1. | |GYAN Vitaranam15 June - 14 July, 2015 37
A
imed to reduce the
digital divide in India,
“One Library Per Vil-
lage” (OLPV) provides free
Internet through tablets or
PC’s to students for their edu-
cational purpose. A knowledge
sharing center, it has the sup-
port of 30,000 plus tutors of
2tion, who support almost all
subjects.
We meet the man behind
OLPV -- Sujai G. Pillai -- who
is one of the 20 MyGov Ambas-
sadors selected by Prime Min-
ister Narendra Modi’s MyGov
Digital India Team and also
the brain behind #BookBucket
Challenge, ranked among the
top five viral marketing cam-
paigns in the world. He is also
the founder of 2tion.com, rated
as the top e-learning website
by “The Economic Times - Oct
1st, 2012”.
Sujai has worked as an ed-
ucational consultant for World
Book and Britannica in Oman
and the UAE and has over 15
years of experience in the field
of education. He specializes
in ‘Netpreneurship’ (a small
start-up which is solely online)
and is the co-author of books -
“Browse and Grow Rich” and
“Money From Internet”. He
holds an MBA in Marketing
and Systems from Madurai
Kamaraj University.
Sujai also holds the titles
of: Winner of “Limca Books of
Record” ( 23rd Edition - 2012)
Bridging the
digital divide
innovations | Caroline Paul |
| |GYAN Vitaranam15 June - 14 July, 2015 37

2. | |GYAN Vitaranam 15 June - 14 July, 201538
for HumThum Apps and Win-
ner of “Best Mobile Apps”
award in all India Mobile Apps
Competition on August 20,
2011.
1. Could you please ex-
plain the concept of
‘One Library Per Vil-
lage’?
A: OLPV stemmed from my
strong belief that librar-
ies around the world play
an important role in the
dissemination of knowl-
edge. I feel the availability
of information resources
can often mean the differ-
ence between poverty and
prosperity, particularly in
underdeveloped communi-
ties.
With this in mind, I found-
ed “One Library Per Vil-
lage”, which aims to reduce
the digital divide between
the urban and rural India,
by networking libraries
and empowering the read-
ers with latest technologi-
cal tools and creating a vi-
brant community of users
and volunteers in villages.
OLPV is not just a building
stacked with books – it is
a repository and source of
information and ideas, a
community place for learn-
ing and inquiry, and for
the generation of thought
and the creation of new
knowledge.
2. What is the current
state of digital litera-
cy in India, especially
Kerala? How has OLPV
impacted this, since its
inception?
A: Currently, in India, approx
40 per cent of the popula-
tion lives below the pover-
ty line, illiteracy rates are
more than 25-30 per cent
and digital literacy is al-
most non-existent among
more than 90 per cent of
India’s population. Four
per cent of our children
never start school, while
58 per cent don’t complete
primary schools and only
10 per cent goes to college.
Compared to other states,
Kerala is doing better in
primary education. In
Digital Literacy, however,
Kerala is far behind its po-
tential. This is primarily
becausestudentslackprac-
tical skills, even though

3. | |GYAN Vitaranam15 June - 14 July, 2015 39
they are imparted comput-
er literacy in schools and
college. A large majority
of people, even those who
regularly access the Inter-
net via smart phones, only
use it for sharing videos,
browsing Facebook or mes-
saging via WhatsApp. This
is the beginning and end of
Internet usage for them, as
they lack the awareness to
use Internet for other pur-
poses.
This is where we come into
the picture. For example,
during “Digital Literacy
Week”, held from February
21 to 28, with the support
of National Association
of Software and Services
Companies (NASSCOM),
we ran a literacy campaign
in two village libraries.
With the support of local
volunteers, we contacted
every house in respective
areas and as a result, more
than 300 people took part
in the event. Many partici-
pants were first time com-
puter users and a large
number of housewives,
aged 25 - 60, also learnt
how to use computers, tab-
lets and smart phone.
I can proudly state that we
brought about an immense
transformation in these
areas and now, people in
these areas are actively
participating in social
events like tree planting,
medical camps, etc., that
are being organized by the
library. As a result of our
efforts, the people have
started to see the library
not just as a reading place,
but more like a collabora-
tive social activity area.
3. What has been the re-
sponse to OLPV so far?
A: So far, we have had a
very positive response for
OLPV from libraries, espe-
cially those from the rural
areas. Initially, we thought
the networking and com-
puter would only support
job seekers, but we were
pleasantly surprised to see
that many housewives are
becoming active partici-
pants of the initiative and
taking it beyond the initial
scope of plan.
4. What is your current
reach? Where do you
see yourself five years
down the line?
A: Currently, we test-mar-
keted “One Library Per
Village” project in seven
village libraries in Kerala.
The response and result of
these initiatives were very
good and we are hopeful of
a bright future. Another
good news is that current-
ly, it’s under consideration
of Digital India program of
the government.
5. Can you share some of
your success stories?
A: We have active user par-
ticipation in the libraries
from villages, where cur-
rently, pilot projects are
running. We also had im-
mense interest from a few
corporates, under their
CSR initiatives, and even
from a few MLAs and
MPs, for considering this
under Member of Parlia-
ment Local Area Develop-
ment Scheme (MPLADS)
scheme, as well.

4. | |GYAN Vitaranam 15 June - 14 July, 201540
6. How are you spreading
awareness about your
cause? In other words,
how do you ensure you
reach out to those in
need of your services?
A: We ensure we reach out
to our target audience
through strategic use of
digital media. So far, we
have amassed a large
number of followers on
Facebook and we actively
come up with campaigns
to spread further aware-
ness about our cause.
For example, one of our
campaigns “#BookBuck-
etChallenge” received a
lot of attention and was a
viral success. In terms of
libraries, we are getting a
lot of enquiries from librar-
ies, with even city libraries
expressing a solid interest.
7. How do you cover the
costs associated with
providing free Inter-
net? Does the govern-
ment pitch in?
A: Currently we have absorbed
the cost of computer/tab-
let with donations, with
the libraries providing the
Internet. We are actively
seeking funding and sup-
port from donors, corporate
CSRs and the government.
8. Do you have a training
system in place?
A: We have a large pool of
savvy volunteers who are
happy to train the trainer
- one of the library users.
The trainer, in turn, trains
other students. It’s a vol-
unteer-driven system, and
we have seen good support
from many people.
9. How many books are
currently available in
an e-format via OLPV?
Do you cater to needs
of students of all grades
(1-12)? Are there also
books for entertain-
ment purposes - fiction/
non-fiction etc?
A: Currently, we have thou-
sands of e-books, span-
ning across all grades - not
only 1-12, but also colleges
and vocational educa-
tion. Many of them were
contributed by teachers
through 2tion.com. We ac-
tively welcome educational
content of all sorts.
10. How about the colleges/
universities? Is OLPV
available to students
in these institutions? If
not, are you planning
on expanding the ac-
cess?
A: OLPV is currently only
available to village librar-
ies, since we are looking at
serving the segment that
does not have privilege of
having access to technol-
ogy, which is readily avail-
able in most colleges and
universities. However,
if colleges in rural areas
need our support, we will
definitely help them.
11. How can we support
OLPV?
A: We would love support
from media - a) In helping
us spread the word b) In
conceptualizing any cam-
paign that you think will
help our cause and c) In rais-
ing awareness and funds re-
quired to scale this initiative.
u