Module 5: Role of IT in the rural development

Role of information technology (IT) in rural areas, Impact of IT in rural development, Need and
necessity of technology, Corporate social responsibilities, Private sector participation (Activities
in different spheres: Employment, Education, Health, Agriculture and service sectors) and
Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY), Village adoption schemes.

Course Material

Topic 1: Role of information technology (IT) in rural areas

It is observed that most of the rural people are land worthy and sincere. But rural people
are in a position to learn higher education, predominantly computer education. One of the
important factor is no knowledge of English. Most of the private sector does not want to interest
on rural infrastructure development. Many NGO’s are working for the development of rural
population by introducing the IT in the rural areas. Besides news, entertainment and personal
communication educational material and other non-verbal electronic information should be
introduced in the rural areas.

IT may be an effective tool in agricultural growth. Information about quality needs,

pesticides, germicides measure, fertilizer can be given through advertisement channels, news
papers, internet etc. Water requirement, water availability, water usage information can be given.
Hence waste can be minimized.

Preparation of IMCD (Interactive Multimedia Compact Disc), Tamilnadu. IT Chennai is making

such doses and informing the formers about the forming techniques depend upon the soil type,
water usage etc.

Recommendations

1. Develop effective websites to enable rural youth to learn everything with a click of a
button.
2. Regular workshops and training for the rural youth.
3. NGO and Govt. should work hard in land to develop rural areas.
4. Authorities should make policies for the IT development in rural areas.

Topic 2: Impact of IT in rural development

Influence of ICT on rural development

 Agriculture
 Rural health
  Business
 Development
 Education

Positive impacts of ICT

1. Maintaining health profiles of rural areas

2. Improved agriculture
3. More educated/increased literacy
4. Employment
5. Infrastructure development

Negative impacts

1. Huge investment
2. Misuse of technology
3. Operational failure

Topic 3: Need and necessity of technology

Information Technology

 As a tool for increasing the agricultural productively

 As a tool to empower rural people

Using the remote sensing techniques, GIS and satellite images in predicting the soil moisture,
weather forecast etc.

IT is useful in the following areas of the rural community.

 Utilization of natural resources and protection of environmental

 Creating new livelihood opportunities
 Provision of facilities for health care
 Development of waste lands
 Conserving traditional water resources
 Argumentation of rain water harvesting structure
 Promotion of renewable energy resources

Main components of IT in rural development

 Role of IT in rural development

 Impacts of IT in rural development
  Need of necessity of technology
 Benefits of IT in rural development

Corporate and social responsibilities

Private sector participation in rural development – Health, Employment, Education , Agriculture

Village adoption schemes

Advantages of ICT

1. Teaching many people simultaneously

2. Overcome the geographic conditions
3. Overcome the social and literacy barriers
4. Providing the content repetitively
5. Storage of information
6. Capturing the content reality
7. Greater efficiency

Opportunities for ICT

 Convenient for Individual search through different sources

 Timely interaction without a barrier of distances
 Bottom of message
 Global reach

Technology for Rural Sectors

1. Optical fibers
2. Rural cordless telephones
3. Radio sharing system
4. Sharing systems

India’s ICT applications in rural development

Warana – wired village project – Maharashtra (village near Kolhapur)

Drishtee – Business provider for ICT in rural area (MP)

Sari – Sustainable access in rural India project Digital National consortium Harvard school. IIT
Madras and I-Gyan foundation

SKS – (AP) SKS micro (Bharat Financial Inclusion) funding for ICT
E-Choupal – ITC Ltd give solutions in Agriculture.

Cyber mohalla – opening cyber cafes in rural areas

Bhoomi – online registration of land records in Karnataka

E-Mitra – Govt. of Rajasthan district rural development authority (portal)

DDCMC – District development coordination and monitoring committee (ministry of RD)

Star – committee on agriculture structures and rural development.

e-setu – electro between people and the government G2C

E-Seva – Govt. of AP

Friends – Rural charitable trust (WHO)

Lokmitra/e-mitra

E-post – postal development (Postal life insurance) for socio-economic development.

