Rural Development through e-governance: A case study of

Gyandoot Project

Submitted By

Author 1 : Prof. Dr P.M.Kothari

H.O.D (Dept of Accountancy & Costing) Moolji Jaitha College Jalga on

Email kothari.pm@rediffmail.com

Author 1 : Asst. Professor Sanjay Sugandhi

G.H.Raisoni Institute of Information Technology , Jalgaon Email: sanjayrsugandhi@gmail.com

Contact No :9850093935

For the

National Conference

On “ GRAMEEN :

ENVISIONING THE GROWTH OF REAL”

at

“Departmant of Management-

KCES‟s college of Engineering and I.T.,Jalgaon.”

Abstract

The modern nations could only be governed by modern technologies. Today we are talking about pervasive computing and hence government which controls and

looks after the welfare of its citizens has to be present anytime and anywhere for its citizens. This is possible only by e-governance, Government faces large number of Challenges ,one of them is how government policy can reach to

common people who is very far away from government .MP govt has widely acknowledge that the use of e-governance in rural area can improved controlling

,planning , monitoring mechanism and have better transparency in public services. There are various problem face by MP govt while running gyandoot project .These Problems are like low literacy, low per capita income and limited financial

resource.

This paper is an attempt to know how Gyandoot project is playing a significant role in the development of the rural society. The gyandoot project consists of

services such as agriculture, education, health. Social relation, product marketing, administration, planning and current information needs. In this system gram

panchayat and zilla panchayat both the bodies play important role in the establishment of the kiosks . Main Findings are that service satisfaction is quite high, but usage is low, and Gyandoot is not reaching the poorest people.

KeyWord : Low Literacy,e-Governance ,Public Service.

Introduction:

In simple terms Electronic Governance can be defined as giving citizens the choice of when and where they access government information and services.

While e-Governance entails the processes used to provide services to the public, e-Government are the tool to accomplish e-Governance. e-Governance is not just

about government web site and e-mail. It is not just about service delivery over the Internet. It is not just about digital access to government information or electronic payments. It will change how citizens relate to governments as much as

it changes how citizens relate to each other. It will bring forth, new concepts of citizenship, both in terms of needs and responsibilities.

According to informatics department of Government of India mentions that e-governance is broadly defined as an “application of Information technology to the

functioning of the Government “. It could be G2G (govt. to govt.), G2C (govt. to customer), G2B (govt. to business) etc. E-governance is defined as the application of electronic means in : The interaction between government and citizens and

government and businesses, as well as In internal government operations to simplify and improve democratic, government and business aspects of governance

(Backus, 2001).

Gyandoot, :Gyandoot, which means “Purveyor of Knowledge” in Hindi, is a government-to-citizen, intranet-based service portal, implemented in the Dhar district of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, in January 2000. Gyandoot is a

government-to-citizen intranet-based service portal, implemented in the Dhar district of the state of Madhya Pradesh. The following statistics show detail about

population in dhar district.

TOTAL

Rural Urban Male Female Total

1452145 288184 890416 849913 1740329

Out of which 60 percent living below the poverty line and 54 percent belonging to the category of “scheduled tribes.” The goal of the Gyandoot project was to

establish community owned, technologically innovative, and sustainable information kiosks in this poverty stricken, tribal-dominated rural area of Madhya

Pradesh.

Gyandoot was launched on January 1, 2000, with the establishment of a low-cost intranet connecting a server at the district headquarters with 20 government-

owned information kiosks in five blocks of the district. Subsequently, 17 privately owned kiosks were added. The project has established itself in more than 600 villages, covering 9 out of 13 development blocks in the district of Dhar.

Gyandoot is managed by a society called „Gyandoot Samiti‟ registered under Madhya Pradesh Societies Registration Act. The District Collector is President of

the Samiti. The CEO of Zilla Panchayat (an officer of the Indian Administrative service, IAS) assists the president as Secretary and the various departmental heads as members of the Samiti. Gyandoot has affected political decision-making in

resource allocation with the Member of Parliament allocating Rs 25,00,000 to set up information kiosks in 3432 schools for e-education.

with the help from local MPs the Gyandoot project has set up 32 e-clubs in schools.

