Background

The project of setting up Community Information Centres (CICs) in Sikkim was launched by the Government of India in September 2000. Of a total of 487 such centres in the North Eastern Region of India, Sikkim was allotted 40 centres. A CIC is essentially a computer centre, equipped with six computers (server plusfive client machines), printers (one laser and one dot matrix), a generator, and a direct satellite link for accessing the Internet. Two computer operators/instructors have been posted at each centre. The CICs have been set up with a view to spread ICT awareness among the people both at rural and urban level. The intention is to bridge the gap between the connected elite and the non–connected masses. The 40 CICs in Sikkim have been spread over Sikkim at altitudes as low as almost sea level and as high as 10,000 ft above sea level. The users are also equally diverse – from yak herders to the urban elite. 
    
Objectives and Goals

The main objective is to spread the use of computers in various aspects of daily life, to promote the use of the Internet and for rural people to participate equally in the modern world. Through CICs, the rural people can download forms (e.g. birth certificates, employment cards, etc.) and obtain prices of agricultural commodities in different markets which, in turn, can provide financial benefit to farmers.

These are the services provided by the CICs:

• Web access and Internet services such as e-mail
• Market access and e-commerce
• Access to socio-economic databases
• e-Learning (Computer Aided Learning Processes) and e-education
• e-Medicine, e-consulting
• e-Governance applications, government to citizen (citizen centric) services
• Weather information
• IT awareness among local people
• Computer training programmes
• Tender notification 
• E-employment notification

Planning

It is proposed to use the CICs for e-edutainment in the future. A number of channels could be telecast through the VSAT based network, as TVs with other associated infrastructure are already available at the CICs. Other future prospects are the provision of connectivity to schools, hospitals and post offices in major habitats.

Services Provided

Basic services provided by CICs include Internet access and e-mail, document printing, data entry and word processing and training for the local populace. In addition, several citizen-centric or Government to Citizen (G2C) services are provided. Some services include Birth and Death Registration Service Facilitation Centre (e-Suvidha) for different types of certificates issued by Block and District administrations such as marriage certificates, etc. Similarly, agriculture prices and other agricultural market information are also provided to farmers, which enable them to buy and sell good without being exploited by the middlemen in the mandis and bazaars. The CICs also provide useful information on educational and employment opportunities. Several application forms for old age pensions, employment cards, driving licenses, ration cards, etc., can also be downloaded from the centres.
 
Target Group and Intended Beneficiaries

The primary target groups in Sikkim are the villagers staying in remote and hilly terrain of the North-Eastern area. One kiosk has been created at every block headquarter and it caters to all the villagers in that block.

Institutional Arrangements

It was decided by the IT Department that the day-to-day running of each CIC would be handed over to a committee consisting of the local Panchayat president, or school principal or Rural Development Agency Director, as one member plus one CIC operator. However, the physical maintenance of equipment would be done by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the disbursement of salaries by the IT Department.

Technologies

Each CIC is well- equipped with equipment, including one server machine, five client systems, one each of a VSAT, laser printer, dot matrix printer, modem, LAN hub, TV, Webcam and two UPSs (1KVA, 2 KVA). Each CIC has two CIC Operators (CICOs) for manage the centre and provide services to the public. The project is a joint effort by the Department of Information Technology (DIT) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), the NIC and the state governments of the North-Eastern states.

Primary Access Points

The primary access points are the kiosks (CICs) created at each block headquarter, catering to around 50-100 villages.

Capacity Building

Since first opening in Yuksam, the CIC has seen the successful completion of the Basic Computer Awareness Training Programme for the first 10 batches of trainees and there has been an increasing number of interested persons. More than 80 persons have been trained over the last three months. The trainees included  25 students, 10 housewives, 15 farmers, 18 teachers, and eight  Panchayati representatives. The trainees were in an age group ranging from 10 to 78 years, including school children, college students, NGO members, secondary and pre-school teachers, nurses, doctors, ration shop owners, forest guards, farmers, radio mechanics, barbers, pan shop owners, tourist guides, porters, hoteliers, hotel receptionists and others. The CIC also took special care in conducting lessons for the less educated local people.