Gramdoot – Rural housing from ministry of R&D

Dyandoot – Create knowledge on food security/rozgar/employment

Tarahaat – Rural entrepreneurship

Dhan – Development of human actions

Akshaya – Rural development scheme – Trivandrum

Honeybee – financial support for R&D

Praja – it is a welfare society (NGO) – Animal Husbandry, Health and nutrition

Topic 4: Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporates are operated in rural area for gaining profit but they are equally responsible towards
the society and its betterment. The current opportunity of huge funding in the form of social
investment by corporate houses under the new law a change can be made if proper investment
policy envisaged under UNO charter of “Millennium development goals” is adhered to. Social
investments in rural areas can be in the form of agricultural system advancement and related
livelihood; Community development etc. Agriculture which is the back bone of rural
development needs a lot of support to increase the farm income. Social investments in terms of
creating knowledge parks for updating the knowledge on improved agricultural practices and
cultivation of high value crops will enhance farm income and on-farm employment. The other
important area for social investments is to establish small scale industries and village based
industries which can employ major rural population in both in season and nonseason for boosting
the income. Social investments in the area of information and skill development will improve the
yields and profits with more rural livelihoods. Information technology can be effectively utilized
to provide the services in rural areas. Health which is seen as index of development needs an
effective delivery system. Social investments can also be done in health sector by establishing
rural health care units, conducting health camps to prevent major deseases. Information kiosks
can be established by training the rural youth for delivering various services at the rural level.
Training rural women in value addition to the farm produce and by creating market avenues will
help in addressing gender issues in rural areas. A better infrastructure in rural areas can build the
rural economy making easy access to all the avialable services. Social investments in creation of
infrastructure help in providing urban facilities in rural area and also, prevent the urban
migration in search of livelihood. At last, in rural area there are many factors which hinder the
development of rural area and its progress. Hence, proper planning and government’s policy need
to be framed and legal policies should be made in response to Social investment.
In this age of global competition, corporates are beginning to realize the stake that they have, as
a part of the society. There is a growing realization that they should contribute to social activities
globally with a desire to improve the immediate environment where they work and many
companies are taking keen interest in such activities. Companies that pay genuine attention to the
principles of social responsibility  are also favored by the public who prefer to consume their
goods and services. This has given rise to the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR)    by social responsibility; we mean a doctrine that claims that an entity whether it is state,
government, corporation, organization or individual has a responsibility to society. According to
Infosys founder, Narayan Murthy, ‘social responsibility is to create maximum shareholders value
working under the circumstances, where it is fair to all its stakeholders, workers, consumers, the
community, government and the environment'. Commission of the European Communities
(2001) stated that being socially responsible means not only fulfilling legal expectations, but also
going beyond compliance and investing ‘more' into human capital, the environment and the
relation with stakeholders.
 
India lives in its villages. Literally and from the social, economic and political perspectives the
statement is valid even today. Around 65% of the State's population is living in rural areas.
People in rural areas should have the same quality of life as is enjoyed by people living in sub
urban and urban areas. Further there are cascading effects of poverty, unemployment, poor and
inadequate infrastructure in rural areas on urban centres causing slums and consequential social
and economic tensions manifesting in economic deprivation and urban poverty. Hence Rural
Development which is concerned with economic growth and social justice, improvement in the
living standard of the rural people by providing adequate and quality social services and
minimum basic needs become essential.   India is primarily an agriculture-based country.
Agriculture contributes nearly one-fifth of the gross domestic product in India. In order to
increase the growth of agriculture, the Government has planned several programs pertaining to
Rural Development in India. Corporate Social Responsibility is  thus considered very important
as far as rural areas are concerned.
 
