO’s in different states. What are your future goals? Very clearly, though our messaging service, we would like to generate more than 2,00,000 self employment opportunities for the youth in India. And through them, I want to weave every Indian house affectionately with the thread of SMS. What inspired you to start SMSONE? I idolise Mahatma Gandhi for his achievements in bringing people together and Dr. Muhammad Yunus for his efforts to bridge the social and economic divide. Personally, I think, now a days, Indian public seldom believes in any mass leader, therefore ICT’s can play an important role in bridging not only the ‘Digital divide’ but also the social and economic divide through right and on-time information based on genuine knowledge. Through SMSOne mission, we are trying to bring the people together, generate more avenues of employment and create a sense of oneness in the local community. How your project will bridge the ‘Digital Divide’ In Indian society, most of the earning members have mobile phones. By communicating with him/her, one can access all members of his family. Now just consider, if a self-employed youth sends a health camp related SMS, then the SMS would be discussed amongst all the members. Eventually, the members of the house who require medical aid and advice would attend the health camp. They also inform their neighbours about the health camp. Consider another case, if the community leader sends an SMS stating that please attend the Spiritual Lecture by some Saint, then the elderly members of the house generally attend the Lecture. This clearly indicates that irrespective of whether the elderly members or kids have access to telecommunications technology or not, we can reach them through SMS and encourage them to take part in social activities, thereby bridging the digital divide. How this project is a Social Networking Project? One social SMS impacts at least five members of the house. And we are connecting 1000 mobile users in a Local community, which clearly means that we are communicating with not less than 5000 citizens. Likewise we are forming at least 1,000 such communities in Maharashtra, that clearly means that we are networking more than five million Maharashtrians under one roof. The social networking and the empowerment of the unemployed youth at various nodes of community living marks the success of SMSONE.

35


RENDEZVOUS CONFERENCE ON ‘LAST MILE SOLUTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE ICT CONNECTIVITY’ 15 - 18 APRIL 2008, COCHIN, KERALA, INDIA

Connecting the rural communities Last mile solutions The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) held the 2 nd Connecting Rural Communities Asia Forum on ‘Last Mile Solutions for Sustainable and Inclusive ICT Connectivity’ between 15th - 18th April 2008 in Cochin, Kerala, India. Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India hosted this four-day event to identify the effectiveness of ICT tools in bridging the digital divide in rural India. This forum secured strong support from both the public and private sponsors. The first three days saw deliberations and presentations by various panelists and participants. The event concluded on 18th April 2008 with a workshop on ‘Getting Ready for 3G’ which was led by Nokia Siemens Networks and discussed migration strategies, spectrum issues, 3G applications and impact of 3G on rural development. Participants included Ministers of Communications, Regulators, Heads of Universal Services Funds and private sector industry leaders, with Ericsson being the main platinum sponsors. Other key sponsors included:- Airtel, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Microsoft, Government of Nagaland and Government of Kerala. Important government officials including three ICT Ministers from Afghanistan, Brunei and Sri Lanka, professionals and non-government representatives participated in the conference. Senior ICT decision makers from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Brunei, United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, Singapore, Oman, Tanzania, Finland, Sweden and Nigeria joined the conference to share their views and success stories.

USO and rural telecommunications The first day was dedicated as a Special Focus Day on Universal Access. The day started with a panel discussion on Universal Service Obligation for Rural Telecommunications and was chaired by Bob H Lyazi, Fund Manager, Uganda Communications Commission. Ajay Bhattacharya, Administrator, Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund, T V Ramachandran, Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Gabriel Solomon, Senior Vice President, GSMA (GSM Association), Yogesh Kocchar, Head, e-Governance Unit, Tata Tele-Services were present on the occasion to discuss the issues related to USO Fund. Lyazi said that India is a leading example for mobile communications in the world and it is estimated that by 2010, India will have 500 million subscribers in terms of variety of

36

wireless technologies. The conference saw the discussion over the 3As for providing rural connectivity – Access, Affordability and Application. Talking on the occasion, Ajay Bhattacharya, Administrator, USO Fund said that, “In terms of tele-density India has moved far ahead of what was projected for 2010”. It is predicted that the current level of 240 million subscribers will be doubled within less than two years. Ajay further stated, “There are 7, 800 towers which are being laid out across the country”. The panel unanimously agreed that the main focus of the telecom service providers, telecom operators and other key stakeholders should be the end users. The panel also discussed at length the need for better utilisation of the USO Fund and the special need to finance ‘last mile connectivity’.

Solutions for the unconnected The event saw many interesting presentations including Vikram Manchanda’s presentation on Microsoft’s Project Shiksha. Jayalakshmi Chitoor from Centre for Science Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) reflected upon e-Governance. According to Jaya, e-Governance implies a spectrum of varied things in terms of technology such as mobile and broadband having inter linkages in providing ICT for development – education, micro-credit etc. Rohit Magotra, COO, Ekgaon Technologies, Lokanath Panda, Co-Founder, Little World and Ashok Chandak, Director - Sales and Marketing, NXP Semiconductor, India deliberated on issues pertaining to rural commerce with special focus on mobile banking solutions and financial inclusion. All the panelists in the session acknowledged the complexity of telecom and banking services and converged on the need for some regulations in rural commerce. K Praveen Kumar (IAS), Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh Technology Services Limited, shared his real-life experiences with i4d | June 2008


‘Happy Village Project’, a project that successfully involved the use and application of ICT tools in rural areas. Praveen also focused on the need to generate avenues of employment in rural areas. Alaknanda Rao, Anudip Foundation for Social Welfare, stressed on capacity building and the need to harness ICTs to empower communities. Commenting on capacity building, Alaknanda stated, “Connectivity per se is not sufficient. It has to be sustained with capacity building in order to benefit the end user”. Karen Coppock, Vice President, Vital Consultancy Services, spoke on the viable strategies to accelerate the usage of mobile devices. A case study on hand set financing by Karen Coppock, Vice President, Vital Consultancy Services revealed that most of the unconnected people are in the emerging markets in the developing world. The study further suggested that there are 5.5 billion people in these emerging markets and 75% of those are in India and China.

