Objective
The objective of this project is to understand the technological, financial and logistical constraints in bringing about a well connected network of rural internet kiosks in India, and to attempt to design an improved system of bringing relevant information to farmers in near real time.
Overview
The issue of vital information to farmers is not new. Dhows like Krishi Darshan were among the first introduced on Indian TV. Yet, with issues like poor computer infrastructure, unreliable phone and satellite connectivity, and poor roadways, making progress in remote villages still remains difficult for today’s rural internet kiosks.
New start-up KioskNet has been set up by IIT alumni, and it combines new and old technology, thereby eliminating the need for unreliable infrastructure at certain stages of the bidirectional information transfer. Further, they have made their software and hardware configurations open source, so that it may be studied and improved. Perhaps more importantly, I will try to address the issue of scalability of the project to more villages in India.
The issue of vital information to farmers is not new. Dhows like Krishi Darshan were among the first introduced on Indian TV. Yet, with issues like poor computer infrastructure, unreliable phone and satellite connectivity, and poor roadways, making progress in remote villages still remains difficult for today’s rural internet kiosks.
New start-up KioskNet has been set up by IIT alumni, and it combines new and old technology, thereby eliminating the need for unreliable infrastructure at certain stages of the bidirectional information transfer. Further, they have made their software and hardware configurations open source, so that it may be studied and improved. Perhaps more importantly, I will try to address the issue of scalability of the project to more villages in India.
Approach
· Detailed understanding of how KioskNet works, by interviewing its founder, and my cousin, an IIT Delhi alum. I had previously attended his pilot presentation at IIT Madras.
· Analysis of the current problems associated bringing internet to villages in India
· Reviewing the current government policies and concessions provided for rural internet
· Taking clues about substitute materials and strategies from rural kiosks in other developing countries, including successful models in Africa
· Trying to analyze the current flowchart with an operations and optimization perspective
· Coming up with suitable modifications to KioskNet and how it will educate farmers to use the new system
· Detailed understanding of how KioskNet works, by interviewing its founder, and my cousin, an IIT Delhi alum. I had previously attended his pilot presentation at IIT Madras.
· Analysis of the current problems associated bringing internet to villages in India
· Reviewing the current government policies and concessions provided for rural internet
· Taking clues about substitute materials and strategies from rural kiosks in other developing countries, including successful models in Africa
· Trying to analyze the current flowchart with an operations and optimization perspective
· Coming up with suitable modifications to KioskNet and how it will educate farmers to use the new system
I am stating some of the earlier efforts to set up rural internet kiosks that may help you:
ReplyDelete1) Akshaya project by Govt. of Kerala
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akshaya_project
2) eChoupal by ITC (Setting up internet Kiosks was one of the part of this project)
Additionally, you can also do a study on what kind of services should such kiosks offer so that entrepreneurs operating them can have sound earnings
To avoid reinventing the wheel, you may like to study Dr Kalam's PURA project, the scheme of 'Citizen Service Centre in 2.5 gram panchayats', and also whether cheap smart phones can complement this.
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