Corporate Social Responsibility in India
Indian companies are now expected to discharge their stakeholder responsibilities and societal
obligations, along with their shareholder-wealth maximization goal. In India as in the rest of the
world there is a growing realization that business cannot succeed in a society which fails. An
ideal CSR has both ethical and philosophical dimensions, particularly in India where there exists
a wide gap between sections of people in terms of income and standards as well as socio-
economic status However, the concept of CSR is not new in India. The idea of social
responsibility in the Indian society, bounded by notion of caste and fate, dates back to the time of
British Rule when Indian reformers launched reform movements which slowly became more
socially responsible. During the independence struggle Indian companies, which began to
proliferate and proper from the mid 19th century, throw in their lot with Mahatma Gandhi and
the resulting concern for the nations caused many of them to be involved in providing education,
health service and even clean water. As part of the survey, over 100 companies—ranging from
large to mid-sized corporations—responded to questionnaires sent to around 1,000 companies
during September-October 2002. Besides, a group of researchers conducted an in-depth study of
CSR programmes in top business houses. The respondents unanimously acknowledged that
social responsibility was no longer an exclusive domain of the government and CSR is much
more than "passive philanthropy Beyond the private sector, corporate players in India's public
sector too have been actively involved in corporate social responsibility initiatives. Most public
sector units in the heavy engineering industry have not only set up a township around the plant,
but also established a school, a hospital and several other civic facilities for its employees and
those that live in that area. Private sector companies have been encouraged to undertake rural
development programmes down the years through fiscal incentives by the government. For
instance, special benefits are offered in the industrial policy to companies that set up industries in
backward areas and tax incentives are also offered to companies that set up water purification
projects.
 
In India, it has also been noticed that when it comes to individual CSR activities, the
‘anonymous' donor mentality prevails. Of course, with the intense spotlight on the subject, the
interest in corporate social responsibility is spreading in India as well. The Corporate Social
Responsibility Survey 2002–India, jointly conducted by the United Nations Development
Programme, covering 19 industry sectors reveals that this interest is growing as more and more
companies in India are keen to project themselves as good corporate citizens. This was the most
important factor driving CSR in India, according to the survey. Good corporate citizenship and
CSR initiatives are inextricably linked with improved brand reputation, which is one of the most
important drivers of CSR identified by the respondent companies. The other key drivers of
Corporate Social Responsibility in India were diverse ranging from stated philosophy of
founding fathers to improving relationship with local communities to enhanced shareholder
value.
Case study
Before Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) found a place in corporate lexicon, it was already
textured into our Group's value systems. As early as the 1940s, our founding father Shri G. D.
Birla espoused the trusteeship concept of management. Simply stated, this entails that the wealth
that one generates and holds, is to be held as in a trust for our multiple stakeholders. With regard
to CSR, this means investing part of our profits beyond business, for the larger good of society.

While carrying forward this philosophy, our legendary leader, Mr. Aditya Birla, weaved in the
concept of 'sustainable livelihood', which transcended cheque book philanthropy. In his view, it
was unwise to keep on giving endlessly. Instead, he felt that channelising resources to ensure that
people have the wherewithal to make both ends meet would be more productive.

He would say, "Give a hungry man fish for a day, he will eat it and the next day, he would be
hungry again. Instead, if you taught him how to fish, he would be able to feed himself and his
family for a lifetime."
Taking these practices forward, our chairman Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla, institutionalised the
concept of triple bottom line accountability represented by economic success.Our community
work is a way of telling the people among whom we operate that We Care.
Our strategy
Our projects are carried out under the aegis of the "Aditya Birla Centre for Community
Initiatives and Rural Development", led by Mrs. Rajashree Birla. The Centre provides the
strategic direction, and the thrust areas for our work ensuring performance management as well. 

