Over 7,500 artisans in Orissa are working towards increasing their income by 25 per cent by using the Net to reach their markets directly and save the money spent earlier on intermediaries with the help of mitra Technology Foundation’s handicrafts e-trade centre. Rahul Barkataky, director, mitra, and Dambrudhar Behera of Anwesha Tribal Arts and Crafts, an association of the beneficiaries, say that they are set to take the turnover, which stood at Rs 97,000 in 1993, to Rs 50 lakh this year.
Thousands of families in north Kerala’s Malappuram district can now learn basic computer skills and access content at the 565 internet kiosks, each comprising five computers, set up by the Kerala IT Mission as part of the Akshaya project. The state government plans to set up 9,000 ICT centres to be used by at least one member of each of the 65 lakh families in the state. Says G.R. Kiran, mission coordinator: "Kerala has strengths like a literate population, fibre-optic connectivity right up to the panchayat level and strong panchayati raj institutions. To replicate that in, say, Bihar would be extremely difficult."
Students in 3,700 schools in as many villages in 17 blocks in Karnataka, 500 schools in as many villages in 10 mandals in Andhra Pradesh and 300 municipal schools in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat are benefiting from the Azim Premji Foundation (APF). It has set up learning centres to develop and provide curricular and non-curricular content, train teachers, drive projects such as a local content creation and promote computer-assisted learning. The Karnataka government and APF have launched a joint campaign to obtain used computers and hardware that can accelerate the proliferation of such centres. The innovative initiatives range from interactive movies to help children learn alphabets to getting the students to use handycams and shoot small films on topics of their choice in their own villages.
Four villages in the Kuppam rural community in AP are improving literacy, creating new jobs and accessing government services by using ICTs as a result of a three-year alliance between Hewlett Packard and the state government. Villagers can now access automated government services for land records, birth and death registrations and online bill payment facilities. They are also able to make use of connectivity to schools, colleges and hospitals and vocational training through direct and distance learning, health and agricultural advice.