Information and communication technology in rural development : case studies from India

The case studies presented in this book spell out various applications of information and communication technology (ICT) that have made a difference in the delivery of services or products in rural areas in India. We intended to draw lessons from experiences in using ICT for rural development by requesting administrators who have piloted and implemented projects in various sectors in rural areas to describe both the opportunities and challenges in the diffusion of ICT. The book tries to look beyond the hype that accompanies discussions of the role and importance of ICT for rural development, which we have seen in industrialized countries as well as in political arenas in India.

A considerable number of ICT applications can be found in India at the district-level. These have been implemented and well documented since the 1970s. We were looking for applications where there was much greater contact with citizens at the Taluka level. As editors, we were presented with a wide range of possible papers for inclusion in the book, from what seemed to us to be futuristic Internet Web publishing to computer laboratories in schools. While we believe that increasing access to the Internet will have an impact on the delivery of social services to rural populations, we were reluctant to involve "what if" applications still in the design stage. We were also concerned that the applications were on-going for at least a six-month period so that some assessment of the impact could be made. Our call for papers for applications at the Taluka level meant that we were involved with several sectors, as well as with a wider spectrum of organizations, including NGOs involved in implementations, than had we confined ourselves to the district level, where the National Informatics Centre provides much if not all ICT development and support. Some of the papers were based on pilot projects-health, WARANA, village telephony. We realized that if we confined ourselves to large scale, successful implementations we would have missed out on some fascinating emerging applications. Nevertheless, all of the projects have born some fruit.