Can IT heIp rural areas as discussed in the recent seminar or should we say CAN we implement it ?

Information technology should be introduced in rural areas in a manner that villagers are able to comprehend not only the technical aspects but can make maximum use of it for their advancement, says Narmada Development Minister Jay Narayan Vyas.

He said this while inaugurating a three-day Workshop on ‘Information and communication technology for rural development in India’ held recently in the city sponsored by the Indian Institute of Management, Abmedabad and the World Bank.

Around 70 delegates and government officials from Tripura, Orissa, Delhi, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, besides the representatives of various IT companies, IIM professors, WB representatives, participated. "The workshop aimed to identify the IT applications which have been successfully implemented in villages and make suggestions to the Government on how to replicate them in other rural areas", workshop co-ordinator Prof Subhash Bhatnagar said.

Senior lAS officer from Andhra Pradesh, Ashok Kumar said AP was the first in the country to design a State-wide computerisation programme covering all levels of the administration from mandal revenue offices to the Secretariat.

He also reviewed first application of the computerisation programme, which facilitated the delivery of statutory certificates stating caste, place and date of birth, and land holding, to individuals in a few minutes. "Computers would now be used to store large volumes of data useful to make quick, transparent and objective decisions and cut bureaucratic delays at various levels", Kumar said.

Presenting a paper on Application of satellite communication for training field workers and extension workers in rural Areas’, B S Bhatia of the Ahmedabad based Space Application Centre said, "Satellite communications have been used in broadcast and interactive modes to reach out to the rural audiences and train extension staff and rural population who are participating in the implementation of development activities."

Referring to the much talked about and over hyped ‘Wired Village Project’ being implemented at Warana village of Maharashtra, National Informatics Centre deputy director Dr N Vijayaditya said the state-of-the-art infrastructure had been established at Warna cooperative complex. One of the highlights of the project is high speed VSATs at Warna to allow Internet access for business centres and educational institutes. Besides, data transmission through highspeed wireless LAN was being provided to main business centres.

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