The formal inauguration The formal opening ceremony on the second day started with the lighting of the lamp by Hon. Minister Mahinda Wijesekara, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Sri Lanka, Engineer Amirzai Sangin, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Afghanistan, Dato Yussoff Hamid, Deputy Minister of Communications, Brunei Darussalam, Ajay Bhattacharya and Mr. B K Syngal, Former Chairman, CTO. Mr. Bashir Patel, Director Programmes and Business Development, CTO, K S Srinivasan, CGMT, BSNL, Kerala and B K Syngal initiated the session with notes of welcome. B K Syngal said that 70% of the population lives in sub-urban areas with a dependence upon the rural economy. The effort to connect rural communities is an important issue for ICT operatives in Asia, as regulators, governments and other stakeholders see the urgency of harnessing ICTs to bridge the digital divide and further create new market opportunities for the private sector in Asia. Engineer Amirzai Sangin, presented the progress of his country in terms of telecommunications. He said, “It is remarkable that Afghanistan is adding two lakh new users every month with 60,000 people working in the telecom industry”. The ministers from Brunei and Sri Lanka presented their country profiles in terms of the tele-density and mentioned how India is a leading example for them. During the session and the discussions thereafter, it was discussed that there should be a USO Fund Association which would enable proper management and utilisation of these funds.

An operators’ perspective Kuldeep Goyal, Chairman and Managing Director, BSNL deliberated upon the challenges and impediments in rural telecom connectivity. Giving an overview from a national operator’s perspective, Kuldeep highlighted some of the connectivity issues, concerns and initiatives including the last mile solutions in India. He said- “BSNL is providing connection to more the 80% of the rural population in India”. He stated that “there is an increase in the broadband roll-out from 42% to 50%. There is a great opportunity in India for cellular operators and service providers”. Technology has a huge role to play in terms of rural connectivity and providing socio-economic empowerment. George Paul, General Manager, Marketing and Strategy, Ericsson, in his keynote address showcased the efficacy of Gramjyoti Rural June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

Broadband Project. Ericsson, he said, has successfully used mobile broadband technology for providing various services in terms of education, health, etc.

Bridging the digital divide There was a panel discussion on bridging the digital divide through coordination between the private sector organisations, foundations, NGOs, and bilateral and multilateral agencies. Vikram Manchanda from Microsoft mentioned how an effective PPP model can help in bringing the digital gap. The forum outlined the latest elements of rural ICT developments, while creating networking opportunities for the industry elite from across the value chain. The last day of the conference saw discussions on issues such as Telecommunications in rural India, Rural IT, Rural connectivity projects, Wireless mesh, ICT and environment etc. The discussants agreed that tele-density is still low in rural areas. The speakers in the various sessions discussed key challenges like lack of local content, lack of infrastructure, high investments, low returns etc. faced in the process of establishing rural telecom connectivity. Speaking on the occasion, Anirban Ghosh of Airtel spoke about the Value Added Services (VAS) such as information about crop prices, crop diseases etc. that Airtel is offering in rural areas. According to A N Rai, DDG, BSNL, in rural areas, apart from telecom operators, there is a need to develop other business models that can help and complement the capacity of the ICT. N K Goyal, President, Communications and Manufacturing Association of India, spoke about the issues of electronic wastes and IT and the need to bring awareness in this regard. The two rural telecom projects that were showcased in the event were Nokia Siemens Network’s ‘Village Connection’ and Ericsson’s ‘Gramjyoti Rural Broadband Project’. Village Connection focussed on three crucial connectivity aspects – Access, Motivation and Competence. Ericsson’s rural project highlighted issues like rural connectivity and rural power transmission.

Mapping rural connectivity As a diplomatic inter-governmental ICT organisation, CTO could assemble regulators, Ministers of Communications and ICT giants to map rural connectivity in this explosive and highgrowth market. Commenting on the success of the conference, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, CEO, CTO said: “In our view at the CTO, the central challenge facing the development community in the ICT arena is how to connect the unconnected. In most developing countries, the unconnected are in the rural areas, hence the critical importance of our series of conferences in Africa and Asia on connecting rural communities. These events have been very helpful to our member governments, ICT regulators and industry executives in appreciating the right combination of policies, legislation, regulation, operational strategies, unique business models, innovative financing mechanisms and other local ownership and management arrangements that make rural connectivity initiatives sustainable. It is expected that the 2009 Connecting Rural Communities Asia Forum will take place in India, New Delhi, during the summer of 2009. Nilakshi, Barooah, nilakshi@egovonline.net Rajat Banerjee, rajat@csdms.in

37


RENDEZVOUS CONFERENCES ON NRHM, SSA & NREGP, APRIL - MAY 2008, NEW DELHI, INDIA

Common Minimum Programme: A review Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (Keep Your Promises Campaign) and India International Centre, Delhi, jointly organised three conferences between the month of April and May 2008 as a part of their review of the three flagship programmes of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance). The conferences were hosted on the 4th of April, 22nd of April and 5th-6th May respectively. The conferences aimed to review and reassess the status of National Common Minimum Programme (2004) in terms of health, education and employment. The first conference tried to review the status of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the second conference dealt with the operating status of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the last event attempted to explore the hidden possibilities of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

The conference on ‘National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and the Right to Health’, the first part of the flagship event was hosted on 4th April 2008. The first of the three-part event tried to evaluate and measure the functional success of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in terms of creating better public health infrastructure and in terms of mitigating the spread of contagious and infectious diseases. The conference also tried to underscore and outline the future agenda for strengthening the investment, quality and outreach of the public health system. Key people from the health ministry, health experts, senior government officials, personnel from NGOs and concerned journalists attended the conference. The event was organised in collaboration with Indian Medical Parliamentarian’s Forum (IMPF).

