3.9. Conclusion

The Indian farmer and those who are working for their welfare need to be e-powered to face the emerging scenario of complete or partial deregulation & reduction in government protection, opening up of agricultural markets, fluctuations in agricultural environment and to exploit possible opportunities for exports. The quality of rural life can also be improved by quality information inputs which provide better decision making abilities. IT can play a major role in facilitating the process of transformation of rural India to meet these challenges and to remove the fast growing digital devides.

The rapid changes in the field of information technology make it possible to develop and disseminate required electronic services to rural India. The existing bottlenecks in undertaking the tasks need to be addressed immediately. A national strategy needs to be drawn for spearheading IT penetration to rural India. A national coordinating agency with an advisory role can act as a catalyst in the process.

No single institution or organisation alone can succeed in the task of e-powering farmers and rural India. At the same time, scattered and half hearted attempts cannot be successful in meeting the objective. Industries with major stake in villages, such as fertiliser sector, should come together to provide the initial impetus. The success of any IT based service to rural India hinges on evolving a proper revenue model for the dissemination points. The information kiosks can draw revenue from the industry by providing and disseminating required services. Once these dissemination points prove to be economically viable, the IT revolution in rural India will require no crusaders.

.