INFO-VILLAGE: Wheat Man's Infonet

Knowledge-of crop prices, weather's behavior, oceanic movement, etc.-is
scarce in villages. The same is true for the

farmers and fishermen of Tamil Nadu. In the late 90s, Prof MS Swaminathan, the
septuagenarian plant geneticist whom the

United Nations Environment Program once described as 'the sather of economic
ecology,' took upon himself the task of setting up an information delivery
system for some villages.

Earlier, in the 60s, he was instrumental in pulling the country out of a
famine crisis and eventually making her self-sufficient in food grains
production. But for his breakthrough research on high-yield wheat, the Green
Revolution would not have been possible.

So when the prof. set up the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) at
Chennai with a seed money of $200,000 (coming from the General Foods World Food
Prize he won in 1987), he raised hope in the hearts of many.

According to a paper published by MSSRF, a group of ten villages in
Pondicherry were connected to each other and the Internet at one point of time.

"Internet connectivity is provided by dialup lines while locals produce
the content. All this is conducted through a village center that's the central
point for villagers."

"The kind of information provided in the village knowledge centers is
specific to the needs of the rural community. It covers the prices of
agricultural inputs (such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides) and outputs (rice,
vegetables), market (potential for export), entitlement (the multitude of
schemes of the central and state governments, banks)."

"Other local information covered is health care (availability of doctors
and paramedics in nearby hospitals, women's diseases), cattle diseases,
transport (road conditions, cancellation of bus trips) and weather (appropriate
time for sowing, areas of abundant fish catch, wave heights in the sea)."

"For example, weather information like wave heights and wind directions,
so crucial to the fishing and farming communities in this coastal area, are
downloaded by the project staff from a US Navy website. This is then translated
into Tamil and broadcast over the public address system."

"All activities were preceded by a set of detailed surveys of the region
(14 villages with a total population of 22,000) for incidence of poverty, status
of literacy and education, and the state of telecom infrastructure."

"A separate survey was carried out with about 10 percent of the resident
population to identify existing communication habits and channels of information
flow. These surveys revealed the gaps and the local availability of skills to
bridge them. A good picture of the rating of various information sources by the
rural families was also generated."

The efforts of the foundation were recognized when IVRF won the Stockholm
Award in 2001—02 under the Global Village category.

Deepak Kumar

Tech Help

Instances where local residents have derived benefits from the use of data
and information derived from the Info Village network:

1. A fishing hamlet receives information on wave heights, downloaded
twice daily from the US Naval Oceanographic laboratory

2. According to 121 farmers who were interviewed in 2000, price
information related to grain sales was the most important benefit as it helped
them negotiate better prices with middlemen

3. Largest number of users found govt. sector data most useful; at
least 147 individuals reported deriving benefits from housing schemes

4. More than 150 landless women were able to avail farm labor
insurance

5. At least 2,100 students could download school examination results
and marksheets from the Web in a span of two years

6. Made it easier to contact medical practitioners and veterinarians;
the local databases proving to be specific and useful

Source:www.mssrf.org

When the Net Helps Catch Fish...

Today fishermen at Perikalapet, near Pondicherry can drag their boat into the
Bay of Bengal without the fear of encountering an unexpected storm. Thanks to MS
Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), which came up with a solution for
allaying the apprehensions of the fishermen who venture into the restless sea.

The
fishermen can now navigate into the sea with complete know-how as to how high or
low the waves will be, whether there will be any tricky currents and, above all,
the potential zones of fish aggregation. This is part of the Info Village
project started by MSSRF, which connects 10 villages near Pondicherry by
hybrid-wired and wireless network consisting of PCs, telephones, VHF duplex
radio devices, and email connectivity through dial-up telephone lines that
facilitate both voice and data transfer. This has enabled the villagers to get
information that they need, and use it to improve their lot.

The Info Villages uses two technologies, VHF and spread spectrum, to
establish connection between the knowledge centers, which are small hubs housing
wireless sets fitted computers. The villagers use these centers to access
required information through the Internet.

Info Village is a fusion of traditional and modern technologies, especially
when it comes to transmitting information to the fishermen. MSSRF downloads the
images of the waves and wind direction from the US Navy website, cuts it to the
Pondicherry part and makes the announcements using public announcement systems.

This was a pilot project running in Veerampattinam and Nallavadu, both
coastal villages with 98 percent of the families involved in fishing. "We
have now adopted a third village, Perikalapet, to disseminate the required
information for the population of this place using ICT. Initially, we used to
paste the weather report at every knowledge center. But since fishermen ventured
into the sea late at night, we made use of the loudspeakers to keep them updated
about the sea reports," said S Senthilkumaran, associate director
(informatics division), MSSRF.

Besides, in association with Indian National Center for Ocean Information
Services (INCOIS), MSSRF has also set up an electronic board in Veerampatinam.
The board will inform fishermen about oceanic fronts, meandering patterns,
eddies, rings, and up-welling areas that are proven to be prospective areas for
fish aggregation. The information from electronic board placed in Veerampatinam
is wirelessly transformed to Nallavadu, using the spread spectrum technology.

Nisha Kurian / CyberMedia News