The session started with a brief note from the chairperson R. Senthil, Member of Parliament and Member – Secretary, IMPF. Senthil stated that there is an impending need to generate funds for public health. Ravi Duggal, Public Health and Finance Expert, while deliberating on public funding on health, stated that the public health financing strategy is weak in India. He added, “We have the CMP (Common Minimum Programme) target of achieving 3% of GDP on health, we are still far away from that. I mean, we are still aound 1%”. The second panelist in the first session was Siba Sankar Mohanty, Research Analyst, Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability. Siba stressed on the ineffectiveness of the states to comply to the promises made in the CMP and emphasised on the need to employ more effective government machineries to monitor and manage public funding on health. He recommended the scrapping or modification of FRBM (Fiscal Responsibility and Budget management) Act. Paul Diwakar, Convenor, National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), while speaking in the conference stressed on the need of a health sub-plan for the excluded sections. He affirmed that woman mortality rates and child mortality rates are really high among Dalits and the underserved communities. Paul also revealed his concern over the diversion and misuse of NRHM funds.

Investing in public health

Lessons from NRHM

The first session focused on public investments in rural health missions.

The second session primarily tried to assess whether NRHM has been successful or

Reviewing the mission

38

not. The session also tried to know the impediments that affected the mission. Syeda Hameed, Member, Planning Commission of India chaired the session. Guest of Honour, Anbumani Ramdoss, Union Minister for Health and Family welfare, Government of India, discussed about the feasibilities and options in rural health missions. Ramdoss converged on the need to develop more rural health centres in the North Eastern region of India. He suggested that people who are not getting adequate services especially from maternal health, should be covered through an insurance programme which will ensure that all complications are met by the best possible healthcare available in the country. Abhijit Das, Member – Advisory Group on Community Action – NRHM while deliberating on public health programmes and solutions, emphasised on the need to facilitate service delivery mechanisms and train service providers in order to make NRHM a success. He suggested that medical colleges need to take an active part in advocating health missions. Chandrakant S Pandav, Head – Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), was optimistic about the mission. He affirmed, i4d | June 2008


“NRHM basically has given the government and the citizens a window of opportunity to accelerate the unfulfilled agenda”. Amarjeet Singh, Joint Secretary, Minister for Health and Family welfare, Government of India, provided a pragmatic explanation of the state of affairs of rural health. Amarjeet acknowledged the role of the Union Government in its stride to achieve excellence in the field of rural healthcare. In defence of the rural health network he stated, “It is only in July 2006 that the NRHM frameworked for implementation was approved; which allowed us to network nurses, doctors, paramedics, untied funds to local institutions on a large-scale basis”. Mohuya Choudhuri, Health Editor, NDTV, spoke on the effectiveness of rural health missions in Srinagar, Kashmir in providing basic health facilities including extension of PHCs and supportive medical technologies. Mohuya also stated that NRHM has brought PHC centre-stage and has facilitated in the documentation of communicable diseases. Mohuya added that in order to expedite basic healthcare facilities through NRHM, it is mandatory to do a periodic review of the rural and urban health missions. The first part of the flagship event concluded with a note from Syeda Hameed. She said that there is an acute shortage of doctors and nurses in rural India Syeda further stated that realisation of the National Rural Health Mission is quite important for the realisation of primary healthcare systems across the country.

SSA and elementary education The second part of the flagship programme on ‘Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the Right to Education was hosted on 22nd April 2008. The programme attempted to review SSA, an ambitious scheme floated in late 2001 to ensure basic education for all. The event endeavoured to identify the effectiveness of SSA as a centrally sponsored education scheme and to gauge the changing roles of the centre and states in financing the scheme. People from the ministry, education experts, senior government officials, personnel from NGOs and teaching professionals attended the event.

Towards a common school system Ashok Bharti, Convenor, Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, moderated the conference proceedings. The first panelist in the session was Vinod Raina, General Secretary, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS) and member Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE). Vinod was eloquent about the failure of SSA to provide for an education system that fosters and buttresses elementary education. He stressed on the need to increase more public funding on basic education. Referring to the dismal state of elementary education, Vinod maintained that out of 20 crore children between the age group of 6-14 years, more than half are either school drop-outs or are not enrolled at all. He asserted, “We have a discriminatory education system”. According to Vinod, the government spends about INR 7,000/per year on the central school child while only INR 1,800/- per year for an average village school child. Siba Sankar Mohanty deliberated on education, SSA and public budgets. Siba held that share of states in financing education is declining while federal assistance to states in terms of schemes has increased over June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

time. Siba suggested that education should be provided through administrative channels of the states rather than through centrally sponsored schemes. R. Govinda, Professor, National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUPA), claimed that most of the development programmes like SSA are inputoriented and only count money and statistics. D. Raja, Member of Parliament, identified three major problems; accountability, spending and bureaucracy in the implementation of SSA. Raja avouched for a ‘common school system’ rather than a quality education system.

Assessing the employment act The final part of the flagship programme happened between 5th and 6th of May 2008. The theme of the conference was ‘National Consultation on NREGA and the Right to Work’. The two-day conference tried to assess the effectiveness of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in providing vistas of employment opportunities in rural India. The event also attempted to evaluate the state of employment opportunities in those 200 districts where NREGA was employed for the first time, the quantum of assets created through NREGA, level of community participation etc. Many important people from diverse spheres of human action attended the event to share their views, experiences and success stories. Raghuvansh Pratap Singh, Minister for Rural Development, Government of India inaugurated the first session. Raghuvansh was quite convinced with the operational success of NREGA and stated that wages for NREGA work go directly into 1.4 crore bank accounts belonging to the workers. He affirmed that NREGA has unleashed a silent revolution across the country by forcing the government and the private employers to provide minimum wages to the rural poor. He however identified five crucial points to ensure effective functioning of NREGA. These are: awareness, people’s participation, transparency, state vigilance and monitoring and accountability.

