Background

The Gyandoot intranet community network was conceptualized on 1 January 2000, and installed and made operational within less than two months in the tribal dominated, poverty-stricken Dhar district in the Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Gyandoot in Hindi means "purveyor of knowledge". The four pillars on which the Gyandoot community network was established were People, Content, Services and Server

Objectives and Goals

• To ensure equal access to emerging technologies for marginalized segments of the society.
• To create a cost-effective, replicable, economically self-reliant and financially viable model for taking the benefits of IT to the rural masses.
• To implement a new grass-roots entrepreneurial model with the participation of groups of non-traditional entrepreneurs.
• To provide self-employment through entrepreneurship to local rural youth.
• To improve the quality, speed and sensitivity of the state delivery apparatus towards the needs of local citizen-customers.
• To impact IT on the government-citizen interfaces as the thrust area, so that the benefits of the knowledge economy directly reach the marginalized have-nots and know-nots.
• To search for the potential of rural markets in the digital domain.
• To analyze the processes and modalities involved in the socio-cultural environment while taking technology to the deprived communities.

Planning

The Gyandoot project was planned using finances from the community as well as from private enterprises. The database and the server were kept at the District council office. It was decided to create an intranet network with dial-up modem connectivity to rural kiosks. The selection of services to be provided on the network was decided on the basis of a participatory rural appraisal. The kiosks and telephone connections were selected at prominent places in the villages. The procurement of hardware was done by the village community and the managers for the kiosks were selected from the community, to work on a profit-sharing basis.

Services Provided

It was decided at the outset after consultation with the villagers to provide all the proposed facilities in the local language (Hindi). Software, eventually developed and installed for the network, was user-friendly and menu-driven at the client end. Initially, the network offered five services. Within a few months of its installation, the network was offering 22 services including rates of agriculture produce, land records, grievance redressal, Hindi e-mail, rural matrimonial services, rural e-market, application for caste/residence/income certificates, information regarding government programmes and schemes, etc. Later, educational, health and commercial services were added.

Target Group and Intended Beneficiaries

The intranet covered five out of 13 Blocks (geographical administrative units for development work) in the district. Forty kiosks cater to inhabitants staying within a radius of 5 km from each of these kiosks. The network provided an access to the kiosk to inhabitants of 550 villages with a total of half a million population.

Institutional Arrangements

The community network is owned by the District Council and the kiosks are managed by Village Councils. A project manager maintains the database and the server room in the District Council. He is supported by four assistant managers, who are government servants. The kiosk managers are village volunteers, who were selected by the community and who manage the kiosk on a profit sharing basis. Various departments of the state government provide logistical support and databases for the network.

Technologies

Initially, dial-up telephone connectivity through modems was used as the media for communication. It was decided to use Pentium III computers available in the District Council as RAS. The RAS was a P III 450 MHz CPU with 128 MB SDRAM-ECC, 2 X 9 ultra SCSI Hhrd disks, 2 MB Graphic Controller Card, 15” colour monitor 48 X CD-ROM. A CD writer and diesel generator were procured for the server room. Five telephone lines dedicated to the server room were installed. Besides the software, which was specifically designed for the intranet, the branded software products and platforms which were used included Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Windows NT Server, Microsoft Windows 98 Operating System, Visual Basic, Java Development Kit, and Microsoft Access, C-DACs ISM fonts.

Wireless in Local Loop (WiLL) was introduced in the network as the backbone media in May 2001. The network used CorDECT, which is a WiLL technology developed by TeNeT group, Chennai. Based on the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications standard specified by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), CorDECT WiLL provides cost-effective, simultaneous high-quality voice and data connectivity in both urban and rural areas. This technology provides voice communication using 35  Kbps and Internet connectivity at 35/70 kbps.

Primary Access Points

Initially, 21 community-owned client sites/nodes working as rural cyber cafe and cyber offices were established in 21 remote villages. Later, 19 privately-owned kiosks were added to the network.

Capacity Building

The project manager selected to take care of the management of the network is a professional IT expert. Four assistant mangers are provided training in networking and database management. Three-day training was organized for all the kiosk managers manning the kiosks. All the head of the departments were given two-day computer training courses.

Constraints and Implementation Challenges

The biggest stumbling block in the creation of a community network were the bureaucratic procedures in the state sector. The resistance from different departments of the state government was a major stumbling block. Though it was easy to convince the District Councils to provide funds for the server room and the Village Councils to provide funds for the rural kiosks, it was difficult to standardize the databases in different departments and to convince their staff to upgrade and update the databases. Power cuts in rural areas also hinder the usage of the kiosks. Telephone connectivity in rural areas is poor and that has resulted in unstable and unreliable Internet connectivity. Existing laws, rules and regulations also created obstacles in the implementation of the project. Interdepartmental coordination, database management and streamlining departmental procedures became important implementation challenges.