Achievement : e-governance has not only been effectively used for community

participation in planning, execution and management but it has also created a

new thinking regarding private and community funding in the establishment of community networks in India. It has been successfully proven as a viable business

model. Gyandoot has won the prestigious Stockholm Challenge Award, 2000 and CSI National Award for Best IT Usage in India, 2000. The network has been adjudged a best practice by the UNDP, Asian Development Bank,

International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Time Magazine, World Economic Forum, the Government of India and the Planning Commission of India.

Services and facilities :The services offered under the Gyandoot network are:

Commodity marketing information system (Mandi Bhaav), where grain prices are updated on a daily basis

Income certificate (Aay Pramanpatra)

Domicile certificate (Mool Niwasi Pramanpatra)

Caste certificate (Jaati Pramanpatra)

Landholder's passbook of land rights and loans (Bhoo adhikar evam rin pustika/Khasra Nakal)

Rural Hindi email (Gram Daak)

Public grievance redressal (Shikayat Nivaran)

Forms for various government schemes (Avedan Patra)

Below poverty line family list

Employment news (Rozgar Samachar)

Rural matrimonial (Vaivahiki)

Rural market (Gram Haat)

Rural newspaper (Gaon ka Akhbaar)

Advisory module (Swastha Salahkar, Krishi Salahkar, Kanooni Salahkar)

E-education (Shiksha Gyandoot)

Objectives

Assessing the impact of Gyandoot on transparency, accountability and corruption within the district administration.

Gyandoot as an opportunity of self-employment.

It was observe that people were more comfortable with mobile technology rather than computer Technology.

To enhance the livelihoods of the public by providing them with better

access to agricultural information, commerce, education and training facilities.

Determining the extent and spread of Gyandoot by analysing the

awareness and user patterns.

Ensuring empowerment of the downtrodden segments of the society and to encourage consensus building.

Research Methodology :

This case study uses observation, Surveys and voting through website method to know following thing

1) Observation :- The interaction was done between Gyandoot Samiti & officer‟s following were observation .

They are facing a problem of internet connectivity .

Its was observe that soochaks were stasified with their job & planning open new revenue earning services.

The awareness Level of Current technology was missing.

Slow processing were observe in a case of licensing & Cast certificate.

2) Questionnaires :

A set of objective type Question were provided to people (Government officer, Farmer, Student & Business people ),the question paper was based on

Usefulness of e-governance.

e-ducation utility

Infrastructure

Distance from the main town;

Update of Website for Mandi price & Family list below poverty line.

Amount charge by Koisk.

Basic facilities available, such as drinking water functioning or nonfunctioning of schools or panchayats, village. committees, etc

3) Survey (Vote )poll though website(Blog) :- In this set of question were asked and user have to vote (Ranked) it.

Survey and poll results produce the following statistics :

58% are total failures

28% are partial failures

14% are successes

Total failure : the initiative was never implemented or was implemented

but immediately abandoned. Partial failure : major goals for the initiative were not attained and/or

there were significant undesirable outcomes. Success : most stakeholder groups attained their major goals and did not

experience significant undesirable outcomes.

Limitations of the study

During the course of the study certain limitations were faced, They can be summarized as follows:

Non-availability of latest data – the last census data is ten years old and

the new census data is still not available.

Due low literacy people were not aware about process & Uses .

The rural people were hesitant in disclosing information regarding their economic status.

Problems with Gyandoot:

Speed & Connectivity: More than 80 to 85 % of Soochanalays were connected with dialup connection of BSNL. The remaining Soochanalays

are connected through the WiLL. The Dialup telephones lines connectivity have been found unreliable as connectivity slows down or abruptly

terminates.

Local Language :Gyandoot e-governance project is mainly for rural area people ,so the information must be in Local Language As, technology is

available by which transliteration from English into other languages can be made.

.

Women Contribution : The gyandoot projects

faces the challenge of encouraging more women to use their services. Women are using only 16% of total use. (source -IIMA)

Power Supply : The Major probem in dhar district is that there is power breakdown is frequent and lasts for a minimum of 6 hours. At times, a breakdown persists for three to four days, with no knowledge of when the

restoration may take place.

Cost Updations : Government Subsidiary & Mandi prices is not timely update due this the farmer are not getting the right information at right time .

Quality of Service Devilry : If the service is related to obtaining some certificates or documents, the citizen will have to collect them by visiting the government department. Alternatively, they are mailed to the citizen. The

soochaks sometimes handle the documents on behalf of the citizens.

