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Kamal Deo Singh
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The TARAhaat initiative has created a unique platform to overcome the traditional contradiction between social and environmental goals and the imperatives of business a prerequisite for scaling up sustainable development interventions.
The first priority for India or any other developing country now is to create sustainable livelihoods on a large scale 15 million new ones each year. The developing countries need to create more than 50 million new jobs annually. In India, the rural self employment sector is the most neglected one. Opportunities for non-farm self-employment for rural women are non existent. There is a strong need for asset generation among the rural population and given the resources and opportunity; women and men could form a powerful partnership to achieve household food and income security in the rural areas.
Self-employment, including small and medium enterprises, must play a central role in the countrys employment strategy. This will require modification of policies and programmes to level the playing field, improve availability of credit, increase productivity, raise quality consciousness and competitiveness, and enhance job quality.
The possible solution: Imaginative solutions using information technology have to be crafted to convert this divide into a dividend and raise the living standards of the poor. Bridging the digital divide requires telecommunication links, access to computers, and relevant content and training. It also needs a massive inflow of resources. A large pool of dedicated social enterprises is required to collectively create and sustain livelihoods.
What TARAhaat actually does: The TARAhaat initiative was rolled out in September 2000 in two areas Bundelkhand (Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh) and Bhatinda (Punjab). TARAhaat is a unique initiative designed especially for rural communities. It uses the power of Information Technology (IT) to bring knowledge, services and products to rural masses.
TARAhaat.com aims to have content comprising of information on social services, development and environment, provided by the promoter organisations and other partners. The portal will further enable email, (ecommerce), edutainment and access to (e-governance) facilities. For an effective outreach, TARAhaat is focusing initially on the services or products that its customers demand today to draw them in and get them to use the network. During field-tests, it was observed that education is a major need with the younger generation, especially computer education. The youth wanted vocational training that would help them secure a job. The elders wanted information and convenient governance.
Taking these needs into consideration, TARAhaats initial focus has been on vocational training, community development, information and e-governance through a host of unique programmes. To meet what is probably the most important and widespread need in rural India, the next generation of services focuses on the promotion of micro and small enterprises through a unique, comprehensive Enterprise Development Programme (EDP). This programme supports an entrepreneur through the business life cycle and includes initial identification of business opportunities, technical training, financial and market linkages. Creation of these local mini industries will not only create employment opportunities on a large scale but also generate production capacity for the goods and services required in rural areas and the purchasing power needed by local people to buy the same.
The methodology followed: Access to TARAhaats services is provided by franchised cyber kiosks (TARAkendras) operated by local village entrepreneurs. Satellite communications, broadband wireless and local power generation is used where there is no electricity or phone. The use of local language along with time-sharing facilities smoothen the problems of connecting the illiterate or the poor to the web.
Eventually, TARAhaat plans to be the enabler, which will bring the village manufacturer in contact with the buyers and designers the world over. Awareness about computers and the Internet being negligible in the Bundelkhand region, the Development Alternative (DA) group initially subsidised computers and other affiliated equipment to the franchisees to demonstrate the benefits and increase awareness. In Bhatinda, where both the economic situation and awareness about ICTs is much better, the equipment has been procured by the franchisees with loans from banks from the onset. All franchisees are provided the basic training and mentoring by TARAhaat from time to time. A total of 37 TARAkendras are operational as of today, with many more in the pipeline. TARAkendra owners are small time entrepreneurs with limited self-sustaining power. They need quick revenue. Offline products and services have to be created to keep them going till the Internet delivered services and products reach a critical mass. The real success of TARAhaat depends on the successes of the TARAkendras spread across the country.
Conclusion:The TARAhaat initiative has created a unique platform to overcome the traditional contradiction between social and environmental goals and the imperatives of business a prerequisite for scaling up sustainable development interventions. TARAhaat combines the need for addressing social and development issues with the best business practices, an essential ingredient for the multiplication of new innovations. TARAhaat sees itself evolving into a strong, economically viable and sustainable institution addressing the livelihood needs of the marginalised and deprived through empowerment.
Author:Kamal Deo Singh is one of the internal champions for agriculture at TARAhaat.
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