Project Outcomes

The network has been described as a path-breaking e-governance and community network project. It has not only been effectively used for community participation in planning, execution and management but it has also created a new thinking regarding private and community funding in the establishment of community networks in India. It has been successfully proven as a viable business model. The network also established the acceptability of user charges by the villagers, functionality of Community Information Centres (CICs) and the operational viability of WiLL technology. There were some pitfalls. The computerization of land records took almost two years to become fully functional on the network. The major hindrances remained the management of government functionaries at the grassroots and lack of technical backup. The e-health services were marred due to poor support from the health department. The Web-based and intranet services could not be integrated. The network has been replicated in 30 districts in India. 

Gyandoot has won the prestigious Stockholm Challenge Award, 2000 and CSI National Award for Best IT Usage in India, 2000. The network has been adjudged a best practice by the UNDP, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Time Magazine, World Economic Forum, the Government of India and the Planning Commission of India.

Key Lessons Learnt

Rapid rural appraisal and participatory rural appraisal provided the necessary inputs for the effective implementation of a community networking project. Intranet networking is a better medium for community networking, especially in rural areas where connectivity is sub-optimal or poor. Profit sharing between community institutions like Village Councils and private entrepreneurs has proven to be an effective symbiotic relationship. User charges are easily paid by the poorest of the community and such user charges are an effective means of making the network financially sustainable. Students and the educated youth are the foremost users of the services.

Sustainability

The Gyandoot project was initiated with investments from the community and private entrepreneurs. The project was managed by the community with the help of private entrepreneurs. User charges are utilized in managing the kiosks and they provide remuneration to the kiosk managers. The burden of managing the kiosk is neither on the community nor the government. The project has been designed in such a fashion that its financial viability is ensured. The expansion of the project through increases in services, increases in the number of kiosks and the introduction of WiLL technology have also improved its sustainability.

Replication and Scaling Up

Gyandoot has been replicated in 33 districts in Madhya Pradesh and 12 districts in other parts of India. The network has been already replicated in numerous districts such as Balaghat, Bhind, Panna, Ratlam, Khandwa, Khargone, Badwani, Ujjain, Mandla, Jhabua, Dewas (all in Madhya Pradesh), Hisar, Sirsa (Haryana), Hamirpur (Himachal Pradesh), and Godhra, Surat (Gujarat). UNDP has sanctioned six projects on the line of Gyandoot in India.

Recommendations

The land record database is huge and is not properly maintained. It is recommended that land record databases be maintained and managed, the village maps be digitized and more useful services be introduced on the network. It is also recommended that the local telephony from the kiosks be improved, as WiLL technology has been introduced in the network. Liaison with the telecommunication department to improve the Internet connectivity in the rural kiosks will be a good idea. e-Payment services of the numerous government fees can be implemented so that citizens can deposit their electricity, telephone, water, property fees, etc., at a single kiosk. It is better for the sustainability of the project that more services are added on the network based on feedback from the villagers. It is also recommended that all the district servers be networked and integrated with the state level server node.

Human Interest Stories

"My Information Tool for My Small Business"

Lalita Bai used to sell vegetables on the roadside in Dehri Sarai village, a few hundred metres away from the kiosk. She purchased potatoes, onions and garlic in wholesale from a trader within the village. She used to see the wholesale trader visit the information kiosk quite often. One day, by chance, she overheard him talk about the availability of cheaper goods in Indore, Dahod and Surat. Simply out of curiosity, she went to the kiosk herself. She saw a young boy sitting in front of some machines. She gathered her wits and with a lot of hesitation asked the boy what he was doing. She asked him to give her the same information about potatoes, onion and garlic, which the wholesale dealer had taken. She discovered that she had been paying extra unnecessarily to the wholesale dealer. She took a decision immediately and, the very next day, boarded the bus to Indore. She bought a fortnight’s stock at a cheaper rate. Ever since, she has been visiting Indore or Dhar, depending upon the prevailing rates, once every fortnight. She has realized the benefits of information, which was available at Rs 5. She shared this information with her fellow vegetable vendors too.

"Now, Caste Certificates Get Done in Time"

Shankarlal, son of Ambaram Malviya, resident of Dehri Sarai village, wanted a caste certificate urgently. He would not get a scholarship until he submitted the certificate. Malviya walked into the kiosk in his village and asked the soochak to forward his application for a caste certificate. The enclosures submitted by him along with the certificate at the soochanalaya were sufficient. He had planned to come back for more information on it after a fortnight but was pleasantly surprised, and very thankful, when the soochak came to his house after six days. He told him that the revenue department had informed him by e-mail that his certificate was ready and that he could pick it up from Dhar. He went to the tahsil office and collected the caste certificate. His son's school headmaster was surprised by the quick submission of the certificate. Shankarlal spread the word regarding the easy and less cumbersome mode of acquiring caste certificates among his friends.

Contact Information

District Collectorate, Dhar
Chief Executive officer, Zila Panchayats

Email: gyandoot@hotmail.com