TRENDS
Divisions in the digital landscape
A. SRIVATHSAN
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With many villages getting computers and Internet services, have the benefits of technology reached the hinterland?
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Looking forward: Computer education opens new possibilities.
FROM the pillion, sugarcane and maize fields of Uppukottai appear like large pixels laid in a carefully careless manner. Normally, this scenic view would have invited descriptions like a mosaic of green. But what bounces in the mind are phrases of a pixilated green landscape. What brings me to Uppukottai, a village in Theni district, is Ganakkulandhai and his Internet centre that won the fellowship from the National Alliance for Mission 2007.
In the last five years, many villages like Uppukottai have received computers and Internet services. Have the benefits of technology reached the digital hinterland? Can we now claim that the digital divide has been bridged? The story of Internet centres in six villages in Melur, Theni and Bodi taluks of Tamil Nadu reveal a story of success and shortcomings.
The Internet kiosk at Uppukottai was started with assistance from Chiraag rural information and communications project. Chiraag is the brand name of n-Logue, the private wireless network provider based in Chennai. The kiosk is off the main road, on a narrow lane abutting a cowshed. Ganakkulandhai, a well-educated Dalit, invested Rs.55,000 and established this centre a few years ago. Initially, his village wondered what purpose his "small-sized TV" would serve. Hurdles also seem to have appeared in the form of his caste background. They have all been overcome. He now claims that there is a steady stream of users.
Like many other centres, this one too provides a range of services — education, health and communication facilities. It also works as a make shift photo studio. For Rs. 25, one can browse, for another 10 you can seek a clarification from a veterinary doctor or check the eye online. However, an unexpected feature has gained popularity among the users, particularly with the young ones, of this centre.
A group of four children was crowding around the computer. They were engrossed playing the motorbike race. It costs them five rupees to play a game. Two managed to save enough money. The one who had contributed the most sits with his fingers on the keyboard; the next takes the mouse, while the other two watched and cheered with equal enthusiasm. When asked, unanimously they declare it is the games that they are most interested in.
Pattern of usage
The data obtained from the Internet centres established by DHAN Foundation reveals an interesting pattern of usage. DHAN Foundation, a Madurai-based NGO, runs about 36 Internet centres in the Melur taluk. The monthly report of a typical centre shows that e-mail and videoconference are used for a maximum of 10 hours. There are not more than three to five veterinary and telemedicine enquiries. Educational kits that supplement school syllabus have less takers but the computer education finds favour with many.
Shanmugavalli, a 14-year-old schoolgirl, is busy practising her recently acquired skills at Oddaipatti — a village about 21 km from Theni. Her school does not have a computer. She spends Rs. 100 a month to learn to use the Internet and web camera among other things. She looks forward to a computer job. When asked what computer job can she get, she is not sure, but wants one, which will pay.
At the moment, those who hold certification in computer education find jobs as kiosk operators. Occasionally they get some data entry jobs. Premanand of DHAN says that language is the main impediment in getting jobs outsourced to villages. Other jobs, if any, seem to be available only in towns. Salaries too are not encouraging.
Girls are mostly employed as kiosk operators and are paid about Rs. 1,200 a month or Rs. 40 a day; less than what an agricultural labourer gets for a day's work. Other jobs for women do not pay better either. Women working in the textile mills of Theni earn only Rs. 1,200. While men settle for nothing less than Rs. 2,500, women find the meagre salaries supplement the family income. More than the salary, it is the social pride that makes computer jobs attractive. A computer-educated bride is always preferred over an agricultural labourer.
Sundarajan, the kiosk owner in Govindanagaram, candidly owned that the Internet centre did not bring sufficient money. He observed that villagers must first have money and should find services valuable to spend on. This explains why, even after five years, companies like n-Logue have not broken even. NGO's like DHAN focus on kiosks as community development cells. But they too face the challenge of making the Internet valuable to a rural user.
Relevance to rural development
In its present form, the World Wide Web is not oriented to a rural user. Only a fraction of the web content would make sense to them. The language too is unfriendly. Kiosk operators write Tamil in English. The interface of many programmes appears verbal. More thought is required on making the content relevant to rural development. Successful centres elsewhere have a strong government component. What a villager wants are services like obtaining patta, death and birth certificates and applications without harassment. Maybe active government participation would help rural Internet centres.
Currently wireless towers in many towns have a reach of only 25 km and connect villages within this distance. As a result, the town-based service providers seriously challenge the services provided by the rural centres. For example, Aravind Eye hospitals in Madurai and Theni have rural outreach programme and offer attractive alternatives.
Internet centres find it difficult to sustain the importance on their own. Instead, they seek imaginative alliances. In Uppukottai and Govindanagaram, the State Bank of India provides loans for those who want to buy cattle and COL, a Canada-based NGO educates the villages about cattle rearing through compact discs. The Internet centre hosts the classes and the coordinator manages the accounts. The villagers know that by coming to the Internet centre they can secure a loan. Ramesh of n-Logue feels that the future of rural networking is in services. He envisions the kiosks functioning as windows that bring in projects like mobile phone services and help villagers get new kind of jobs.
As companies and NGO's struggle to make rural networking sustainable and relevant, Veerarajan and his friend, studying in tenth standard in Uppukottai, sit in front of the monitor and aspire for a better future. They know a software engineer employed in the United States has built the biggest house in their village.
An ATM for villages
GRAMATELLER is the name of the newly designed rural ATM. This innovation is part of the IIT Chennai and TeNeT group's initiative to make Internet valuable to rural areas. Kannan of the Vortex Engineering has patented the core components of this technology and claims that it is ready to be deployed. If the conventional ATM costs about Rs. 8,00,000, this rural ATM costs only one tenth. Modifying some of the features of a conventional machine has reduced the cost. For example, in place of two denominations, single denomination has been preferred for cash disbursing. Reducing the speed of cash disbursal also reduces the cost. If the conventional machine dishes out three notes per second, the Gramateller does it at the rate of one per second. An extra second is affordable. Kannan thinks further efficiency could be achieved by redesigning the ATM switch that connects the various ATMs with core computing system of the bank. Some even think a separate ATM switch can be dispensed off further reducing the cost. Cost is an important criterion because it affects the number and location of the ATM deployment. Banks expect at least 250 transactions a day in order to break even the cost of ATMs and their maintenance. Such volume of transactions can only be possible in urban areas and not in rural centres. The unsuccessful story of ICICI bank's ATM centre in Ulagupatichanpatti near Melur confirms this. The Chiraag centre here provided the wireless network and secured space for the ATM. After a year, the ATM registered only about two to three transactions a day. Subsequently, it was removed Special features have been included in the rural ATMs. It is designed to take soiled notes than crisp new notes. Villagers, it is told, prefer soiled notes as a mark of their use and authenticity. Biometrics replaces ATM card, since card involves complex process and demands more skills to use. Low-cost ATMs with simple user interface aims to make banking convenient. It is hoped that Grammateller will reduce the burden of a villager who has to travel long distance to make simple cash withdrawals or deposits.
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