An "Intercom" Village

Villianur, a few kms from Pondichery, was just another smallcoastal village. With almost no communication infrastructure, it was isolatedfrom the outside knowledge that could make a positive impact on theiragriculture-based livelihood.

Prof. MS Swaminathan, one of the architects of India’sgreen revolution, took up the challenge through his MS Swaminathan ResearchFoundation (MSSRF). Ably supported by the International Development ResearchCentre (IDRC), Canada, the project began in 1998 with a MoU between MSSRF &V Link, a Chennai-based company. They decided to use radio as the communicationmedium and chose Motorola Radios GM300 25W/12.5 KHz and GP300 with retrofittwo-way radio.

The project office at Villianur, is connected through fullduplex wireless link using Motorola GM300 to six-satellite centres up to 10 to15 kms away. This system allows simultaneous data and voice transmissionallowing people to stay in touch. Generic knowledge is transformed to becomeuseful in the local context. The value addition is through two dial-up accounts.The centre also functions as the hub of a local area network for data and voicetransmission covering the project villages. An EPABX, similar to the ones usedin offices for providing intercom facility, is the key instrument. Everylocation on the network, including the office at Villianur, is a node in this"intercom" network, which functions with VHF radio (full duplex)rather than copper wires as the medium of signal transmission. With the help ofregular modems, PCs can be connected to this network.

Through this project the rural residents without phone (ittakes three-to-five years wait for standard telephone lines) can go tosolar-powered village computer centre, for local news about the weather reports,marketing/price info, Govt. benefit schemes, entitlement data, pest &disease info. Fish density in the sea and movement direction, wave heights,daily market price, public wireless telephone and so on.

During the first phase, the volunteers have been trained inall the basic operations of using a PC running MS Windows 95. They are alsofamiliar with dispatch/receipt of messages using MS Exchange, the optimalprotocol for use on the analog wireless network. In addition, they have beentrained in composing documents on MS Word 97 (using I-LEAP Tamil fonts and thekeyboard layout developed by C-DAC, Pune). Training in elementary maintenancesuch as defragmentation of hard disk has also been provided. A small number ofvolunteers, on their own, have picked up the use of HTML; the techniques ofrecording voice in "WAV" format and the compression of files using"Realaudio" for ease of transmission of voice as an e-mail attachment.The trainers were the project staff with occasional help provided by the staffof the Informatics Centre.

The info centre is run entirely by the local people for theirneeds. They have a capacity to absorb new technology. The aim was to supplyinformation that rural villagers regard as useful.

Information Requests

Over a six-month trail period, farmers requested dynamicinformation on the costs and availability of agricultural inputs such as seeds,fertilizer, and pesticides and on grain prices in different markets throughoutthe Pondichery area. The information was also of interest to female agriculturalworkers, who receive part of their wages in grain.

Women primarily used the centre to obtain information aboutfamily income supplements and public welfare schemes, low-cost insurance, andhealth issues–especially child bearing and rearing. They also accessed apreviously confidential government list of families eligible for low-incomeassistance. In one village, fishermen use US Navy ocean wave height forecasts,downloaded from the Internet to identify parts of the Bay of Bengal to avoid intheir small boats.

Over time, project volunteers in the villages have builttheir own databases. These locally generated information sources now includedetails of approximately:

• Government programmes for low-income rural families

• Local market prices for grain

• Local farming input prices

• A directory of insurance plans for both crops and families

• Pest management plans for rice and sugar cane

• A directory of local hospitals, medical practitioners and their specialities

• A regional timetable for buses and trains

• A directory of local veterinarians, cattle and animal husbandry programmes

Recently, a significant new dimension was added with thecommissioning of solar mains hybrid power systems in all the five centres. MSSRFhas seven years experience in operating the Informatics Centre with solarphotovoltaic system as the primary source of power. Based on this, the villageknowledge centres were also provided with solar-hybrid system as the primarysource of power. This is the first time that such systems have been installed inthe country. They have been designed and supplied by the Bharat Electronics Ltd(BEL). BEL and MSSRF are jointly involved in monitoring the performance of thesedevices, which provide backup power for a PC with a wireless transceiver andinkjet printer for up to five hours.

This project received attention both in India and abroad.

• It has been mentioned in detail in the 136th President Address at the US National Academy of Science (April ’99) by Prof. Albert

• The Human Development Report 1999 of UND refers to this as an example of Creative Project in addressing the global information divide.

• The Local State Govt. has agreed to provide finance for taking this facility to another 100 villages.

• IDRC has agreed to continue the project for another two years by expanding it to another eight villages.

• It has received Motorola Dispatch Solution Gold award for innovative use of two-way radios.