This document discusses several initiatives in India that aim to promote education, healthcare, and economic opportunities in rural areas through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). It describes projects like Infothela, Digital Mandi, e-Choupal, telemedicine networks, and institutional repositories that deliver information to villages using technologies like mobile devices, wireless networks, and digital libraries. The overall goal of these initiatives is to improve access to services and reduce isolation in rural communities through ICT applications that are low-cost and tailored to local needs.

1. 11 CERLIM: Libraries without walls 7

2. Digital Mandi
22
IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn ••InInfoforrmmaatitoionn l iltieterraaccyy
•PPoovveerrttyy aalllleevviiaattiioonn
•HHeeaalltthh ccaarree
S h a k k a r m a n d i D a lm a n d i
Inputs
Weather
Soil
Chemicals
Water
Market Prices
Outputs
Trends and Futures
In p u t s
W e a t h e r
S o il
C h e m ic a ls
W a t e r
M a r k e t P r ic e s
O u t p u t s
T r e n d s a n d F u t u r e s
Infothela
E-choupal
India’s social, economic, cultural situations
are so diverse that one need to develop new
products and services for these societies.
There are two reasons for the development of
knowledge society, -firstly the explosive
growth in knowledge, especially in science
and technology and secondly people, are
moving out of primary occupations such as
agriculture and industry into the services
sector, where their survival and success
depend on their ability to deal with
information and knowledge. The emergence
of new wireless and satellite-based solutions
is positioning the developing countries to take
advantage of the benefits to be derived from
ICT application.
•Gyandoot
•E-choupal
•Telemedicine
•Media Labs Asia projects such as
Infothela, Digital Mandi

3. The cost of 802.11b
connectivity is much
cheaper as compared to
other technologies.
33
Digital Gangetic Plane
(DGP) started out with the
goal of achieving low-cost
portable /mobile voice
and data services for the
rural sector; a cost
effective alternative to
long distance leased lines.
The DGP project,
developed jointly by IIT
Kanpur, India and Media
Lab Asia for
empowerment of rural
masses, aims at using the
low cost Wireless LAN
(WLAN) also popularly
known as WiFi. Digital
Gangetic Plains improving
rural connectivity by
provisioning wireless
internet along the Kanpur-
Lucknow corridor

4. 44
CERLIM: Libraries wwiitthhoouutt wwaallllss 77

5. 55
Info-thela – The mobile way to learn, entertain and
disseminate information
 Email, fax, Internet
 Entertainment (movies,
cartoons etc.)
 Education
 Agriculture-related
information
 Weather information
 Healthcare information
 HIV/AIDS awareness
 Checking of land records
 Horoscopes
 Darshans of holy places
 matrimonial
matchmaking
 Digital Mandi

6. Battery ppoowweerreedd,, 113355 AAHH EExxiiddee
CChhaarrggiinngg ooff tthhee bbaatttteerryy oovveerrnniigghhtt
ffrroomm eelleeccttrriicc ppoowweerr ffoorr 88 hhrrss..PPeeddaall
ggeenneerraattoorr oonn tthhee ffiieelldd
EExxppeecctteedd ppoowweerr ccoonnssuummppttiioonn »
110000WW
880022..1111((bb)) pp--tt--pp lliinnkk
OOvveerraallll wweeiigghhtt ooff IInnffootthheellaa » 220000
KKgg..
Schematic diagram of Infothela
66
Infothela’s services are meant for disease
prevention, early diagnosis of diseases,
vaccine delivery, sample collection and
even expert advice from remotely located
doctors.
IItt iiss bbaassiiccaallllyy aa ppeeddaall ddrriivveenn vveehhiiccllee jjuusstt lliikkee
aa ccoommmmoonn ccyyccllee rriicckksshhaaww wwiitthh aa ppeerrssoonnaall
ccoommppuutteerr oonn bbooaarrdd ccoonnnneecctteedd ttoo iinntteerrnneett
uussiinngg wwiirreelleessss tteecchhnnoollooggyy.. IItt iiss ddeessiiggnneedd
kkeeeeppiinngg iinn mmiinndd tthhee vviillllaaggee ccoonnddiittiioonnss iinn tthhee
ccoouunnttrryy wwhheerree eelleeccttrriicc ppoowweerr iiss nnoott
aavvaaiillaabbllee aallll tthhee ttiimmee..
TToo sseerrvvee tthhee ppuurrppoossee ooff pprriimmaarryy ssccrreeeenniinngg,,
iinnffootthheellaa hhaass bbeeeenn ddeessiiggnneedd ttoo aaccccoommmmooddaattee
ddiiaaggnnoossttiicc eeqquuiippmmeenntt lliikkee bblloooodd pprreessssuurree tteessttiinngg
mmaacchhiinnee,, bblloooodd ssuuggaarr tteessttiinngg mmaacchhiinnee,, aanndd ssoommee
ootthheerr pprriimmaarryy hheeaalltthh ddiiaaggnnoossttiicc aanndd tteessttiinngg
eeqquuiippmmeenntt.. AAllll ddiiaaggnnoossttiicc tteessttss ddaattaa wwiillll bbee
eenntteerreedd iinnttoo tthhee mmaacchhiinnee aanndd pprrooggrraammss wwiillll
pprroocceessss tthhee ddaattaa aanndd rraaiissee wwaarrnniinnggss wwhheenn
iinnddiivviidduuaall ddaattaa oorr ccoommbbiinnaattiioonnss ooff ddaattaa aarree nnoott
wwiitthhiinn lliimmiittss oorr sshhooww ootthheerr aabbnnoorrmmaalliittiieess..
Estimated Cost » Rs. 50000
17” colour display
Shock and vibration resistan t
Dust resistant
Theft resistant
Rain w ater resistant

