How are you connected?

This is a 2006 survey done for SME(s)/SMB(s). I hope Gtalk features somewhere, sometime.

In the heart of rural India ...

Bundelkhand district covering the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh in central India is historically one of the richest regions in India but unfortunately the present economic state of the area also makes it one of the areas having the lowest per capita income. The state of agriculture in the area has not been good because of low rainfall in the area, which has meant that poverty and food issues have loomed large.

Under such circumstances, taking ICT to the rural people was initially met with skepticism and a lack of conviction on both ends. Often enough, I revel at the possibility of using a faster and better processor, or an operating system, whether or not I utilize the time saved is another thing. But to take ICTs to people who claim to have all the time in the world, but no money to spend on ‘fancy’ ICT tools is another thing.

I recently visited such a group of people, in TARAhaat- a commercial franchise-based telecentre group, whose members took up the challenge to go to Bundelkhand and take ICTs to the local communities. My first few questions were of disbelief, I wanted to know how exactly did they convinced the local audience, what did they do to ensure local participation. For answers I was treated to many a smiles initially, till the ice broke and we started talking ‘strategies’. Needless to say, every other ‘marketing’ strategy had been worked upon, but with the ground realities such that people were not interested in saving time, the fact that they could not see direct correlation between ICTs and food and to top it all the services were for a price, things were not simple in any scope of imagination.

The TARA team is very focused on targeting the rural audience, and I learnt that the fact the services were priced was actually an advantage, because the local community often thought that the priced services were better and attached some importance to them. The community seldom wants to spend anything and has to be involved by making them feel that their expenditure is actually a saving in the long run, by giving examples and options which would cost more. The sustainability aspect of telecentres has been worked upon with careful deliberation in all TARA centres.

Even after over a decade in the area, TARAhaat members often have had to go to the community and ask them feedback on what they may want to learn, using the telecentre only as a space for knowledge sharing. The main idea behind this is primarily that people would atleast come to the telecentre, and develop some sort of a curiosity for the PC, which effectively for them has been a different kind of a TV. Based on such sessions, various programmes have been defined. A sewing course was started for the local women, in the hope that some of them could get interested in ICTs while in the centre. Such conversions due to increased interest have not been uncommon, more so for girls, who were not easily permitted to join a centre for ICT learning, which was often thought of as unnecessary for them. The community has also been helped to learn something and then start off a business on their own, based on the training given, thus encouraging rural entrepreneurship. The TARAhaat team firmly believes that the people who can actually ‘reach’ the local community have to come from within the community itself, though they admitted that a ‘foreign’ presence was always attractive at first. The interested people from a village have been trained in ICTs or other programmes, and they have been used as the link with the community for future interactions.

Even with these initiatives the telecentres aren’t exactly flooded with people. A lot still has to be achieved. Towards the end of my visit, I asked a TARA member, as to whether or not he felt they were successful, and he said, maybe it is true that they have not been able to reach out to all the people as of now, but he knew for sure that for the generation ahead, a new path had been created.

SWAN - KC in every village

The TRAI, DoT and DIT along with various industry players as well as NGOs have time and again outlined the importance of ICT reaching the rural India. Wi-Fi and WiMax have been touted as the future.
Though having a KC in every village seems fine, I am still pro-mobiles for communication. This doesn't really mean that we take a step back and do not endorse the new technology, but I have certain issues with the whole WiMax is the thing strategy.

1. Before bringing in KCs with computers, literacy rates need to be determined, even if some people are computer-literate, does this not mean that again, we bring a different inequality in the community set-up. It may be said that people can be taught, but till that education-gap is not filled in, do we keep the plans on hold? Most projects in the country have a deadline of say 2007/8, is that enough?

2. A mobile phone is much cheaper compared to a computer still.

3. The shop-round-the-corner has not been replaced by the E-shop even in the cities, for rural India then, what exactly are they looking at? What is the effective utility of a KC for a villager?

4. Wi-Fi and WiMax in rural sectors will be be high profit ventures and will either be started by the government or some NGO, so what is the financial viability of these projects, how do they sustain?

5. Now if the govt. or say one single organisation brings in this kind of a project in various villages, are they not in effect reverting back to a monopoly?

These are just a few issues, many more will follow. I am not against ICT reaching the villages, but I guess its time where the Indian ICT industry for once, makes a policy first and then implements it, not the vice versa as has been the case esp in the whole de-regularization process.

Middle-class

Recently while writing my report, I used the term middle-class in India, matter-of-factly and my prof wanted to know how do I exactly define my Indian middle-class.

I am not an economist, so had to look up for a valid definition and this is what I found-

By its conventional definition, the middle class includes families whose incomes lie between 75% and 125% of the median income (GDP $1000 per yr). Families with monthly incomes over Rs.6000 are thus above the 'middle class' line, and families earning more than Rs.8000 or 9000 a month are certainly among the top fifth of the nation. Still, among the urban salaried class that constitutes most of the audience for media outlets, many believe themselves to be members of the middle class.- India together, August 2003

Even if the GDP would be different now in 2006, it does seem like most "middle" class people I have been speaking to aren't really that then! We are used to the term maybe, even in love with it. Euphemism for the fat(or even health conscious) lala(or lallis(?)) of the present world?

Meher Baba

It’s ironic that of all people, it was Paul who told me about him.
Born as Merwari Sheriar Irani in Poona, into a Parsi family he attended the Christian High School and Deccan College.
His masters in his spiritual awakening were Hazrat Babajan, Shirdi Sai Baba and Upasni Maharaj. In the 1920s he found a spiritual community in Ahmednagar which supported schools, hospitals and public service projects. He came to be known among his disciples as Meher baba.
He visted the west for the first time in 1931 which led to the establishment of two places of pilgrimage- Meher Spiritual Center, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, U.S.A., and Avatar's Abode, near Brisbane, Australia.
In India he worked with the poor, lepers and the ‘masts’. He was well known in the West for the opposition to the use of LSD and other drugs to gain spiritual experiences.
Sometime in between he became silent and never uttered a word and then for 44 years he communicated by writing on an alphabet board and through hand gestures which also led to two important books, God Speaks and Discourses.
Baba said,

Solitude is a fount of healing which makes my life worth living. Talking is often a torment for me, and I need many days of silence to recover from the futility of words.
~Letter, May 30, 1957.

He left his body in 1969, and his Samadhi lies in Ahmednagar. It is said that for a period of 100 years entering his Samadhi will be equal to meeting him in person. He said that after 70 years his Samadhi will be the most frequented place of pilgrimage in the world.

Facts which did shock!

1. The decadal growth rate of Maharashtra was way above the national growth rate. This despite the fact that the literacy rate of the state is nearly 10% more than the national average.

2. The decadal growth of the Pimpri-Chinchwad region was 95% from 1991-2001.

3. The sex ratio in Maharahtra is also below the national average.

4. In the state 69% females are illiterate.

5. The SC/ST sex ratio is way higher than the state as a whole.

6. Pune has 40% or above people living in slums

7. Pune has the highest per capita income in India and also the least disparity between rich and poor.

Some of these findings on the first read seem contradictory, to be honest.

Here we are, again...

They did say that the best American movies have been made my non-americans, and keeping that in mind, I am embarking upon a journey to re-look a city. Put the missing pieces together. (Re)Live the years spent, associate memories, make new ones, and probably figure out what is it about the place that keeps me getting back to it!

This shall also be a platform to discuss what's new and happening in the city, and where it is headed.