Grameen Gyan Abhiyan

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She Needs HelpSixty years after Independence, it is worth reflecting on the thought thatwomen are the backbone of the nation’s economy as a whole, especiallyin rural India. Studies have shown that women work nearly five hoursmore than men, averaging 14 hours and nine hours respectively. Time usestudies in six major States show that womenoverall enjoy only five minutes leisure a day,while for men the figure is two hours a day, andthat women sleep two hours less than men.Here is a challenge to our Science andTechnology institutions — to develop lowcost,appropriate technology to specifically address the issue of reductionof drudgery and burdensome labour in the so-called “domestic”domain, based on local resources, and combining traditional skills withenvironmental and health concerns. Is this not as inspiring a vision or asexciting a task as developing rockets to go to the stars or instruments tokill other human beings?A few innovative institutions in the country are already developingsuch technologies — now it needs to be taken up in the mainstream,sponsored by the Government and carried with the help of media to thecountryside, especially the most needy and remote areas,By Mrs. Mina Swaminathan, Advisor, MSSRFTelecentre on WheelsGGA Partner, ‘Change Initiative’ Works To Better TheLives Of Rural WomenA mobile solar powered tricycle, equipped with power panels, laptopsand printers travels from one village to another and through this mobileICT, helps the communities to sell their products, access information onhealth, education, agriculture, human rights and law in the local languageand at their doorstep. Villagers learn of local employment opportunities,fertiliser information, and can even post queries about any crop diseaseor soil problems on certain forum for solutions.This is the Telecentreon Wheels (ToW), anexperimental project of therural NGO, Change Initiatives,launched in November 2007,with the support of UNESCOand WBREDA (WestBengal Renewable EnergyDevelopment Agency). It covers 4 villages: Ghoragacha,Madandanga,Kantabelia and Teligacha in West Bengal’s Nadia district.Selected villagers from the community are given training in basiccomputing and they then train e-literate volunteers who can help thevillagers access the information they need. This initiative also enables adigital archive of local content on issues concerning women, youth and‘Several interventions are needed to improve livesof women and girl child’ The Union Minister ofState for Women and Child Welfare Smt. RenukaChoudhary has therefore proposed an outlay ofRs.72,000 crore for women and child welfare inthe 11th Plan.rural livelihoods that is relevantto villagers.Change Initiatives is workingwith rural communities in thefield of ICT for developmentin the Indian state of WestBengal for the past 5 years.In the remote areas of Indiadue to lack of communication,electricity and connectivity, people cannot access ICTs even if they aremade available. As a first step, Change Initiatives started using laptopsin two villages, Ghoragacha and Madandanga, on a regular basis, todisseminate information in the initial stages of the TeleSupport Project.Taking the process forward, it was decided to develop a mobile van thatwould travel from one village to another with the laptop computer tobring pace to the work and provide more accessibility. But the problem ofelectricity remained unresolved. Internet connectivity was another majorobstacle.In mid-2007, Change Initiatives came in contact with WBREDA whichhad developed a solar-rickshaw van for selling diesel in villages. Solarpower is required to measure the diesel outflow. This solar van opened anavenue for mobile telecentres. Carrying the idea forward, it was possibleto take ICT tools to the village, without any dependence on local poweravailability.With the support of UNESCO and WBREDA, the Telecentre on Wheelswas finally launched on 6th November 2007.TOW also aims to develop a financially sustainable model from the verybeginning of its operation by providing few IT enabled services such asdigital photography, print out of forms, basic DTP work. It will also enablethe sale of local produce of women SHGs.This is however, just a beginning. Change Initiatives is now looking forinternet solutions as well as low-cost alternatives for the laptop computerto widen the scope of the network area.Ms. Jhulan Ghose and Ms. Sanghamitra Majumdar are the ProgrammeCoordinators with Change Initiative.Voice Of The PeopleSANGHAM FM Radio Run by Women in APDeccan Development Society, a grassroots organisation in Telangana,Andhra Pradesh and a GGA partner, has initiated Sangham FM, the firstcommunity radio to be launched in the country.Sangham FM made waves in Andhra Pradesh by catering to the needsof people in their local dialect by narrowcasting news capsules, relevantto the community, in the nearby villages on specific days. Villagers werehappy and eager consumers of information on issues such as biodiversityand seed sovereignty. Says Himmat Rao, a villager, “Now I can receiveinformation specific to certain crops like millets and other minor grain,central to our food security and dietary requirements, which had beenmarginalised.”Following the popularity, Deccan Development Society, that works withsangams or village level groups of rural poor women most of who areDalits, set up Community Media Trust, a separate group established to
