Pioneering Projects

1 Gujarat

National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is using information technology inmilk co-operatives to measure butterfat content of milk, test the quality ofmilk, and promptly make payment to the farmers. It has resulted in the removalof incentives to cut the milk by adding water, reduced time for payments from 10days to less than five minutes, and instilled confidence in farmers in theco-operative set-up.

2 Maharshtra

In Warana, a village in Maharashtra, National Informatics Centre launched aproject last year called Warana Wired Village Project covering 70 villagesaround the river Warana. The co-operative structure was used in concert withstate-of-the-art infrastructure (notably high-speed VSATs) to allow Internetaccess to existing co-operative societies. The project aims to provideagricultural, medical, and education information to villagers by establishingnetworked "facilitation booths" in the villages.

3 Madhya Pradesh

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) carried out a pilot project calledthe Jhabua Development Communications Project in the predominantly tribaldistrict of Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh using satellite-based network for ruraldevelopment. The major applications of the network were for training extensionstaff from various departments of the state governments. In addition, a largenumber of women, Panchayati Raj elected officials, primary school teachers, andchild development workers spread over large distances were trained. It usedone-way video and two-way audio for the purpose.

4 Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh state’s now famous Information Infrastructure plans,particularly the AP State Wide Area Network (APSWAN) is another example ofapplication of technology for common man, this time initiated by the Government.This network would link the state government's Secretariat with 23 districtheadquarters, serving as the backbone for "multi-services" (voice,video, and data) that would be used for improved co-ordination between stateheadquarters and district offices in managing various regulatory, developmental,and hazard mitigation programmes of the state government. Mandals will be servedby this two-way communication, and e-commerce applications will be developed.Andhra Pradesh also plans a Value Added Network Services project, which hopes todeliver a variety of public services through a large network of informationkiosks. The state government, impatient with the pace of building of terrestrialnetworks by the central government (Sankhya Vahini) and the private operatorshas gone ahead in signing a deal with a Malaysian satellite service provider tobuild a network that will connect most parts of the state. Satellite, can reachanywhere in a short time.

5 Maharshtra

Maharashtra Government has implemented of a GIS-based Disaster ManagementInformation System (DMIS). The DMIS has been designed to ensure better resourcemobilization, faster decision-making, cost reduction, and effective use ofcommon information that in principal should be shared among departments. Thedata communication network and the data provided in the central database wouldbe available for a number of purposes besides disaster management.

6 Pondichery

This was a project that took technology to the masses. Prof. MS Swaminathanthrough his MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) along with support fromthe International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, commenced on thisproject in 1998 in Pondichery with a MoU between MSSRF & V Link, a Chennai-basedcompany. They used radio as the communication medium. Motorola Radios GM30025W/12.5 KHz and GP300 were chosen with retrofit two-way radio. The projectoffice at Villianur, is connected through full duplex wireless link usingMotorola GM300 to six-satellite centres up to 10 to 15 kms away. It allowssimultaneous data and voice transmission allowing people to stay in touch. Therural populace now goes to a solar-powered village computer centre for localnews on weather, marketing/price info, Government benefit schemes, entitlementdata, pest & disease info, fish density in the sea and movement direction,wave height, daily market price and public wireless telephone.