Key Elements for Rural Development

a) Information : The Gyandoot project has been instrumental in providing

timely and easy information access to villagers living in many remote and

isolated rural areas of the district of Dhar. Updated information regarding the public food distribution system (availability of subsidized food grains

to poor families), lists of families below the poverty line, beneficiaries of social security pensions, beneficiaries of rural development schemes, information regarding government grants given to village committees, and

other subjects of interest to villagers is available on the intranet. Information on crop prices has enabled farmers to obtain better deals for

their produce.

b) Computer literacy : As the employment opportunity increases ,people are getting job with a basic knowledge of computer .Computer literacy has

increased in the rural areas. This is evident from the fact that more than 120 rural youths are getting trained in the kiosks. Through the increased

awareness about computers so it create good market place for private computer training center and also open door for distance learning center.

c) Awareness & Participation : The Gyandoot project create awareness among the people of Dhar District ,because of Gyandoot in more 6000 e-mail were send to government asking for Cast certificate ,Drinking Water,

Pension Amount e.tc After looking participation of rural people government starts the Distacn educational program such Indira Gandhi

National Open University (IGNOU)

d) Accountability :- Gyandoot Project is a model of e-governance hence the

responsibility goes to government ,eg,Mandi price, Shikayat Nivaran ,List of families below the poverty line who can avail themselves of subsidized inputs from government, brings about greater accountability.

e) Benefits to Farmer : Gyandoot project basic aims was to empowerment to rural farmer the policy such Landholder's passbook of land rights and loans (Bhoo adhikar evam rin pustika/Khasra Nakal) Farmers have gained

better bargains from buyers and have been able to redress complaints and expand their opportunities through government programs.

f) Social impacts :

The online village newspaper informs the villagers about the happening in and around their village increasing their awareness about current affairs.

Gyandoot can help people become more aware of their rights by providing them information about government fund allocation and schemes etc.

Promise of grievance redressal by the administration has encouraged the

rural population to become interested in better management of government services and, to a certain extent, curbed corruption.

It has provided the rural youth with an opportunity for self-employment

and helped to enhance their entrepreneurial skills.

In all the earlier development schemes, the main problems for the villagers

were the accessibility of such centres in terms of distance, bureaucracy involved and cost of accessing the service. These centres are easily

accessible and provide direct access to senior government staff at the district level

Recommendation :

Government officials must be closely involved and take on ownership of the backend processing at their departments. A team of IT enthusiasts for

each department may be identified, and these can be made responsible for the complete end-to-end delivery of a service to the citizen.

Connectivity problems: Dial-up connectivity in rural areas is subject to

interruptions because of telecommunications network failures. WLL technology enables continuous access. Wireless Cellular Technologies (WCT), advanced in USA and European Union (Blechar et al., 2006;

Seeman et al, 2007), may offer additional solutions to connectivity problems in rural areas.

Awarding System: Grading or Awarding system must be introduced for Soochaks & Special prize or Award must be provided . This can

motivate the enterprising soochaks to increase the participation of the community, thereby increasing the utilization of Gyandoot

Seminar & Workshop Rural people believe working only in the manual mode. This is a big task and needs patience and careful planning.

Workshops, seminars, and training programmes are required to be organized to spread awareness among the People at all levels.

Power failures: Operational hurdle due to power failures is quite common in rural regions. Solar panels and UPS are useful for providing power backup in case of power failures.

Focus on sustainability . For e-transparency projects that reach out into

poor communities, there must be a clear model for financial sustainability. This could justifiably include ongoing subsidies rather than the self-

sufficient model utilised to date by Gyandoot. Alternatively, it could look to make use of cheaper technologies like radio or mobile telephony.

Conclusion

„Gyandoot‟ is instrumental in establishing a link between government and

the local population residing in the remote villages. It has also provided an opportunity to marginalized tribal citizens to have an access to knowledge at a little cost.

In spite of Language Barrier, Low illiteracy, poverty and all the other reasons, the service is very satisfactory but utilization is very Low.

The Gyandoot has brought about a revolution in the quality of service delivered to its citizens. Such as :

Transparency in the governing process; and better office and record management.

Saving of time and cost and proving one window service. Checking corruption; and better decision making.

Further study :

What could be alternative strategies to create awareness for Gyandoot among all the socio-economic classes.

Today Gyandoot is functioning as a separate unit. A study can be carried out to devise a strategy such that developmental activities can be

integrated to produce a better focus.

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