The concluding session The conference on NREGA concluded on 6th May with a valedictory session chaired by Sudhakar Reddy, Chairperson, Parliamentary Committee on Labour. The speakers in the valedictory were Aruna Roy, Social Activist, K S Gopal, Centre for Environment Concerns (CEC) and Chandan Mitra, Member of Parliament. Aruna stated that NREGA has provided a platform to the poorest of the poor to air their grievances and to demand a job with legitimate pay. She also suggested that there is an impending need to include the elderly workers, disabled persons and nomadic tribes in the ambit of NREGA. A major outcome of the Panel discussion on SSA and NREGA was that a Memorandum on the Implementation of the Right to Education Bill was submitted by a Delegate of Wada Na Todo Abhiyan to Arjun Singh, Union Human Resource Development Minister, Government of India. Another Memorandum on the Effective Implementation of NREGA was submitted by a Delegate of Wada Na Todo Abhiyan to Raghuvansh Pratap Singh, Union Minister for Rural Development, Government of India. Rajat Banerjee, rajat@csdms.in

39


es es es es es

for for for for for

All... All... All... All... All...

Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... By

Bytes for All... Rural farmers going mobile The popularity of mobile phones is growing day by day. What was earlier a luxury, available to the elite few, is now made available to the masses through attractive schemes from mobile service providers. Our readers were discussing whether mobiles could be used for dissemination of information and advisory services to rural farmers or Small or Medium Enterprises (SMEs). One of the readers Anil Jaggi felt that, most of the rural projects are not successful due to lack of service and backup support, as rural folks have no clue on how to overcome problems encountered during the project. So any level of communication backup, be it ICT or mobiles is going to be big support for some tangible results. He also informed that his organisation was in the process of developing Rural Call Centre for five districts in Uttarakhand, India (three in Garhwal and two in Kumoun) for some livelihood projects. Another reader Lokesh Mehra informed about the LifeLines-India project implemented in 700 villages across four states in India, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. This project has been able to provide rural farming communities with information on various agriculture and agro-business related issues like diverse modes of farming, various methods to be adopted in cultivation, agriculture input, farm management, agriculture risk management, disease and pest management, and livestock and dairy. An added bonus is that the farmers also get weather guidance, updates about the market and relevant Government schemes. Our reader O P Goel commented that in Vidisha district of Madya Pradesh, an NGO called Pradaan, had provided mobile phones with cameras to farmers. The farmers take pictures of problem areas in their fields during sowing and later. These pictures are uploaded via mobile phones to a central server where agriculture specialists analyse them and offer advice there and then, a very good example of mobile telephony.

Copyright verses right to copy Fredrick Noronha of Bytes For All submitted a post on the above subject. According to the post, the producers of the Hindi movie Krazzy 4, had to pay Rs. two crores to music composer Ram Sampath, for allegedly using his tune in their movie. Many consider this suit and the subsequent settle-

40

ment as ‘landmark’, a battle won by a small creator against entertainment giants. The article however cautions against celebrating the moral victory, because throughout history, plagiarism has been very much a part of various forms of cultural production, including music. Today should we sue famed musician Salil Chaudhury for using the tune of an old Polish song in his famous song ‘Dil Tadap Tadap Ke’ from Madhumati. Or whom do we credit for the ‘Happy birthday to you’ tune. Since copying is vital to learning, it would be unfortunate if even ‘subconscious copying’ were considered infringement. Legendary deaf blind author and activist Helen Keller was accused of plagiarism several times. Helen learnt languages not by sound or sight, but by touch. The interests of one who creates should surely be protected, however let us not forget that the sense of touch is not limited to our hands, it extends to our eyes and ears as well. It is but natural that, sometimes we may be inspired in our creative process by an idea, a thought, a feeling from an earlier creative work. Walter Benjamin, describes this as ‘sensuous similarity’, a right to copy that must be guarded as jealously as copyright. Our reader Ananya Guha of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) felt that that the web has accentuated the right to copy. Our reader Ziaur Rahman of International Institute of Technology and Management (IITM) Dhaka felt that this article gives a new dimension to copyright laws while sending difficult signals to people who copy subconsciously. Another reader Fedaus Al Amin opined that people with vested interests make copyright laws. The ‘Copyleft’ movement came into being because of the rigidity of copyright. Source: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/11997

Defining kleptocracy An article by AKM Shamsuddoha, former Vice President of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Chamber with the above title, was posted on the Bytesforall readers list by Shahidul Shuvra. According to the article, kleptocracy (a relatively new term) literally means, ‘Rule by thieves’. Corruption at the highest level can be classified as corruption by a regime and corruption by the corporate. The second kind also known as white-collar crime has legal remedies as per the law of the land. However, corruption by a regime is not that easy to clean up. Kleptocrats consider the government treasury as their personal piggybank. In kleptocracy, the government extends its wealth and political power to its favoured people at the expense of the masses. Kleptocrats amass wealth mainly by sale of weapons, drugs, international aid and loans, acquiring land illegally etc. A kleptocratic government is not pro-people. In order to weed out kleptocratic governments, US president George Bush announced an international strategy in August 2002. Accordingly, the G-8 committed to coordinated global efforts to end large-scale corruption in public and private life, would deny safe haven to kleptocrats, deny them financial haven, share information about them with other countries with a view to recover stolen funds and restore them to the rightful owners. Various governments have adopted innovative measures in order to clean up their acts, like i4d | June 2008


Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes ytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for

for All... Bytes for All... Bytes for All... Bytes for All... Bytes All... Bytes for

for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All... Bytes for All...Bytes for All...

