Rural progress
The
World Wide Web has finally made it to rustic India —courtesy
a corporate enterprise named TARAhaat
Though
Punavali Kalan is like any other village located deep in the impoverished
region of Bundelkhand, it stands apart from the rest for its 'clan'
solely by virtue of being technology savvy. This settlement of 3,800
inhabitants is an oasis where information is exchanged, discussed,
analysed and applied to enhance community life, all through the World
Wide Web through TARAkendra—a hybrid centre working for the social
and economic development in rural communities. It is a franchise of
TARAhaat Information and Marketing Services (TARAhaat), India's premier
social enterprise. Using Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) to deliver a broad spectrum of services and products designed
for the rural and peri-urban citizens of India, TARAhaat delivers
its services through a network of franchised community and business
centres owned by individual entrepreneurs. Launched as a pilot in
late 2000 in Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, it later
expanded its operations into Punjab the following year. Today TARAhaat
has around 33 centres and is in the midst of major expansion plans.
The buzzing TARAkendra at Punavali Kalan for instance is run by sister
duo - Rajmani and Priti Parmar, who have become intrinsically involved
in the daily life of every villager. One of TARAhaat's early franchisees,
TARAkendra was opened adjacent to their home. Since Rajmani was familiar
with computers she managed the centre from the start, at the same
time encouraging Priti to
Initiative Matters m The World Wide Web has finally made it to rustic
India—courtesy a corporate enterprise named TARAhaat Rural progress
enroll for its computer courses. The sisters are concentrating on
their business at an age when their counterparts are thinking of prospective
grooms. Though dial-up or subscriber lines are yet unheard of here,
the access to the Web is available through VSAT located at their centre.
TARAhaat also provides courses on enhancing vocational skills, thereby
strengthening the community through its outreach activities. Users
of TARAhaat have found numerous ways of improving their lives. Stories
abound about how the local community has found new ways of using computers
and the Internet to learn, grow and solve their day-to-day problems.
Like when the village faced the problem of acute water shortage and
sanitation facilities, Rajmani and Priti volunteered to tackle this
and their door-to-door visits to encourage women to come forward and
work together towards reviving the system met with considerable success.
While there are still some issues pending, the path towards sustainability
has been re-established.
The
community outreach programme for young women, Meljol, is yet another
intervention that has met a huge success. What began as a small programme
has today grown to see more than 30 young girls actively involved
in it. Under this programme, the girls get together once a week to
learn a variety of activities such as learning English speaking skills,
improving basic literacy skills, cutting and stitching, embroidery
and painting and henna designs. One of the biggest successes in this
group is 17-year old Kaushalya Kevat, who was an illiterate when she
came to the TARAkendra. Within a brief twomonth period Kaushalya has
attained basic numeric and literacy skills in Hindi and is now looking
forward to attaining literacy in English. And then there is Shobha
Rajput who earns Rs 100 a day as a result of TARAhaat's stitching
classes.
She
sources her designs off the Internet making her a much sought after
tailor in her village. Kalpana Singh, a biology teacher at the school
in Punavali, is another individual whose life has changed due to this
noble initiative. Thanks to a chance meeting with the Parmar sisters
at her school, Kalpana discovered the World Wide Web and since then
has spent many hours at the centre upgrading her skills. Married to
Dr Rajendra Singh she helps him by looking for medical information
relevant to her training in pathology. Recently when faced with a
patient with a suspected case of ectopic pregnancy, she helped her
husband by downloading information from the Internet. Today, Kalpana
and her husband are both champions of the Internet and unofficial
ambassadors of TARAkendra. TARAhaat has not only changed lives of
individuals but also that of the entire community as well. Children,
who once played gulli-danda in the streets, now zip across computer
screen with equal alacrity. Women, who hesitated to consult a male
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