In the project’s first phase, E-Halli centres will be set up in the 10 districts of Davangere, Chitradurga, Shimoga, Chikmagalur, Haveri, Gadag, Dharwad, Belgaum, Koppal and Bellary

The Karnataka state government will soon launch ‘E-Halli’, an e-governance initiative that will put useful information and services within reach of the state’s rural population for the first time. E-governance initiatives of this nature, like the state’s highly successful Bhoomi project, have so far been restricted to urban areas.

E-Halli centres will be established on the premises of all 5,628 gram panchayats (village self-governing bodies) starting November. The Internet-enabled kiosks will provide information about various state and central government schemes, gram panchayats, banks and credit agencies, hospitals, blood banks, diagnostic centres, veterinary centres, market prices, farming, goods transport systems, and educational institutions. They will also enable village residents to access basic information like train, bus and flight services, and make online reservations.

In the project’s first phase, E-Halli centres will be set up in the 10 districts of Davangere, Chitradurga, Shimoga, Chikmagalur, Haveri, Gadag, Dharwad, Belgaum, Koppal and Bellary.

Yashaswini Nagara Hagu Grameena Abhivruddhi Parishat (YNGAP), an NGO based in Davangere and the nodal agency for setting up the kiosks, has already established five such centres in Davangere district on a pilot basis.

The estimated cost of the project, which is being promoted by the state’s Department for Women and Child Welfare and the Karnataka State Women’s Development Corporation (KSWDC) is around Rs 100 crore. The KSWDC will provide Rs 35,000 under the Asare scheme for self-help groups, to fund the establishment of the centres. It will also help candidates selected to run the kiosks to obtain loans from nationalised banks.

M D Shivakumar of YNGAP said the centres would charge an annual membership fee of Rs 90 to villagers who wish to access E-Halli services.

A study conducted by YNGAP found that rural citizens have to travel to nearby cities to get basic information on schemes that they can avail of. Each farmer makes about two trips every month and incurs an average annual expenditure of Rs 3,600 to access this information, wasting a lot of time and effort in the process. The E-Halli project will thus prove an invaluable resource to the villagers, Shivakumar said.

The centres will also provide jobs to 16,884 unemployed youth across the state, claims the government. The kiosks will be operated by people with basic computer skills.

E-governance initiatives have so far been restricted to cities in Karnataka. Through the E-Halli initiative, the government hopes to extend the benefits of IT-enabled services to villages, thereby bridging the urban-rural digital divide, official sources say.

The E-Halli concept is based on former Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam’s ambitious PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) programme, which envisioned the provision of infrastructure and access to services in rural areas that are on a par with those available in India’s cities.

Source: The Hindu, September 22, 2007