7. The Digital Mandi Project is conceived as an electronic trading platform for agro-commodities of
Northern India and meant to run as a core application on the mobile Infothela.
77
Digital Mandi – Innovative Way to give farmers the right
price
S h a k k a rm a n d i milaadnD
Inputs
Weather
Soil
Chemicals
Water
Market Prices
Outputs
Trends and Futures
In p u ts
W e a th e r
S o il
C h e m ic a ls
W a te r
M a rk e t P ric e s
O u tp u ts
T re n d s a n d F u tu re s

8. 88
The emergence of intranet-based “Gyandoot”
digital libraries (DLs) in the Dhar district of
Madhya Pradesh has changed the lives of its
underprivileged rural communities.
“Gyandoot” is a unique form of G2C
(Government to citizen) DL activity which is
intended to address the hardship imposed by
transaction costs associated with government
services. It connects 21 cyber cafes called
“Soochanalayas” which provide services to
about 10 to 15 “gram panchayats”, each of
which consists of a group of 20-30 villages
with aggregate populations of between
20,000 and 30,000 people. The
Soochanalayas are located at block head
quarters, haat bazaars and bus depots and
also on the roadside where people normally
travel. These cyber cafes are operated by a
local operator called a Soochak, who is a
local volunteer not a government person

9. 99
EE--CChhaauuppaall
Milestones
Commencement of
initiative: 2000
• States covered: 9
• Villages covered: 38,500
• e-Choupal installations:
6500
• Empowered e-farmers:
3.5 million
Smart Cards identify farmers & provide customized
information on the e-choupal website
The e-Choupal delivers real-time information
and customised knowledge to improve the
farmer's decision-making ability, thereby
better aligning farm output to market
demands; securing better quality, productivity
and improved price discovery. The e-Choupal
initiative also creates a direct marketing
channel, eliminating wasteful intermediation
and multiple handling, thus reducing
transaction costs. Over the next decade, the e-
Choupal network will cover over 100,000
villages, representing 1/6th of rural India, and
create more than 10 million e-farmers.
The e-Choupals serve as both a social
gathering place for exchange of
information (choupal means gathering
place in Hindi) and an e-commerce hub
focusing on the needs of rural India. It’s an
effort to re-engineer the procurement
process for soy, tobacco, wheat, shrimp,
and other cropping systems in rural India
and create a highly profitable distribution
and product design channel. The e-Choupal
system has catalyzed rural transformation
that is helping to alleviate rural isolation,
create more transparency for farmers, and
improve their productivity and incomes.

10. 1100
TTeelleemmeeddiicciinnee iinn IInnddiiaa
Telemedicine is a method, by which
patients can be examined, investigated,
monitored and treated, with the patient and
the doctor located in different places. Tele
is a Greek word meaning “distance “and
Mederi is a Latin word meaning, “to heal”.
Time magazine called Telemedicine
“healing by wire”. Though initially
considered “futuristic” and “experimental”
Telemedicine is today a reality and has
come to stay. In Telemedicine one
transfers the expertise, not the patient.
Health Scenario: 620 million live in rural India
Bed-Population ratio 1:1333 (1991) Vs. ideal of
1:500. oonnllyy 99%% ooff 11 bbiilllliioonn ppeeooppllee aarree
ccoovveerreedd hheeaalltthh sscchheemmeess..WWiitthh ssooffttwwaarree,,
hhaarrddwwaarree,, bbrraaiinn wwaarree aanndd aa llaarrggee nnuummbbeerr ooff
ddooccttoorrss.. lliicceennsseedd ttoo pprraaccttiiccee aabbrrooaadd,, IInnddiiaa
ccoouulldd ooffffeerr gglloobbaall TTeelleeccoonnssuullttaattiioonn
The Indian Space Research Organization,
ISRO, in pursuing its objective of taking
the benefit of space technology to the
population in rural and remote areas, took
the initiative of establishing a space-based
telemedicine network.

