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Information Shops are becoming indispensable to the fishermen and farmers in the villages around Villianur, Pondicherry.
A fisherman in Veerampatinam village near Pondicherry goes to the Village Knowledge Centre (VKC) and gets information on seawave heights likely in the next 24 hours. This is downloaded for him from a US Navy website. He then asks for information pertaining to safety at sea, fish/shoal occurrence near the seashore and post-harvesting techniques so he can fish in the right area. Seems impossible in a remote village in India? This is what the IT revolution is doing in the country -- opening up opportunities to access information even in the most 'unreachable' of villages. The M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), in collaboration with the International Development Research Centre , Canada, began work on this project in 1998. The result has been the establishment of VKCs in four villages near Pondicherry -- Embalam, Poornakuppam, Veerampatinam and Keezhur. The VKCs are IT centres linked to the Foundation's hub in Villianur. Called Information Shops by the villagers, the VKCs are run on a semi-voluntary basis. Individuals are identified on the basis of education (at least high school or 10 years of schooling), socio-economic status (marginal farmers are given preference), gender (other things being equal, women are given preference) and age (preference is given to the 20-25 age-group). Committees set up by the panchayats supervise the overall working of the centres. The operators need to be trained only for two days at the eco-technology centre of the Foundation. The equipment is provided to the operators on the basis of non-monetary lease agreements. From the VKCs villagers also access information on grain and agricultural input prices, integrated pest management and pest management in rice and sugarcane crops. Important public events and government announcements that are relevant to the villagers are flashed through the VKCs. Locale-specific information has also been compiled -- a detailed account on sugarcane cultivation, a guidebook on the application of bio-fertilisers in rice cultivation, a how-to-style document on herbal remedies for disorders among children and one on local religious festivals. There is also a provision for exchanging information on the availability of labour and materials in the region. Bus/train timetables and opinions of medical practitioners are also available at the click of a mouse. An analysis of users' registers maintained in the village centres reveals that the proportion of women users is 16 per cent. The proportion of users who are below the poverty line is also around 16 per cent (the average proportion of rural families living below the poverty line is about 21 per cent). This clearly indicates that VKCs are being used by most villagers to access information. The government is committed to funding the extension of the project to 50 more villages. Contact: M S Swaminathan Research Foundation
3rd Cross Road, Institutional Area
Taramani, Chenai 600 113
Tamil Nadu, India
Tel: 91-44-254 1229/254 2698
URL: http://www.mssrf.org.sg/
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