All... Bytes for A All... Bytes for A All... Bytes for A All... Bytes for A Bytes for All...B

Bytes for All... the ‘plea bargain’ in Pakistan, where the accused admits to guilt and agrees to return the funds from corruption. He/she cannot run for elections, take a loan, or hold public office. In return he/she does not undergo any jail sentence. The US introduced settlements. In this, the accused neither agrees nor denies to the guilt. This article elicited the following reactions from our readers. Vickram Crishna felt that the writer had missed out certain

been the epitome of such misadventures. More importantly, the kleptocratic tendencies of the current US administration threaten to jeopardise the entire global economy. Another reader, Edward Cherlin, noted that USA has been into kleptocracy since the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and since the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. He felt that under the garb of war on terror, Bush poured several trillion dollars belonging rightfully to the American public into these wars only to enrich the rich in general and his friends in the oil and defense industries in particular. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/12069

Other happenings Obituary: paid to Guido Sohne, a Free Software Hacker and developer from Ghana. Known in the cyber world for his gift for writing software and his philosophy on the theory of knowledge. First Net Casting for Bangladesh: People of Bangladesh will now be able to listen to their favorite songs, know their culture and language. And all this, even if they are far away from home. Thanks to Netbetar.com the first ever Entertainment Netcast Radio Channel in Bangladesh. Read the complete post at: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/12062

WITFOR 2007: The event was held around the theme of ICT’s for Prosperity and Development in Addis Ababa in August 2007. A book outlining the respective perspectives of its various commissions - from ICTs in agriculture, environment, health, legal relations, education, economic opportunities, infrastructure and empowerment- has been published and its web edition can be downloaded at the following URL: http://www.digital-partners.org/Book-WITFOR-2007.pdf

Open Source workshop completed in Noakhali: To enhance the use and application of open source software Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) is helping to arrange workshops in different universities of Bangladesh. Noakhali Science and Technology University (NSTU) successfully ended their workshop (which was successfully organised in association with BdOSN) in April 2008. 90 students were trained on Linux distributions and Joomla in the two-day workshop. Besides, there was a special session on computer programming. The NSTU Open Source Network was also formed on the last day of workshop. Google has launched English-Hindi Translator: http://google.com/translate_t?langpair=en

points in his article. Like when a government misleads its citizens to support a military misadventure or pumps in more money in defense budget to meet hyped threats. The direct beneficiaries are the people involved in such operations like arms dealers. Vickram pointed out that it’s unbelievable that George Bush is a supporter of the anti-kleptocracy movement. When his administration has June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

Bytes for All: www.bytesforall.org or www.bytesforall.net Bytes for All Readers Discussion: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ bytesforall_readers To subscribe: bytesforall_readers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Bytes for All Discussion summary compiled by: Archana P. Nagvekar, archananagvekar@rediffmail.com, India

41


RENDEZVOUS NATIONAL SEMINAR ON ‘GRASSROOTS LEVEL INFORMATICS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS’ 9 MAY, 2008, NEW DELHI, INDIA

Empowering villages and islands: The ICT way The National Informatics Centre (NIC), Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India organised a national seminar, ‘Grassroots Level Informatics Development Programs’, on 9th May 2008 in New Delhi. The theme of the seminar was ‘For Sustainable Development and Growth: People, Process, Technology and Information’. The event was attended by policy makers, academia, leading NGOs, BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) personnel, representatives of both national and state governments etc. Speakers and panelists from remote parts of the country participated in the seminar physically and also through video conferencing. Participants critically deliberated on the current and possible benefits of NIC schemes like Grassroots Level Informatics Development (GRID), Smart Village, and Smart Island. The event was organised not only to discuss how ICTs have and could be further used to gear up rural growth and development but also to see how ICTs can be effectively used in the islands.

Welcome addresses Moni, Deputy Director General, NIC acted as the moderator and opened the deliberations with a note on the three schemes that aim to convert villages and islands within the nation as ‘digital layers’. He expounded how the rural GDP could be doubled in the coming years through ICT intervention. He suggested the need to take up village as the First Mile for Smart Village and insisted each household to have Internet connection in Lakshadweep under Smart Island Scheme where Island should be considered as a congregation of villages. Y K Sharma, Deputy Director General, NIC, Kuldeep Goyal, CMD, BSNL, and Unni Krishnan, Member, State Planning Board, Government of Kerala delivered the welcome addresses. Sharma expressed the wisdom in today’s planning process where the government ensures larger participation of stakeholders. Sharma predicted extensive connectivity across the country in the next two years. Goyal stated that though India has the second largest telecom network in the world after China, the rural population is yet to benefit from it. What is required, Goyal

