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T. N. Anuradha
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It is essential to make the community realise the need and importance of such ICT interventions, which can help them in improving the quality of their life. However, such projects can become sustainable in the long run only if they help in the improvement of livelihood patterns.
Poharka is a village in block Ellenabad of Sirsa District in the state of Haryana. Named after the Pohar castes who resided in the village 300 years back, the village is now inhabited by local rural communities who are primarily farmers, labourers and in government service.
Subhash Chandra Saharan started a Soochna Kendra (information centre) in his Village Poharka in the year 2001. The Soochna Kendra was established by the intervention of Drishtee Foundation, an organisation that works towards developing IT-enabled services to rural masses through kiosks-based revenue model. Drishtees mission is to create and implement a sustainable, scalable platform of entrepreneurship for enabling the development of rural economy and society through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
Subhash, has invested financial resources in the Soochna Kendra not just to earn a livelihood but also to benefit his community and the village. With initial training from Drishtee on the use of computers and providing e-governance services (Drishtee signed a MoU with the District Collector to help the Soochna Kendra coordinate the provision of required services), Subhash has now become the man of solutions, information, and suggestions on various concerns of the community.
The Soochna Kendra provides a range of services which he has signposted at his centre. The services range from getting the required forms for loan, bank accounts, examinations, agricultural produce prices, fertilisers, remedy for diseases, health-related information, information on latest schemes provided by the government, and even getting hold of good lawyers. The Soochna Kendra also provides computer education and services like digital
photography. If pests invade the crops of the villagers, they approach Subhash who gets the agricultural officers to help rectify the problem. All the above services are available on payment of a nominal fee, still almost everyone in the village uses the centre for various needs.
Computer education is quite popular among young girls who otherwise would not have been given the opportunity of even touching a computer. The availability of computer know-how in their village itself saves them the hassle of travelling elsewhere to educate themselves. According to the resident women, this information has helped their children make better decisions about their education. Digital photography is another popular service, which is helping Subhash earn well. For these projects to be successful, it is essential to make the community realise the need and importance of such ICT interventions, which can help them in improving the quality of their life.
However, the Soochna Kendra lacks community participation, the ownership and the onus to make the centre successful lies with Subhash. The Soochna Kendra is treated as a mere information/ service providing shop. For some services, the Soochna Kendra is dependant on the District Collectors support, like various e-governance services. If the support is withheld, the earning of Soochna Kendra suffers and so does the communitys faith.
Women have still not crossed the cultural barriers and are yet to start using the centre. Most women are illiterate and apart from that they arent allowed to venture too far away from their homes. Infrastructure constraints like internet connectivity; faulty phone lines etc. are some of the other problem areas. Above all, the district level information is not yet digitised, which could really help the community make use of the available technology. However, these are just the initial stages of ICT-led development and one can expect better responses from the community as well as the other players involved.
What communities truly need is information of local relevance, which currently the Internet is unable to provide them with. The OWSA supported Open Knowledge Programme that helps the creation and exchange of local content in local languages among people across the South, is trying to improve the information services provided by such Soochna Kendras. The kiosk operators or grassroots volunteers like Subash will be involved in the creation and dissemination of such content through community newspapers, pamphlets, radio programmes and the internet.
The ICT centre in Poharka is the link between the village and rest of the world. It is not only helping the community receive the required information but at the same time is helping rural youth like Subash earn their livelihood. With a futher development of information societies and better access to communities, the services provided by the Soochna Kendras can easily be enhanced .
Author:T.N. Anuradha is Programme Coordinatror-OKN at OneWorld South Asia.
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