Milk Collection Centers, Anand (Gujarat)
In more than 1,000 milk collection centers in Anand district of Gujarat, women take the milk to a weighbridge, the fat quantity assessed and the payment immediately calculated. Middlemen have been effectively sidelined. The project has been selected for the study as it has effected huge population of women socially and economically.

Gyandoot, Dhar (Madhya Pradesh)
Started as comprehensive community network in Dhar district with 44 CIC’s. More than 24 public services provided on user charge basis. All kiosks community financed or privately owned. Wireless in Local Loop technology has also been used. Operational for last three years and has been replicated in more than 30 districts in India. The path-breaking project has been universally recognized as community based initiative with unique Public-Private partnership.

Bhoomi Project, Bangalore (Karnataka)
Department of Karnataka has computerized 20 million records of land ownership of 6.7 million farmers of the state. Each record is available online from 177 taluk kiosks at a cost of Rs. 15 per record. It has been selected for the research study as the economically sustainable project happens to be the most successful ICT project based on Land Records in the country.

Warna Wired Village Project, Kolhapur (Maharashtra)
Seventy villages in Kohapur and Sangli district of Mahrashtra have been linked through a WAN using dial up connectivity and VSAT. Provide benefits to members of sugar cooperative and other villagers. More than 12 public services have been introduced. Started four years back with GOI, GOM and sugar cooperative sharing cost of the project in a proportion 50:45:5. The project, though already studied in great depth, has been selected for this study as it happens to be the pioneer wired village project in India.

Infovillage/MSSRF, Pondicherry (Pondicherry)
MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, with the support of IDRC Canada, in the year 1998, connected 10 villages near Pondicherry by a hybrid wire and wireless network. The network provides public services in local language in a multimedia fashion. It also provides relevant information regarding fish density in ocean to fishermen community. The tele-centers function more like public libraries and information centers. The project has been seleted for the study due to its innovative use of wireless technology for empowerment of the community.

Community Information Centers, Itanagar/Aizwal/Imphal/Gangtok (Arunachal Pradesh/ Mizoram/Meghalaya/Sikkim)
Ambitious project started by DOIT with technical support of NIC. Pilot started in thirty blocks of NE states two years back. All 487 blocks (in 79 districts) of NE states including Sikkim have been covered with one tele-center each. Besides providing ICT infrastructure at block level, these kiosks provide e-governance, e-health, e-education and e-business opportunities. The project finds its place in the short listed project list as it has been implemented by GOI with the help of NIC in poverty stricken North-Eastern region of the country.

Tarahaat.com, Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh)
Started by Development Alternative (with the help of a dozen project partners) in four districts of North India as a business model essentially to cater to the unserved rural markets. The user-friendly software provides services like Tarabazaar, Taravan, Taraguru, Taradhaba, Tarareporter, Taradak, Taravendor and Taracard. Provides connectivity to the franchisee kiosks through C-band satellite, VSAT or dial-up modem, according to the infrastructure availability. The project has been considered as the first Private Sector initiative in India based on Business Model Approach.

E-Chaupal, Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh)
It is a unique web-based initiative of ITC’s international Business Division in Central India and caters to Soya growers regarding all information, products and services required in Soya farming. The Soya kiosks facilitate supply of high quality farm inputs and purchase of Soya at the doorsteps of the villagers. The project has started 23 tele-centers in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh and has around 600 kiosks in Central India. The project has been selected for the study as the huge private sector investment in e-chaupal has revolutionized Agricultural Commodity Marketing in India.

Tamil Nilam Touch Screen Project, Chennai (Tamil Nadu)
It is an important e-governance initiative of govt. of Tamil Nadu in all 206 taluks. Tele centers have touch screen kiosks with laser printers. Provide dozen public services. It is operational for a year. The project has been selected as it uses touch screen kiosks for e-governance and empowerment.

Samaikya Agritech Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)
The Samaikya Agritech Pvt. Ltd runs 18 tele-centers in five ditricts of Andhra Pradesh. Farmers register to the center at the cost of Rs. 150 per cropping season. The farmers in return get technical inputs and know-how for the crop. The private sector initiative has been selected as it tries use cooperative structure with financial viability.

FRIENDS, Thiruvananthpuram (Kerala)
(Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient, Network and Disbursement of Services). One-stop service centers having twenty high-speed computers. Public services including online payments of numerous government dues services are available. It has been launched in 15 districts headquarters of the state. The state government has started two new programmes after the success of the project- Akshaya and E-Shringla.

Mahiti Shakti, Panchmahal (Gujarat)
About 80 tele-centers have been set up in Panchmahal district. These tele-centers have been designed to cater to all the information needs of villagers. The network provides more than 200 online forms of different government schemes. It provides updated sanctions form District Rural Development Agency and District Planning Board. It also provides GIS too. The information is available in local language (Gujarati). It is operational for last two years. The project has been selected as it has tried to convert existing STD booths into tele-centers.

CARD, Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)
Computer-aided Administration of Registration Department. 214 registration offices have been completely computerized since 1998. Also provide encumberance certificates and valuation certificates. Time taken for the service is less than 15 minutes. More than one million documents have been registered in CARD in last four years. It is considered to be one of the most successful use of ICT in governance in India.

Causelists and Online Judgement Information Systems, New Delhi (Delhi)
NIC started COURTIS in 1990, COURTNIC in 1993 and JUDIS in 1995. Presently, cause lists, order indexing and compilation of judicial orders from Supreme Court and High Courts are available online. The project has been selected as it happens to herald the start of E-courts in India.

Janmitra, Jhalawar (Rajasthan)
The project has been sanctioned by UNDP, along with four other districts and has been implemented with the help of district administration Jhalawar, department of IT and RAJCOMP. The rural intranet provides e-governance, e-education, e-health and e-commerce services to the people through Community Information Centers. The project has been selected as the community network has been started recently.

SEWA: Use of Satellite Communication for training and credit, Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
Self Employed Women’s Association, most comprehensive NGO functioning in India in the field of women’s empowerment since 1974, uses satellite communication for the purpose of training and credit mobilization in the state of Gujarat. It effectively uses new technology for development and strengthening of women SHG’s. The project has been selected as it uses satellite communication for the purpose of empowerment of women.

S.K.S. Smart Card, MEDHAK (Andhra Pradesh)
Swayam Krishi Sangam Smart Card initiative involves innovative use of hand held devices and smart cards. It uses these new technologies for the betterment of MFI’s thereby empowering communities and improving micro-credit systems in cooperative movement.

N-Logue Tele-centers Project, Madurai (Tamilnadu)
Commercial offshoot of Indian Institute of Technology, N-Logue, has pioneered Wireless in Local Loop Technology. In Madurai district of Tamilnadu, 30 tele-centers have been created which provide villagers links to Doctors from Madurai Medical College. Besides telemedicine, numerous other web based services are also provided to the villagers.

Drishtee Tele-centers, Jaipur (Rajasthan)
Drishtee is a unique socio-technological effort towards creating an information backbone in rural India. Drishtee has already established more than 200 tele-centers in seven Indian states. The organization envisages to open 50,000 information kiosks in next six years. The services are provided from the kiosks through user-friendly software. The project has been selected for its business model at Public-Private Partnership.

Deccan Development Society Community Radio, Medhak (Andhra Pradesh)
Deccan Development Society has started India’s first Community Radio network in Medhak district in Andhra Pradesh. It uses the low cost technology towards empowerment of the impoverished communities.