42

said, is the reach of IT applications like e-Health, Internet, etc. and the development of IT applications in the local languages. NIC, along with the Department of Information Technology, is trying to work this out; and in collaboration with BSNL, the largest telecom connector in India, seeks to bring high-speed broadband connectivity to rural areas. Krishnan dwelt on the Smart Village scheme in Kerala that is experimenting with decentralisation and a locally developed IT sector. Every Gram Panchayat in Kerala, except one, has BSNL network. The local government is the pivot of local and ‘participatory’ development in the state. Self Help Groups (SHGs) are involved in micro-credit and other developmental activities throughout the state. Krishnan emphasised that in Kerala, technology is not the core issue for development. Technology has already penetrated. Spatial data on water, roads, property tax, basic tax, public distribution system, etc. are available in villages across the state. ‘What is needed is a human-centred approach: right information available at the right point for service-delivery and decision making’, he said. He added that in order to realise this, issues like data convertibility, sharing, standardising, and updating (besides tackling critical gaps in collecting and updating data) etc need to be addressed. Krishnan exhorted a purposeful strategy of inclusion (to include minorities, physically challenged groups, etc.) through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Chief Guest S. Varadhachary, IAS (retired), Former Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary (Finance), Government i4d | June 2008


of Kerala delivered the keynote address. He spelt productivity as created at the micro level by farmers and workers; and therefore saw the introduction of ICTs at this level as critical. His contention was that the Internet should be used at the micro level for obtaining relevant information. A combination of GIS mapping (aerial and terrestrial) and data, he believes, could make decision making more effective. Varadhachary spoke of how data publicised on the Internet could sensitise people and prevent calamities like water logging (a main reason for which common land and forest cover are disappearing). The Internet can also provide information about how redundant and repetitive most of the employment generating schemes like pickle and papad making industry for women are. This information could trigger innovative avenues for employment. Varadhachary, maintained that extending technology is not enough; people have to be trained to use this technology, especially for content. Zail Singh, Deputy Director General, NIC, presented the vote of thanks.

Empowerment of village communities The theme for the first session was ‘Empowerment of communities that have limited or no telecommunications access through the use of latest available technologies, which will help contribute to long-term sustainable and economic development, through Value-Chain, Result-Chain and Input-Chain’. It was presided over by Varadhachary. The lead speakers were Satyan Mishra, MD, Drishtee and Gurmit Singh Palahi, Principal and Chief Project Engineer, National Institute for Integrated Rural Development and Transfer of Technology, Palahi, Kapurthala, Punjab. Mishra expressed the need for villagers to invest in and own a core village entrepreneur program. Drishtee, Mishra added, provides products and services to village communities by identifying retailers or kiosks (computer-based entrepreneurs). These retailers act as the focal point for the dissemination of products and services in a village. The aim is to help villagers set up micro enterprises like small schools, health centres, etc. by galvanising internal resources and by small monetary contributions. Drishtee targets to reach five million families by 2009 in this manner. The challenge, Mishra stated, is that cities are growing much faster than the villages and draw away the rural entreprising youth. Rural India is growing June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

only at 1.9 per cent per year, five per cent less than the growth of the country. The essential task, Mishra opined, is to let a market grow in the village by harnessing internal resources. Mishra concluded by proposing a model of Village Company, where equity contribution by villagers will be backed by debt provisions by banks. He speculated that the model will generate employment and encourage growth in villages, besides creating community support. Gurmit Singh Palahi lauded the NIC GRID and Smart Village initiatives at Palahi, a village in the Kapurthala district of Punjab. He spoke of Duckweed technology being effectively used in Pisciculture and to purify water; and latrines constructed through ferrocement technology, a simple and inexpensive building method, in most of the households. ‘Yet there is a lack of technical manpower and an effective computer and information network in the village as well as the entire state’ he added. Palahi stressed on the need for a change in villagers’ attitude in adopting new technologies. He highlighted ICT enabled information on health (particularly for women), drug de-addiction, and e-Learning techniques for village students who cannot afford to move out of their village for higher education as high priority areas. ICT, he opined, can bridge gaps between rural consumers and the urban market, and ensure maximum profit for the former. Palahi concluded by suggesting that the NIC create a single-point access to all ICT requirements of a village. The panelists for discussion in the session were Sameer Kochar, CEO, SKOCH Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd. and SKOCH Development Foundation; BS Kalra, Prakriti Foundation, Relegan Siddhi, Ahmednagar; C Krishna Gopal, Professor, National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad; N D Mani, Professor, Gandhigram Rural University, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, and K V Sundaram, Chairman, Bhoovigyan Vikas Foundation. Kochar argued that villages are poor not because they do not have personal computers but because they are not empowered. Kalra spoke about the importance of local knowledge vis-a-vis local topography in development models. Mani expounded the harnessing of specialised services of different entrepreneurs for developmental purposes, while Sundaram stood for rural development backed by government agencies-lent technical assistance, support and cooperation. Sundaram spoke for policy determination at the top and participation at the bottom. He strongly advocated at least a critical minimum availability of information on planning in every village. But, he said, a revamp of village economy can happen only through social reawakening --- through an Auto-Kinetic Development Model, where development takes place from within, like the Gandhian notion of an independent village. And this can happen only when scientists, engineers, researchers and volunteers are available at the village level, Sundaram said.

Harnessing ICTs for bottom-up development The theme of the second session was ‘Synergistic combination of efforts and resources of various functionaries at Grass Root Level in