We are living in an age where human knowledge, particularly scientific and technological knowledge, is increasing at anunprecedented pace. Access to this knowledge has become a principal determinant of the power and wealth of nations.India has to harness the full potential of modern science and technology to realize our development ambitions.Dr. Manmohan Singh Hon’ble Prime Minister of India addressing the 95th Indian Science Congressrun the community radio station at Pastapur in Madak district in thebackward Telegana region in AP. This FM radio station shall be managedby Dalits, mostlywomen. It recentlygot the communityradio license fromthe Ministry ofInformation andBroadcasting forthe station to goon air. Community radio has a radius of 10 kilometres.Radio is a natural medium for these women who have extraordinarynarrative skills. Most of them are illiterate but resourceful and theyalready have ready content for more than 600 hours.They have recorded programs on topics like empowerment of women,local problems relating to health, indigenous knowledge and traditions.They invite the impoverished individuals and community people to singfolk songs many of which relate to the unbelievable cropping diversityand agrarian questions in the region.The poor Dalit women, have their own expectations from a radio of theirown. Their arguments are extraordinarily original and unmatched for theirlogic. They have suggested that a radio of their own would provide amore effective medium for articulating locally relevant issues, in their ownlanguage, and in their own time.The community video and radio also focus on an alternative to literacythroughharnessing people’s knowledge in the fields of forestry, fisheries, naturalfarming, wasteland development, on-farm biodiversity natural resourcemanagement, etc.With the linkage of more villages, experts point out that the availablespectrum can accommodate 100 to 200 community FM stations in thenext five years. Community radiosare eligible to seek funding frommultilateral aid agencies.The Deccan DevelopmentSociety, started the communityradio to take forward its vision ofconsolidating village groups intovibrant organs of primary localgovernance and federate them into a strong pressure lobby for women,poor and Dalits. The Society also facilitates a host of continuing dialoguesand debates with the public, educational and training programmes to tryto translate this vision into reality.Mr. P V Satheesh Director, Deccan Development Society, Sangham Radio,Pastapur Village, Zaheerabad Mandal, Medak District - 502 220 AndhraPradesh, ddsrural@sancharnet.inMEET YOUR MPSrimathi RANJEET RANJANSrimathi Ranjeet Ranjan, a sports woman, is one of the youngest Memberof Parliament from one of the least enviable Indian constituency ofSaharsa, Bihar, close to the Nepal border.This land, on the banks of the Kosi river,is fertile but prone to annual flooding thathas led to soil erosion and is the majorreason for poor connectivity of the area asbridges get washed away. Her people areamong the poorest in the country facingproblems of infrastructure, power, healthand education besides major corruption.Taking up their cause, Srimathi Ranjeet Ranjan has raised the maximumnumber of questions in Parliament. She believes politics translates tosocial work. She is eager to introduce much needed changes through ICTin her constituency.What is your mission as MP?For me, politics translates to social work. That is my mission as long as Iam an MP.What are your primary concerns for yourconstituency?Our people are poor. For instance, we have a lot of projects and schemesfor rural development from the government. But people are not aware ofthese projects. The poor people are not aware of more than 50 per centof the schemes. The schemes do not reach the people for whom they aremeant.For instance, the government has a scheme whereby a pregnant womanis to be paid Rs. 1400 if she gets the delivery done in a governmenthealth centre. For them, this is a big amount. More than 50 per cent ofthe women do not know this.The philosophy underlying the development of a knowledge based society is that science and technology should providebasic human needs. In other words, there is a “social contract of science and technology”When science moves close to society, it not only contributes to explosion of knowledge but also to the shaping of the socialvision.Dr. R. Ramamurthi Rallapalli, General President Indian Science Congress addressing the 95th Indian Science Congress
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Grameen Gyan Abhiyan

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