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Rural folk get Net saavy in Madhya Pradesh An illiterate farmer in the sleepy hamlet of Dehrisaria in Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh browses the Internet - not to gain access to the various dot.coms - but to get first hand information of the price of potatoes. "This magic box is a handy equipment in preventing the dominance and exploitation of the local traders," says Shyamlal, expertly manoeuvring the mouse at the gyandoot centre. Farmers in Bagadi village were getting the rate of Rs 300 per quintal from local traders for their potato crop. On getting the rate slip from the soochnalaya (information centre) made available through the Net, they could not believe that the current rate in Indore mandi (market) was Rs 400 per quintal. They then decided to take their produce to Indore. Apart from posting the price of potatoes, the Net caters to a variety of needs of the villagers. A bemused Shankarlal says, "I had applied for a scheduled caste application form six days ago and an online reply three days later asked me to collect my form". "How can something which took years of corridor hopping finish off in days," he says, trying to get himself abreast with the high speed technology. The soochnalaya set up in Dhar district was a refreshing change from the hackneyed thinking that information technology is only for the elite. Wired for as low as Rs 25 lakh, the government has plans to gradually increase the number of "rural infocrats". State Industry and Information Technology Minister Narendra Nahta said, "The thrust of our information technology policy unveiled last year was on filtering the recipe of the technology to the lowest rung of the populace". "How can we develop a hi-tech centre around Bhopal while keeping the rural folks out of its helms," he quipped. The cost of each centre was merely Rs 75,000 he said, adding that more such soochnalayas may be established through funds mobilised from panchayats, private investors or people availing of bank loans. In pursuance of its commitment to use this technology as a tool for effective e-governance, the state government has already issued the tender for setting 140 information kiosks with similar facilities. Another major problem which beset the farmers was that of getting land records, the minister pointed out, adding that the problem had been greatly rectified with the establishment of the village Net centres. The gyandoot villages in 31 gram panchayats act as communication links between the government and the villagers, he said, adding that routine complaints like the non-functioning of hand pumps or irregular teacher attendance could be flashed through a mere click of the mouse. The network has also connected the M Y Medical College hospital at Indore with the Dhar hospital and some primary health centres to bolster the medical delivery system. "By bridging the rural-urban schism, the Dhar experiment has clearly shown a paradigm shift in the arena of information technology through minimum investment," Nahta stated. On January 1, Dhar district had created history by entering into the millennium with a mass-based revolution. Computers in 21 soochnalayas in five blocks of the district were connected through an intranet network. The computers were established in gram panchayats with the help of the zila panchayat. From the soochnalayas, user-charge based services are given and at the same time, the information technology-related development needs of the government and panchayats are met free of cost. People outside the district can avail of some of these facilities through the corresponding Internet website www. Gyandoot.Net. Established at a cost of Rs 25 lakh through funds available with the panchayats, each soochnalaya caters to the surrounding 25-30 villages. The district and block levels communicate through Hindi e-mail. The person selected to operate the centres are local youth called soochak. They are selected interactively by gram panchayats and receive training at their own cost at the zila panchayat. He/she runs the centre at his/her own cost and pays 10 per cent of income as commission to the zila panchayat.
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