Constraints and Implementation Challenges

The project has been implemented in the most difficult hilly terrain of India, in an area that is predominately inhabited by tribal communities. The geographical condition of the area is such that one CIC in one block (catering to 50-100 villages) is quite far away from the houses of most of the villagers. The level of computerization and database development in north-eastern states of India is in a poor state, making it difficult to implement the project. CIC managers are government servants or volunteers paid a monthly honorarium. This has resulted in a lack of enterprise at the kiosk (CIC) level. Heavy capital investments in the CICs and the network have caused increased inputs into maintenance and management of the technology. It has become very difficult to maintain the equipment in far flung areas. Most services provided in the project are not considered essential or useful by most villagers. A lack of IT skilled manpower in these areas has also been a major stumbling block in percolating the technology and its impact donw to the communities.

Project Outcomes

GoI has invested a huge sum of money in this high-cost project, which has been a dismal failure in attaining its objectives and goals. Most of the CICs are equipped with high-end technology equipment and hardware. But its utilization is sub-optimal. Only a handful of users come to the kiosks which indicates the poor outcomes of the project. The manning of CICs by government servants or volunteers has resulted in poor customer satisfaction. The problem in the maintenance of the equipment has caused many CICs to remain closed for weeks.

Key Lessons Learnt

High capital investment in equipment -- hardware, software and networking solutions -- is not likely to lead to a sustainable ICT project. Another key lesson learnt is that without community involvement and participation, no government intervention can help in alleviating poverty and providing efficient governance through the use of ICT. The kiosks can be operated more efficiently by entrepreneurs working on a profit-sharing basis. It is also important to create services that are considered essential, or useful, by the community, otherwise the usage may turn out to be a disappointment. Providing Internet access at kiosks does not necessarily mean that the community will become well equipped to handle and use Internet facilities.

Sustainability

Many of the operational CICs charge nominal amounts from users for services which helps them to meet day-to-day running expenses for consumables, stationery, fuel for the Genset, etc. The DIT/NIC will continue to provide manpower support to the CICs for five years and the NIC will provide technical and maintenance support for this period. They will continue to provide satellite connectivity after five years. The CICs will then be handed over to the respective state governments. The private sector may collaborate with government for effective service delivery. Substantive revenue generation has been partly achieved by many CICs such as Golaghat, Assam and Gangtok, Sikkim, which pay the salaries of the operators from their revenue.

Replication and Scaling Up

The project is to be replicated and implemented in all the blocks of all seven North-eastern states of India. But this scaling up will be done by funds provided by GoI. As the project is not sustainable or economically feasible, the chances of its replicability in any other parts of India are remote.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the project should focus more on the community and less on technology. It would be better if the management of the project is taken away from the NIC and given to some local body or a voluntary organization. More CIC activities should be taken up by the communities in order to improve community involvement and participation in the project. It is recommended that, in the operation of CICs, government servants should be replaced by volunteers engaged from within the community who work on a profit sharing basis . It is also important to create more locally relevant content. It is suggested that the usage of the CICs would improve if low cost training sessions on computers and ICT are provided. It is also recommended that users be charged for all services.

Human Interest Stories

"I Couldn’t Find the Revenue Official, but Got Land Records from the Kiosk"

The owner of a petrol pump, Parmanand Modi, wanted a copy of land records of his petrol pump land to get a bank loan. He searched for the patwari and could not locate him for three days. The bankers were insisting on filing the application in time so that the loan could be sanctioned before the end of the financial year. Parmanand’s employee went to the kiosk and asked the kiosk manager whether the land records of the petrol pump were stored in the computer. The kiosk manger took Rs 25 and gave him copies of the records. Parmanand confirmed with the branch manager that the copies of the records from the CIC were acceptable at the bank. Later, the timely submission of the application resulted in the sanction of his loan.