Gyandoot - India
Launched in January 2000, Gyandoot is an intranet in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, India that connects rural cyber-kiosks offering online agricultural and government services. The project is an effort to establish community-owned, technologically innovative, and sustainable information kiosks in rural areas characterised by high levels of poverty.
Communication Strategies
Gyandoot's key strategy is using computing technology to improve access to information. Specifically, the intranet connects 21 rural cyber-kiosks called Soochanalayas, which are located at Block headquarters, bazaars, villages, and bus depot centres. A typical Soochanalaya has a computer, modem, and printer, with an Uninterruptible Power Supply (4-hour rating). The Soochanalayas have dial-up connectivity through local exchanges on optical fibre or UHF links; the server hub is a Remote Access Server housed in the computer room in the District Panchayat. This intranet is linked to the Internet; the Gyandoot website provides information to people worldwide about the Dhar district and e-initiatives designed to address various development issues there.
Local rural youth act as entrepreneurs, running these information kiosks along commercial lines; many earn as much as Rs 3,500 by charging small fees for services, typing villagers' applications, and giving computer lessons to local kids. For the initial kiosks, village committees each selected 3 candidates to receive training at the District Council. At the end of the training, the best trainees were selected to run a kiosk. It was determined at that time that further expansion of kiosk centres would be initiated only when local youth come forward to start new centres as private enterprises. The village Panchayat maintains the building and the fixtures, while the manager is responsible for the operational expenses and revenue collection.
The kiosks offer the following services:
Twice each day, the person managing the server prints the complaints, applications, and e-mails that have been received and sends them to the appropriate authority. The collector responds to certain queries and complaints. If a complaint cannot be addressed, a reply is forwarded to the kiosk manager. To reduce paperwork, the district has established an LAN connecting major departments (health, education, tribal development, revenue, food, agriculture, public health engineering, District Council, and District Magistrate) to the Gyandoot server.
In addition, with the help from Members of Parliament, Gyandoot has established 34 kiosks at high schools and higher secondary schools. Local educational content is provided through the server. Each school sets up an e-club to promote activities related to IT among rural students.
Local rural youth act as entrepreneurs, running these information kiosks along commercial lines; many earn as much as Rs 3,500 by charging small fees for services, typing villagers' applications, and giving computer lessons to local kids. For the initial kiosks, village committees each selected 3 candidates to receive training at the District Council. At the end of the training, the best trainees were selected to run a kiosk. It was determined at that time that further expansion of kiosk centres would be initiated only when local youth come forward to start new centres as private enterprises. The village Panchayat maintains the building and the fixtures, while the manager is responsible for the operational expenses and revenue collection.
The kiosks offer the following services:
- Agriculture Produce Auction Centre Rates: Prevailing rates of prominent crops are available online for a small fee. The volumes of incoming agricultural produce and previous rates are also provided on request.
- Copies of Land Records: Documents relating to land records including khasra (record of rights) are provided on the spot for a nominal charge. All banks in the district have agreed to accept these kiosk documents as a basis for loans for purchasing seeds and fertilisers.
- Online Registration of Applications: Before Gyandoot, villagers had to make several visits to the local revenue court to file applications for income/caste/domicile certificates. Now, they may send the application from a kiosk at a cost of approximately Rs. 10. Within 10 days, notification about the readiness of the certificate is sent via e-mail to the relevant kiosk. Only one trip is needed - to collect the certificate.
- Online Public Grievance Redress: Complaints about problems such as poor drinking water or improperly functioning schools or village committees can be filed (a reply is received within 7 days) for a small fee.
- Village auction site: This facility began in July 2000. It makes auction facilities available to farmers and villagers for land, agricultural machinery, equipment, and other durable commodities. One can put one's commodity on sale for a charge of about Rs. 25 for 3 months. The list of salable commodities can be browsed for approximately Rs. 10.
- Transparency in government: Updated information about such matters as beneficiaries of social security pension, beneficiaries of rural development schemes, grants given to village committees, public distributions, and numbers of families below the poverty line are all available on the Intranet, which is designed to make government functioning more transparent.
Twice each day, the person managing the server prints the complaints, applications, and e-mails that have been received and sends them to the appropriate authority. The collector responds to certain queries and complaints. If a complaint cannot be addressed, a reply is forwarded to the kiosk manager. To reduce paperwork, the district has established an LAN connecting major departments (health, education, tribal development, revenue, food, agriculture, public health engineering, District Council, and District Magistrate) to the Gyandoot server.
In addition, with the help from Members of Parliament, Gyandoot has established 34 kiosks at high schools and higher secondary schools. Local educational content is provided through the server. Each school sets up an e-club to promote activities related to IT among rural students.
Development Issues
Agriculture, Economic Development, Political Development, Youth, Technology.
Key Points
According to the Gyandoot site, agriculture and industry are the twin mainstays of business in Dhar, which is a poor, tribally-dominated district in Madhya Pradesh with a population of 1.7 million. 53% of its population consists of Bhils, Bhilalas, and Patliyas. 74% of the population lives below the poverty line. According to the last census, 27% of the total population and only 16% of women were literate (with female literacy below 5% in some areas).
During the design phase of the project, meetings were held with villagers to seek their input. Among the concerns they highlighted was the absence of information about prevailing agriculture produce auction centre rates. They attributed their failure to get the best price for their produce to this lack of information. Copies of land records also were difficult to obtain. A villager had to go out in search of the patwari (village functionary who maintains all land records), who was often traveling. To file complaints or submit applications, people had to go to district headquarters (which could be 100 miles away); travel time could result in a reduction of wages.
Each cyber-kiosk provides services to about 10 to 15 Gram Panchayats, 20 to 30 villages, or 20,000 to 30,000 people. In total, they serve a population of over half a million (about 50% of the district). In the first month of operation, the kiosk network was accessed 1,200 times for a variety of services. That number reached nearly 9,000 in July 2000. During the first 11 months, the 31 Gyandoot kiosks in operation at that time were used approximately 55,000 times. Gyandoot was awarded the Stockholm Challenge IT Award 2000 in the Public Service and Democracy category, as well as the CSI-TCS National Award for Best IT Usage for the year 2000.
Click here to access evaluation information about this programme.
During the design phase of the project, meetings were held with villagers to seek their input. Among the concerns they highlighted was the absence of information about prevailing agriculture produce auction centre rates. They attributed their failure to get the best price for their produce to this lack of information. Copies of land records also were difficult to obtain. A villager had to go out in search of the patwari (village functionary who maintains all land records), who was often traveling. To file complaints or submit applications, people had to go to district headquarters (which could be 100 miles away); travel time could result in a reduction of wages.
Each cyber-kiosk provides services to about 10 to 15 Gram Panchayats, 20 to 30 villages, or 20,000 to 30,000 people. In total, they serve a population of over half a million (about 50% of the district). In the first month of operation, the kiosk network was accessed 1,200 times for a variety of services. That number reached nearly 9,000 in July 2000. During the first 11 months, the 31 Gyandoot kiosks in operation at that time were used approximately 55,000 times. Gyandoot was awarded the Stockholm Challenge IT Award 2000 in the Public Service and Democracy category, as well as the CSI-TCS National Award for Best IT Usage for the year 2000.
Click here to access evaluation information about this programme.
Partners
The entire expenditure for the Gyandoot network has been borne by Panchayats and the community.
Sources
"Gyandoot: Community-Owned Rural Internet Kiosks", case study by Subhash Bhatnagar and Nitesh Vyas on the World Bank's E-Government site; and"Digital Empowerment: Seeds Of E-Volution", by Soutik Biswas, on the Gyandoot site; andGyandoot site.
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