3.8. Constraints and Remedies for Effective Dissemination
Educating and catering to the information needs of farmers across nearly seven lakh villages in India indeed sounds unrealistic as this would require immense financial investment. A one-time major investment in establishing communication technologies in the required places restricts the government’s objective of covering more people regularly because of insufficient power availability in rural areas, poor ICT infrastructure, ICT illiteracy, non-availability of timely relevant content, non-integration of services, poor advisory services and lack of localization, and in particular non availability of agricultural information kiosks/ knowledge centers at the grass root level.
Some of the major constraints delaying the spread of e-revolution to rural India are listed below:
♤ Haphazard development: It is observed that some initiatives have already been made to provide IT based services to rural community. However, duplication of efforts are witnessed as most of the services revolve around limited subjects. Keeping in view the giant task involved, it is necessary to form a coordination mechanism to strive for a concerted effort to support farming community in the country. Such a coordination agency may only have advisory powers such as user interface, broad design, delivery mechanism of the content and standards for setting up kiosks.
♤ User friendliness: The success of this strategy depends on the ease with which rural population can use the content. This will require intuitive graphics based presentation. Touch screen kiosks are required to be set up to encourage greater participation.
♤ Awareness about the Benefits of ICT: Farmers sometimes become averse to adopting technology as they think that it might result in their losing their traditional methods of cropping practices. They simply do not want to use such systems, even if the cost incurred is negligible. Therefore, the attitude and mindset of farmers needs to be changed first. There is a need to win their confidence and create awareness about the benefits of ICT in agriculture.
♤ Local languages: Regional language fonts and mechanisms for synchronisation of the content provides a challenge that needs to be met with careful planning.
♤ Restrictions: Information content based on remote sensing and geographical information systems can provide timely alerts to the farmers and also improve the efficiency of administration. These applications can have a major impact on the farmers and help them to appreciate the potential of information technology. However, government’s map restriction policies often threaten to stifle the optimal utilisation of these tools.
♤ Power Supply: In most of the rural India, power supply is not available for long hours. This will reduce the usefulness of the intended services. Since almost entire country receives sunshine for most part of the year, it is useful to explore solar power packs for UPS as well as for supply of power. The Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources may pay special attention in this area which can be a major contributor to the growth of IT in villages.
♤ Connectivity: Despite the phenomenal progress made in the recent years, the connectivity to rural areas still requires to be improved. Reliable connectivity is a prerequisite for a successful penetration of IT into rural areas. Many private ISPs are setting up large networks connecting many major towns and cities. Since some of these networks pass through rural areas, it is possible to provide connectivity to a large number of villages. Several technologies exist that can be utilised for connecting rural areas. Cable network is a possible medium for providing the last mile connectivity to villages.
♤ Bandwidth: Even in areas where telephone and other communication services exist, the available bandwidth is a major constraint. Since internet based rural services require substantial use of graphics, low bandwidth is one of the major limitations in providing effective e-services to farmers. As already stated, networks with high bandwidth are being set up by several companies passing through rural segments which can be utilised. Until this materialises, a two pronged strategy of storing static information at the kiosks and providing dynamic information from remote locations can be examined. The graphic oriented content which does not change frequently, such as, demonstration clips for farmers, can be stored on the local drives at the kiosks and arrange for periodic updation of this information over the network during non-peak hours. The dynamic information which changes more frequently can be accessed from remote locations to obtain the latest status.
♤ Dissemination Points: Mass deployment of information kiosks is critical for effective use of the Internet based content and services. In order to ensure that the information kiosks are economically feasible, it is necessary to make the proposition sustainable and viable. This requires a major focus on a viable revenue model for such kiosks. In the new information era, the kiosks should be designed to become electronic super markets that can, in addition to being information sources, handle other services of use to the people living in rural areas. The revenue available through such sources can make a kiosk attractive for prospective investors. The Government can provide finance facilities to unemployed rural agricultural graduates who can be expected to have greater commitment and at the same time act as an efficient interface for less educated rural visitors. The objective should be to transform rural information kiosks into ‘clicks and mortar’ gateway to rural India for ‘Bricks and mortar’ industry. Some of the sources that can generate revenue for rural kiosks are :
◦ Distance Education: A large number of people travel substantial distances to attend educational courses. It is possible to set up virtual classrooms right in their villages.
◦ Training: People living in rural areas require training and a means for upgrading their skills in their area of work. It is possible to provide quality education right at their door steps with facilities for online interaction with experts. For example, a village teacher or a paramedical staff can keep abreast latest developments without disturbing his/her routine. Similarly, training can be imparted on various aspects of agriculture such as correct practices, irrigation practices, efficient utilisation of tools used in farming such as tractors.
◦ Insurance: The advent of private players into insurance has brought about advanced IT
systems that can render services over networks. The kiosks can be insurance agents for insurance firms which, in turn, can compensate the kiosk operators for online transactions for new business as well as maintaining the old.
◦ Local Agent: Many companies have difficulty in working out logistics for their supplies to rural outlets. A rural kiosk can act as conduit for such ‘bricks and mortar’ companies. This has the potential of transforming a rural kiosk into a profitable venture.
◦ Rural Post Office: The kiosks can facilitate sending and receiving emails, facilitate ‘chats’ with experts. Several successful rural kiosks are already available in many states which run essentially on this model.
◦ E-Governance: Rural kiosks are the stepping stones for effective implementation of e- governance. Details related to central / state / local governments, formats and procedures, status verification such as case listings in courts, filing of applications in electronic format where admissible, etc. are some of the areas where kiosks can be of major use.
◦ Online Examinations: Online certification examinations are ‘in things’ with many organisations and certification agencies. Many people are forced to stay at metros to take the examinations. Eventually it should be possible to conduct these examinations through the rural kiosks.
♤ Stake Holders: At present, several initiatives have been taken in the form of websites / portals targeting rural India. These are at best sketchy information sources catering to pockets of rural India. It is to be noted that strong inter-linkages exist within entire rural India and concerted and coordinated effort is required for carrying the benefits of IT to rural India. The magnitude of the task is such that no single institution or organisation can accomplish it. It is necessary for stake holders in rural India, such as fertiliser industry, to come together to provide adequate thrust to the effort initially. The fertiliser industry distributes more than 15 million tonnes of nutrients per annum in the country involving complex production, logistics and storage operations. A small savings made possible through better management of information up to the point of delivery to farmers can mean significant savings. The success of e-powering Indian agriculture is high if fertiliser industry makes a concerted and coordinated effort to set up Business to Business (B-B) market place with dealer / cooperative networks. The consumer industry also benefits from efficient operations in rural India. The corporate India may be willing to participate in a joint effort that proves beneficial to them as well as the rural India. The Government of India may, as outlined above, initiate a coordinating agency where various stake holders can join hands to spread e-culture to rural India and at the same time benefit from efficient operations.