Our focus is on the all-round development of the communities around our plants located mostly
in distant rural areas and tribal belts. All our Group companies — Grasim, Hindalco, Aditya Birla
Nuvo and UltraTech have Rural Development Cells, which are the implementation bodies. 
Our partners in development are government bodies, district authorities, village panchayats and
the end beneficiaries — the villagers. The Government has, in their 5-year plans, special funds
earmarked for human development and we recourse to many of these.
At the same time, we network and collaborate with like-minded bilateral and unilateral agencies
to share ideas, draw from each other's experiences, and ensure that efforts are not duplicated. At
another level, this provides a platform for advocacy.
Project identification mechanism
All projects are planned in a participatory manner, in consultation with the community, literally
sitting with them, and gauging their basic needs. We take recourse to "participatory rural
appraisal", which is a mapping process. Subsequently, based on a consensus and in discussion
with the village panchayats, we prioritise requirements. And thus a project is born.
Implementation is the responsibility of the community and our team, as is the monitoring of
milestones and the other aspects. Monitoring entails physical verification of the progress and the
actual output of the project. 

Village meetings are held periodically to elicit feedback on the benefits of our community
programmes and the areas where these need to be beefed up. We try and ensure that while in the
short term we have to do enormous hand-holding, the projects become sustainable by the
beneficiaries over the long haul. Once this stage is reached, we withdraw. In this way we do not
build a culture of dependence, instead we make the villagers self-reliant.
Model villages
One of our unique initiatives is to develop model villages, so each of our major companies is
working towards the total transformation of a number of villages in proximity to our plants.
Making of a model village entails ensuring self-reliance in all aspects viz., education, health care
and family welfare, infrastructure, agriculture and watershed management, and working towards
sustainable livelihood patterns. Fundamentally, ensuring that their development reaches a stage
wherein village committees take over the complete responsibility and our teams become
dispensable.

Our project operations

The geographic reach, annual spends
The footprint of our community work straddles 5,000 villages globally. We reach out to 7.5
million people annually. Over 60 per cent of these live below the poverty line and belong to
scheduled castes and tribes.
The Group spends in excess of Rs.250 crore annually, inclusive of the running of 18 hospitals
and 42 schools. The Group transcends the conventional barriers of business and reaches out to
the marginalised as a matter of duty and to bring in a more equitable society.
Our focus areas
Our rural development activities span five key areas and our single-minded goal here is to help
build model villages that can stand on their own feet. Our focus areas are healthcare, education,
sustainable livelihood, infrastructure and espousing social causes.
Topic 5: Private sector participation

Private sectors in rural areas

 Government budgets or public funded development ventures tend to lag behind in terms
of funding. Since funds are limited, and often insufficient to achieve predetermined targets, such
as projects get abandoned or lie incomplete often for years, until they are completely scrapped.
Much has been written about Public Private Partnerships or PPPs or P3s as they are commonly
known; and many believe that it is the answer to India’s challenges in building up the rural
infrastructure that is so vital, especially in recent times, due to the advent on globalization and
seamless world markets. Building up a strong rural infrastructure will undoubtedly provide a
much needed impetus to economic growth.

Defining PPPs

The primary feature of a PPP are that it is a contractual arrangement between a public and
private entity, includes a certain degree of transfer of risk to the private entity with the benefit of
remuneration, and has an emphasis on meeting a social need or fulfilling a development project
which is intended for the public good.

This also implies that the private sector will operate and manage the project for a
specified period of time. PPPs can be on the basis of Build – Own – Transfer/Build – Own –
Operate – Transfer (BOOT) or Design – Build – Finance – Operate (DBFO) basis.

PPP model

The PPP model serves as a mechanism for the government to carry out the essential
activities of development, especially rural development through infrastructure construction,
while at the same time minimizing the risks and heavy drain on government budgets. The private
sector can invest heavily as it has the resources to do so, and since these projects are social good,
the government plays a role in providing incentives for the private sector to invest, while at the
same time ensuring that it is in a position to supervise and regulate the project.

As part of the incentives, the government has also resorted to viability gap funding for
private entities who take up development projects, especially in rural areas. This means that the
government funds a part of the project so as to incentivize it for the private entity to find it
attractive enough to take up.

Hence it seems amply clear that the government would like to harness private sector
resources and channel it into ensuring economic growth.

