International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B7. Istanbul 2004
remotest corners of the country through the VKCs
infrastructure and facilities, which can be affordable
and accessible for the rural poor.
7.Extension of VKC
The concepts of VKC as an affordable tool
for information dissemination and communication can
be extended to urban/Semi-Urban/Small Country-
Town areas as well, as it could prove beneficial, as
knowledge centres for the Municipal application and
Utilities management like X Electricity and
Telecommunication and for logistic management.
8.WAP enabled VKC
New technology with WAP without the
limitation of any radial distance could prove immense
potential for the VKC as an information. tool for
multiple uses for all purposes. IIT, Chennai has
developed WAP technology and there are also many
other technologies available presently which can be
integrated to develope a WAP enabled VKC for wider
use and information base.
9.GIS enabled VKC
Geographic Information System enabled
VKC could give various analysis of information and
generate decision alternatives for taking realtime
decisions judiciously and in a cost effective manner.
GRAM developed by IIT, Mumbai, which is currently
distributed freely by the Minister of IT may also be
integrated with Spread Spectrum Technology making
the VKC as a hub centre of powerful information base
for all purposes for multiuse potential.
10.Integration with Rural PIKs
Wherever there are rural PIKs -in the
country, these may be integrated with the VKC with
MSSRF technologies for making them rural
information growth centres and backbone for rural
^information needs for all planning and decision
making. Funding may be considered for this
integration from private, government, corporate and
public sources. The Ministry of Rural Development
may also consider making Village PIKs more
versatile and information enriched on realtime basis
with MSSRF technologies.
CONCLUSION
A fisherman in Veerampatinam village near
Pondicherry goes to the Village Knowledge Centre
(VKC) and gets information on seawave heights likely
in the next 24 hours. This is downloaded for him from
a US Navy website. He then asks for information
pertaining to safety at sea, fish/shoal occurrence near
the seashore and post-harvesting techniques so he can
548
fish in the right area. Seems impossible in a remote
village in India?
This is what the IT revolution is doing in the
country -- opening up opportunities to access
information even in the most *unreachable' of villages.
The VKCs villagers now access
information on grain and agricultural input prices,
integrated pest management and pest management in
rice and sugarcane crops. Important public events and
government announcements that are relevant to the
villagers. Locale-specific information has also been
compiled -- a detailed account on sugarcane
cultivation, a guidebook on the application of bio-
fertilisers in rice cultivation, a how-to-style document
on herbal remedies for disorders among children and
one on local religious festivals. There is also a
provision for exchanging information on the
availability of labour and materials in the region.
Bus/train timetables and opinions of medical
practitioners are also available at the click of a mouse.
There's miles to go yet. But a beginning has
been made. The cyber revolution that already has
urban India in its grip, is slowly but surely making its
foray into the villages and irrevocably changing lives.
If the fishermen of Veerapattinam near Pondicherry
were earlier at the mercy of nature each time they set
out in their boats, now they know for sure what to
expect of the weather, the waves and what it will
throw up by way of a catch, courtesy the PC. In tribal
Tejgadh, Naginbhai Rathwa is eagerly awaiting the
day he can tap the Internet for info on tribal
civilisations around the world. Wishful thinking? No
more. The promise of connectivity which has already
shrunk the world is at long last ringing true in the
countryside.
From providing lists of veterinarians and
doctors, to bus timings, locations of various hospitals
and news of goods for barter or sale, IVRP has
irrevocably changed villagers' lifestyles. While some
like K. Jagadeesan drop in at the centre "only to find
out what computers are all about," there are an
increasing number of women who come with health-
related queries, and students who want to check an
exam result, browse through educational CDs or learn
to design slides on Power Point.
It's a great change over years in rural India
coming up close to urban areas through ICT initiatives
in rural areas. ICT have paved the way, only time will
take the rural masses ahead of our times and may be
one day, we have all the progressive growth oriented
economies emanating from rural areas, making them
centres of prosperity, through the threadbare of ICT.
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