11. 1111
Tele-ophthalmology- the application of telemedicine
principles to provide eye care services at a distance
Tele ophthalmology system
Equipment
 PCs/ Laptops
 Broadband Internet connection
 Specialized image capture equipment:
digital cameras on slit-lamps,
 Ophthalmoscopes, Fundus cameras
 Image display equipment
Applications
 Information systems
 Continuing education
 Online patient record
 E-mail consultations
 Digital library services
Data
receiving
and display
Transmission
Interconnection broad
bandwidth
Data
capture

12. 1122
IInntteeggrraatteedd TTeelleemmeeddiicciinnee::
The physician can quickly navigate
through the Electronic Medical
Record (EMR) of the patient. All
documents and images are
stored in an encrypted form. The
system also equips the
physicians with a rich toolset to
examine different data. It
supports tools to pan, zoom,
rotate, mark regions of interest
and to annotate the data.
Extensive Image Processing
features are also provided.
Through user-friendly interface,
the physician can also quickly
add notes on the patient's
progress and write reports.

13. 1133
TThhee SSiimmppuutteerr oorr ““PPoooorr mmaann''ss ccoommppuutteerr""
IISc, Bangalore and the Encore Software developed
this idea into practice. This project grew out of the
dire need for an affordable access device for the
rural population including Women. It is a low cost
portable alternative to the popular personal
computer, by which the benefits of ICT can reach the
common man. Tin built Smart card feature enables
the Simputer to be shared by a community. It is a
low cost portable alternative to PCs, by which the
benefits of IT can reach the common man. It has a
special role in the developing world because it
ensures that illiteracy is no longer a barrier to
handling a computer.
Simputer
The key to bridging the digital divide is to have
shared devices that permit truly simple and natural
user interfaces based on sight, touch and audio.
The Simputer meets these demands through a
browser. Information Markup Language (IML) has
been created to provide a uniform experience to
users and to allow rapid development of solutions
on any platform. The Simputer also has the
attractive feature of text-to-speech conversion, so
that illiterates could feel secure about their
payments. The Smart Card feature that the
Simputer provides enables the Simputer to be
shared by a community

14. 1144
IInnssttiittuuttiioonnaall rreeppoossiittoorriieess ttoo pprroommoottee eedduuccaattiioonn aanndd rreesseeaarrcchh
IInnssttiittuuttiioonnss wwiitthh ffuunnccttiioonnaall
OOppeenn AAcccceessss IInnssttiittuuttiioonnaall
RReeppoossiittoorriieess ((IIRR)) hhaavvee aa
rroollee iinn eennhhaanncciinngg ee--
LLeeaarrnniinngg eennvviirroonnmmeennttss..
AAppaarrtt ffrroomm ssuuppppoorrttiinngg
ooppeenn aacccceessss aanndd
pprreesseerrvviinngg tthhee iinntteelllleeccttuuaall
aasssseettss ooff aann iinnssttiittuuttiioonn,,
IIRRss ffaacciilliittaattee tthhee
mmeemmbbeerrss’’ eeffffoorrttss ttoo
ddeevveelloopp tthheeiirr oowwnn wwoorrkk
ffuurrtthheerr,, tthhaatt iiss,, ttoo oorrggaanniizzee
tthheeiirr rreessoouurrcceess,, lliinnkk tthheeiirr
wwrriittiinngg ttoo ootthheerrss aanndd wwoorrkk
wwiitthh ccoo--aauutthhoorrss,, ggooaallss
aakkiinn ttoo ee--PPoorrttffoolliiooss.. WWhheenn
ssuucchh wweebbffoolliiooss aarree
iinntteeggrraatteedd wwiitthh IIRRss,, tthheeyy
ccaann aacctt aass LLOORR,,
ssuuppppoorrttiinngg tthhee uussee aanndd
eexxppllooiittaattiioonn ooff
iinntteerrooppeerraabbllee ccoolllleeccttiioonnss
aanndd oobbjjeeccttss ooff
ggeeooggrraapphhiicc,, ccuullttuurraall,,
sscchhoollaarrllyy oorr sscciieennttiiffiicc
nnaattuurree ffrroomm lliibbrraarriieess,,
aarrcchhiivveess aanndd mmuusseeuummss..
IInn ttuurrnn,, tthheeyy ffaacciilliittaattee
eexxppoossuurree,, ddiissccoovveerryy,, aanndd
rreettrriieevvaall ooff tthheessee
rreessoouurrcceess.. CCEERRLLIIMM:: LLiibbrraarriieess wwiitthhoouutt wwaallllss 77