Rural Infrastructure in India

Under the Bharat Nirman Plan, the Government of India is focusing on rural development
and building of infrastructure in irrigation, rural housing and water supply, rural electrification
and telecommunication connectivity. The government is laying emphasis on building a road
network across the country that ensures connectivity throughout the nation and matches up to
global standards. Also on the government agenda is building bridges, telecom networks and
towers, electricity grids and other developmental infrastructure in rural areas.

NABARD has set up a Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RDIF) in 1995-96

created out of the shortfall of commercial banks in lending to agricultural/priority sectors, with
the primary aim of providing low cost funds to governments to undertake infrastructure
development projects in rural areas. Since the setting up of this fund, NABARD has allowed the
initiation of the PPP model to access these funds for infrastructure development projects in
irrigation, housing, water supply, rural electrification and construction of roads and bridges.

In doing so, NABARD has ensured the following benefits:

 Less pressure on state government’s budget for development infrastructure.

 Ensures higher level of service and quality
 Alleviates cost and time constraints
 Increases private sector participation and contribution to economic growth and
development
 Creating a sense of ownership among private sector players.

Private Sector Participation in Infrastructure Development in India

There are 758 PPP projects with total value of Rs. 383,332.1 crore that have been given
government approval. In the 10th plan, the Government of India has estimated 320 billion dollars
for PPP funding.

According to Clive Harris, an infrastructure specialist at the World Bank Sustainable

Development Vice Presidency, India has been leading in private sector contribution to economic
growth among all the South Asian Countries (2008). He says that most this contribution has been
in the telecommunication sector, with Indian telecom corporate focusing on building requisite
infrastructure and that building a transport network and setting up power distribution
infrastructure come in at a close second.

However, data given by the government shows that in recent years, almost 70% of PPP
projects taken in India have been in the road transport sector. This highlights how the
government is considering the national highway and road network grid as high priority and is
focusing on developing it at par with global standards.

PPP Financing

During 1995 to 2007, around 68% of the PPP was finance by senior debt, with 25%
equity, 3% subordinate debt and 4% of viability gap funding by the government. In the last few
years, the percentage of senior debt has increased. One reason for this is that commercial banks
have become more comfortable with the PPP model and hence acquiring project financing
becomes easier.
Benefits of PPP model in Rural Infrastructure

According to the Government’s National PPP policy 2011, the government has laid
emphasis on the fact that PPPs would help in achieving broad based and sustainable economic
growth. Following would be the key benefits of the PPP model in rural infrastructure.

 Employment of private sector resources to fund rural development projects would

ensures that the quality of these projects are at par with global standards, while
guaranteeing the best technology, expertise and skills are available. Public sector
institutions rarely have access to such resources and expertise to fulfill these targets.
 By giving incentives such as viability gap funding, government will ensure that private
sector has enough incentive to undertake these projects. This means the focus will shift
inward and development of rural and remote areas will takes place. All this will ensure
India progresses.
 The private sector is known for being efficient. Hence it is certain that problems like
delayed decision – making, functioning of day – to – day operations etc will not arise.
Private sector companies treat these as their usual corporate plans and projects that they
undertake and execute them in a smooth, efficient manner.
 It bridges the gap between public and private, rural and urban. Not just do these projects
help bring the best of both worlds – public and private – together, but are also ensuring
that the level of economic development in the urban and rural areas occur simultaneously.

Conclusion

To achieve the overall development goals, the government has recognized the importance
of PPPs as a mechanism for speedy and efficient fulfillment of its development plan. Especially
in rural areas, where much remains to be done, by incentivizing projects for the private sector to
pour money and resources into the government has ensured that its rural sector does not lag
behind. Also, with institutions like NABARD and commercial banks recognizing the importance
of PPP projects in rural infrastructure and coming out with services specific to PPP financing, I
believe reinforce India’s position on the world map.

Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (Activities)

Objectives of Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

1. Holistic development of Gram Panchayats

2. Improve the standard of living of all the sections of the population through
a. Improved basic amenities
b. Higher productivity
c. Enhanced human development
d. Better lively hood
e. Reduced disparities
f. Access to rights
g. Social mobilization
h. Enriched social capital