43


order to effectively and efficiently, harness stateof-the-art ICTs, for bottom-up development’. P N Bhat, Chairman, World Buffalo Trust, chaired the session. The lead speakers were S Subbiah, MD, Bharat Immunologicals and Biologicals Corporation Limited, Bulandshahar; AG Ponniah, Director, Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Chennai; Ashok Kumar Singh, IAS, District Collector, Idukki District, Kerala; and Dinesh Tyagi, CEO (eGovernance Program), Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS). T R Raghunandan, IAS, Joint Secretary (PR), Ministry of Panchayat Raj, Government of India shared his comments before the session began. Raghunandan professed that until and unless smart community action takes place, the policies are not going to succeed. He stated that the market for information lies in local participative planning leading to district planning. He also said that database can make a quantum leap with IT. Ponniah posited a high potential for dynamic information like current market situation, information on school, colleges and health among farmers than static information. Subbiah stressed on participatory development, a local need-based village model, and checks against time lag and lack of information and program sharing across sectors. He espoused for benchmarking goods and services, as validated by the users. Ashok Kumar Singh spoke about successful ICT interventions in the Idukki District of Kerala and suggested means by which ICT can further improve life in villages. He argued for ICT enabled redressal cells, listing and positioning of cases in courts, legal assistance, and access to decision makers whereby one can find audience through video conferencing. Tyagi spoke of Common Service Centres (that seek to deliver government and private services to rural India through ICTs) as a movement empowering people to demand services from the State. The panelists for the session were S I Ahson, Professor and Pro Vice-Chancellor, Patna University; MV Ramana, CIO, Directorate of Medical Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh; Satyanarayana Sangita, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore; Vijay Kumar, District Magistrate, Sitamarhi District, Bihar; CS Sundaresan, Institute of Rural Management, KIIT, Bhubaneshwar; Sreekumar, Director, Akshaya Project, Government of Kerala; Bhushan Ambadkar, Director, VANARAI, Pune; and Jayalakshmi Chittoor, Programme Coordinator, CSDMS. Ahson advocated village level training programmes on ICT application. He emphasised on connectivity and content (developed in local languages particularly), especially speechbased content, as most crucial. Sangita spoke of the digital divide in the country that needs to be addressed. He opined that lack of communication among the departments should be removed and participatory democracy through the Internet should be promoted. He stated that when villagers are empowered with information, the transactional costs could be brought down. Jayalakshmi suggested that while designing policy, it is best to keep in mind that redundancy could seep into both software and

44

hardware. She commented that text-to-speech is the most critical input and that data should not be locked into copyright and rendered unavailable to the public because it is public data. Vijay Kumar suggested that as far as ICTs are concerned, agricultural content should be created with the help of the farmers. The chair, P N Bhat, concluded the session with the observation that validation of information is critical and so is content development. Bhat also suggested roping in private enterprises for effective data availability to the villagers.

Building smart islands The final session was on ‘Envisaging a system that leverages ICT tools and technologies for better delivery of services to the diverse set of population in the Island, organisations and processes by adopting best practices and standards’. It exclusively discussed ICT intervention methods and beneficiaries in the islands. The session was chaired by B V Selvaraj, IAS, Administrator, UT Administration of Lakshadweep, who participated through video-conferencing. He put forward the technological advances made in the island vis-a-vis complete digitisation of employment services, e-Ticketing, digitisation of medical services and various other services like bill payment, registration and lodging of complaints by the electricity department. The lead speakers were R C Srivastava, Director, Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI), ICAR, Port Blair and Rohit Magotra, Chief Operating Officer, Community Enterprise Forum International. Both focused on ICT enabled delivery of knowledge services in the islands of Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The session concluded with a note that highlighted the needs and demands of Smart Islands.

Conclusion The seminar saw debates and arguments on the fact that mere provision of technology is not sufficient. The knowledge to use its applications is really the key. These applications can be more effective if developed in the local languages or in the text-to-speech format. And most importantly, the village or island community must evolve the demands and sustenance for development from within, which could be assisted by ICTs. Juanita Kakoty, juanita@csdms.in i4d | June 2008


What’s on Africa 8-11 July 2008 2nd African Council for Distance Education (ACDE) Conference and General Assembly, Lagos, Nigeria www.nou.edu.ng/noun/acde2008

Australia 29 June 2008 The 2nd International Workshop on Web Mining for e-Commerce and e-Services (WMEE2008) Melbourne www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~derrick/WMEE2008

6-8 August 2008 Government Technology World 2008 Gold Coast www.terrapinn.com/2008/gtw%5Fau

20-25 March 2010 World Congress of Internal Medicine Melbourne, VIC http://www.wcim2010.com.au/

11-13 December 2008 Renewable Energy Asia 2008 New Delhi http://web.iitd.ac.in/~rea2008

www.icete.org

3-5 September 2008 3rd Law, Security and Privacy Issues in IT Conference (LSPI), Prague, Czech Republic http://www.lspi.net

25-26 November 2008 Internet Marketing Conference Stockholm, Sweden http://www.internetmarketingconference.com

India 16-19 October 2008 Green Energy Summit 2008 Bangalore, Karnataka http://www.greenenergysummit.com

10-11 November 2008 BankTech Middle East Congress Dubai http://www.banktechmideast.com

17-19 April 2009 3rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on ICTD2009 Doha, Qatar http://www.ictd2009.org

Malaysia 12-13 December 2008 2nd International Conference on Science and Technology (ICSTIE’O8) Permatang Pauh, Penang www.icstie.com

15-17 December 2008 International Conference on Environment 2008 (ICENV 2008) Penang http://chemical.eng.usm.my/ICENV2008

eINDIA 2008 29-31 July 2008 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi www.eindia.net.in

United States of America 14-17 July 2008 The 2008 International Conference on e-Learning, e-Business, Enterprise Information Systems, and e-Government (EEE’08) Las Vegas, Nevada www.world-academy-of-science.org/sites/worldcomp08/ ws/conferences/sam08

5-8 August 2008 24th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning Wisconsin http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference

24-26 October 2008 The University of Atlanta’s First International Symposium on Online Teaching and Learning, Georgia www.UofA.edu

Europe 26-29 July 2008 ICETE 2008 - International Joint Conference on e-Business and Telecommunications, Porto, Portugal

United Arab Emirates

Pakistan 10-11 September 2008 E-Learning and Distance Education Conference (ELDEC) Islamabad www.vu.edu.pk/eldec2007

Singapore 16-18 February 2009 Open Source Singapore-Pacific-Asia Conference & Expo 2009 (OSSPAC) http://www.osspac.com

Thailand 6 August 2008 Energy Security and Climate Change: Issues, Strategies, and Options (ESCC 2008), Bangkok http://www.serd.ait.ac.th/escc

United Kingdom 04 June 2008 The Power of Sound: communicating with ICT, Happy Computers, Cityside House, 40 Adler Street London http://www.icthub.org.uk/events/the_power_of.html