15. 115
A proposed model for a central reservoir of Electronic theses and
Dissertations(ETDs)

16. 1166
Public
Libraries as
intermediary
centre
Access to
online
resources
Communication
Comprehension,
Consensus and
Coalition
Communication
Comprehension,
Consensus and
Coalition
Greater
Control &
Capacity to
Act
EMPOWERMENT
Expert
Databases
Library
Extension
program
Multimedia
Collection
May I help you?
Tele-working
facilities
Tele-working
facilities
HIV/AIDS information
ICT driven Public Libraries/ VViillllaaggee KKnnoowwlleeddggee cceenntteerrss
CCEERRLLIIMM:: LLiibbrraarriieess wwiitthhoouutt wwaallllss 77

17. RReeccoommmmeennddaattiioonnss
Consolidation and expansion of Rural public libraries network
IItt iiss ooff vviittaall iimmppoorrttaannccee tthhaatt nneettwwoorrkk ooff ppuubblliicc lliibbrraarriieess iiss ttoo bbee ddeevveellooppeedd iinn
ssuucchh aa wwaayy ttoo rreeaacchh ttoo tthhee rreemmootteesstt ccoorrnneerr ooff tthhee ccoouunnttrryy.. TThhee ppuubblliicc
lliibbrraarriieess hhaappppeenn ttoo ccoovveerr tthhee wwiiddeesstt ppooppuullaattiioonn ppoossssiibbllee;; tthheeiirr rroollee iinn
sspprreeaaddiinngg lliitteerraaccyy aanndd eedduuccaattiioonn hhaass lloonngg bbeeeenn aacckknnoowwlleeddggeedd aanndd iiss
ccoonnssiiddeerreedd ttoo bbee iinnddiissppeennssaabbllee..
6600000000 ppuubblliicc lliibbrraarriieess ((aapppprrooxxiimmaatteellyy 7700%% mmaayy bbee rruurraall)) aarree mmeerree rreeaaddiinngg
rroooommss wwiitthhoouutt mmuucchh bbooookkss oorr ggoooodd iinnffrraassttrruuccttuurree oorr ttrraaiinneedd ssttaaffff.. IInnddiiaa hhaass
aarroouunndd 55,,9933,,000000 iinnhhaabbiitteedd vviillllaaggeess aanndd tthheerree mmaayy bbee jjuusstt oonnee ppuubblliicc lliibbrraarryy
ffoorr 88--1100 ooff tthheemm.. WWiitthh oovveerr 11..33 bbiilllliioonn ppeeooppllee,, IInnddiiaa nneeeeddss mmoorree tthhaann
44,,3300,,000000 ppuubblliicc lliibbrraarryy uunniittss,, aass ppeerr IIFFLLAA ssttaannddaarrddss ooff ""oonnee ppuubblliicc lliibbrraarryy
ffoorr eevveerryy 33000000 ppeeooppllee""..
Preventive health care Information and AIDS challenge
IInnddiiaa iiss oonnee ooff tthhee mmoosstt ppooppuullaatteedd ccoouunnttrriieess iinn tthhee wwoorrlldd,, wwiitthh oovveerr oonnee
bbiilllliioonn iinnhhaabbiittaannttss.. OOff tthhiiss nnuummbbeerr,, iitt''ss eessttiimmaatteedd tthhaatt aarroouunndd 55 mmiilllliioonn
ppeeooppllee aarree ccuurrrreennttllyy lliivviinngg wwiitthh HHIIVV.. IInn aa ccoouunnttrryy wwhheerree ppoovveerrttyy,, iilllliitteerraaccyy
aanndd ppoooorr hheeaalltthh aarree rriiffee,, tthhee sspprreeaadd ooff HHIIVV pprreesseennttss aa ddaauunnttiinngg cchhaalllleennggee..
1177

18. 1188
In order to provide accessibility to
masses in all parts of the country
and to derive the benefits from
converged applications like tele-education,
telemedicine and world
wide web access, government
should set up Multifunctional
Converged Applications
Community Centres (MCACs) at
Panchayat level. The MCACs
should facilitate the
Telecommunication services such
as Local/ STD/ISD PCO, Fax,
computing services like E-mail
and Internet access, information
on local data bases and awareness
about HIV/AIDS and other
governments programmes etc. It
will facilitate exchange of Social
& Cultural heritage across the
country, technology guidance to
use the facilities like
Telemedicine, Tele-education and
E-governance.
Recommendations:
CCEERRLLIIMM:: LLiibbrraarriieess wwiitthhoouutt wwaallllss 77

19. 1199
Namaste!
Thank You!