10 June 2008 Free one day event from Microsoft and NCVO, Microsoft UK Cardinal Place, 100 Victoria Street, London www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/script-ed/conference.asp

7-11 July 2008 Medicine and New Media Coventry, Midlandse http://www.warwick.ac.uk/go/histmedsummerschool

8-11 December 2008 Internet Governance Forum Hyderabad

20-23 May 2009 World Renewable Energy Congress 2009-Asia Region (WREC) Bangkok

29-31 March 2009 Governance of New Technologies: The Transformation of Medicine IT and IP Edinburgh

http://www.intgovforum.org/

http://www.thai-exhibition.com/entech

www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/script-ed/conference.asp

June 2008 | www.i4donline.net

45


IN FACT

Mobile connectivity in developing economies The usage of mobile phones continues to rise in developing economies. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Information Economy Report 2007-2008, mobile telephony has emerged as the most appropriate ICT tool in developing countries. In developing countries, mobile communications have penetrated even in the remotest parts and the number of mobile subscribers has almost tripled in the last five years. The below-mentioned tabular calculations (2004 - 2006) are based on ITU World Telecommunication/ICT indicators database. „ Mobile phone subscribers by level of development and region 2004

Developing economies

Percentage change 2004-2005

2005

Percentage change 2005 -2006

2006

893 760 760

31.0

1170 638 544

32.1

1 546 324 643

Africa

77 608 792

69.9

131 863 273

43.7

189 497 105

Asia

641 318 745

24.6

798 880 468

32.0

1 054 509 700

Latin America and the Caribbean

174 347 694

37.2

239 249 946

26.1

301 640 938

485 529

32.8

644 857

5.0

676 900

123 959 088

49.6

23.8

229 579 600

Oceania Transition economies

185 487

407

Mobile phone subscribers by level of development and region 2004

Percentage change 2004-2005

2005

17.6

28.9

22.7

30.1

29.5

9.0

64.0

14.7

39.2

20.5

Asia

17.5

23.1

21.5

30.5

28.1

Latin America and the Caribbean

31.8

35.3

43.1

24.1

53.5

Oceania

5.7

31.4

7.5

2.8

7.7

Transition economies

37.6

48.6

55.9

23.9

69.3

Developing economies Africa

Percentage change 2005 -2006

2006

(Mobile phone subscribers per 100 inhabitants)

Source: UNCTAD, Information Economy Report 2007-2008, www.unctad.org/en/docs/sdteech20071_en.pdf

46

i4d | June 2008


INDIA

2008

29 - 31 July 2008, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

Can modern technology wipe out hunger? Learn about the latest in e-Agriculture in India's only event on ICT and agriculture Key Speakers

Prof. M. S. Swaminathan MP & Chairman, MSSRF

Sanjeev Gupta Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, GoI

M. Moni Deputy Director General, NIC

Michael Riggs Information Management Specialist, FAORAP

Dr V. Balaji Global Leader, Knowledge Management & Sharing, ICRISAT

K. K. Gupta General Manager, NABARD

Donald M. Taylor India Country Representative, ACDI/VOCA

V. Shunmugam Chief Economist, MCX

Key Themes

Key Participants

• Policy Dimension: Initiatives in e-Agriculture • Best Practices in e-Agriculture • Panel Discussion on Making e-Agriculture Work through Public Private Partnership (PPP) in Asia. • Role of ICT in Livestock and Fishery Sector • e-Agriculture Software: Status and Future • Agricultural Price Discovery Mechanism: Role of Commodity Exchanges • Financial Inclusion and Risk Mitigation Strategies using ICTs

• • • • • • • •

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) National Informatics Centre (NIC) Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX) Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance (ACDI/VOCA) National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

Who will attend: • Key Government Officials and Experts • CEOs/Management Cadre from Agri-Industry • Development Foundations and NGOs Working in the Sector • Banking & Financial Institutions and Commodity Exchanges • Agri-Marketing, Retail Sector and State Marketing Boards • Agri-Extension Projects/Models and Extension Departments of Various States • Central and State Agriculture Research and Education Institutions • Researchers, Scholars and Agri- Entrepreneurs Supporting Partner ICAR acts as a repository of information and provides consultancy on agriculture, horticulture, resource management, animal sciences, agricultural engineering, fisheries, agricultural extension, agricultural education, home science and agricultural communication. ICAR has established various research centres in order to meet the agricultural research and education needs of the country.It is actively pursuing human resource development in the field of agricultural sciences by setting up numerous agricultural universities spanning the entire country. www.icar.org.in

www.eINDIA.net.in/eagriculture Contact Person: Subir Dey: Mobile No: +91-9818687618, Email: eAgriculture@eINDIA.net.in

For Exhibition or Sponsorship Enquiries: sales@eINDIA.net.in, For Registration Enquiries: registration@eINDIA.net.in


4th

29 - 31 July 2008 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi Organisers

Co-organisers

Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & IT Government of India

knowledge for change

egov Track: Silver Sponsor

Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India

Diamond sponsor

UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development

Healthcare Transformation Partner

eHealth Track: Official Health IT Partner

Associate Sponsor

Knowledge Partner

National Accreditation Partner

Online Health Partner

Digital Learning Track Learning partner

Gold sponsors

Assessment partner

Platinum sponsor

Associate sponsors

Silver sponsors

empowering education... enabling careers

Exhibitors

empowering education... enabling careers

eINDIA 2008 Supporting partners 速

eINDIA 2008 Lanyard Sponsor The World Bank e-Development Thematic Group

For Exhibition or Sponsorship Enquiries: sales@eINDIA.net.in, For Registration Enquiries: registration@eINDIA.net.in

www.eINDIA.net.in


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.