Download Agartala-Aug03

Commercial Internet Connectivity in every village
-
Towards Doubling Rural GDP
in India
Ashok Jhunjhunwala
TeNeT Group, IIT Madras, Chennai, India
[email protected]
The Dream
Current Rural GDP in India = Rs 650 Crore
For a Population
= 65 Crore people
GDP / Person
= Rs 10000
Rural Prosperity
DOUBLING Rural GDP
Rs 20000 / Person
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Rural Wheel of Prosperity - The
Wealth Creators
Agriculture
Trade &
Commerce
Animal
Husbandry
IT-Based
Services
Agricultural
Processing
Industry
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Rural Wheel of Prosperity – The Enablers
Agriculture
Trade &
Commerce
Animal
Husbandry
• Finance
• Commerce
• Training &
Information
IT-Based
Services
Agricultural
Processing
Industry
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Enabling Finance, Commerce and
Training and Information
Agriculture
Trade &
Commerce
Animal
Husbandry
The Key Enabler
is
Communications
IT-Based
Agricultural
Services
Processing
Industry
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How does one
connect Rural India

India has 600,000+ villages
 650 million people


can Rural India afford Connections?
Need



Technology
Sustainable Business Model
Organisation which can think and act Rural
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Serving people with incomes of
less than a dollar a day
Rs spend per month on Telecom by HH assuming 4% of income can be spent on Telecom
120
360
520
720
1040
3.9
1.9
18
26
1680
2600
7000
1
0.3
0.3
42
65
112
Number of HH in millions
120
102.1
100
80
60
40
17
20
10
0
3
9
13
HH Incom e in thousand Rs/m onth

75% rural households can spend barely Rs 120 per month on telecom
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n-Logue uses innovative Technology to
connect Rural India

BSNL has fibre connectivity to most Talukas

CorDECT WLL developed at IITM
• provides a telephone line and Internet connection in 30 Km radius
• can connect 85% of Indian villages
• start-up costs very low

To PSTN
To Internet
35/70 kbps Internet plus
simultaneous telephone
• Rs 8000 per line price
•1 million lines in 03-04
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Aggregate Demand

Entrepreneur-driven telephone booths (STD PCOs)
introduced in 1987
• night-time long distance charges reduced by a
factor of 4

Today
• 950,000 STD PCOs covering every street of
smallest town
• generate 25 % of total telecom income
• 300 million people use these PCOs
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Organisations with
Innovative Business Models

N-Logue : A Rural Service Provider

aggregate demand into a kiosk using

Rs 50000 (including taxes) per Kiosk providing telephone, Internet,
multimedia PC with web-camera, printer and power back-up for PC
• plus Indian language software, video conferencing software, training and maint

set up by a village entrepreneur on the line of STD PCOs
• needs only Rs 3000 per month to break even
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1] - Equipment

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A Computer

With Speakers and
Microphone

A Web Camera

Printer

An Internet Connection

A Power Backup

Local Language
Applications

At under Rs 50,000
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n-Logue Deployment Strategy
Telephone Backbone
Application &
Content Providers
Internet Backbone
•
•
•
•
•
Scope:
1 –3 Talukas
25 Km radius, 2000 sq km
4 – 500 K population
2 - 5 towns
300 -400 villages
500 + Connections (at least 1 in each
village)
ACCESS
CENTRE
Connections:
• Individuals
• Government
— schools and PHCs
• Kiosks
LSP
Banks
$ 1000 / Kiosk
KIOSK
OPERATOR
Banks
Micro Finance Organisations
Word-processor in Indian Languages
Multi-lingual Office Package
IITM Chennai Kavigal
Video-conferencing from OOPS/IITM
Communicating with the Communications
Minister (Shri Thirunavakarasu)
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The Agricultural Expert is no longer
far away …
Before
In a Village in
Madurai, the
Lady’s Finger
(Okra) crop
was turning white
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The problem was
sent to the
experts at the
Department of
Rural Extension,
Madurai
Agricultural
College and
Research Centre
who diagnosed it
as “Yellow
Mosaic disease”
After
16
Savings
Saving to farmer - Rs 1.5 Lakhs
Cost of Information - tens of
Rupees
The
Farmer’s
Field
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The Vet is On The Net …
•This goat had a wound
near its mouth and could
not eat for a week
• The advice from the
doctor cured its problem
in 2 days
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Emergencies are no longer
Calamities …
In the village of T
Pudupatti, all hens are
dying one by one. The
symptoms for these
hens are: First, their
weight reduces and
finally,
their
necks
shrink. At this stage
they die immediately.
Until now, 300 hens
have died in this way.
How do we stop this?
Please
give
us
a
solution immediately.
From A. Sakkarai"
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… because Help is at Hand

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A visit from the
Government
Veterinary
Officials to
vaccinate all hens
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Epidemics can be prevented with a
Doctor on Call


A potential epidemic of Chicken Pox was halted by a simple
email to the right people
Instant response from the Government Doctors
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Ordinary People have a Voice …
 This
is Veeramani - a man with
disabilities
 His
job was to operate the pump
for the Village Overhead Tank
 The
Village Head removed from
his job and gave the post to one
of his relatives
 Through
the kiosk, he sent an
email petition to the Chief
Minister’s Cell, attaching a
photograph of himself
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Even the Chief Minister is not far
away …
58276
A letter came back
from the CM’s Cell
asking that he be
reinstated
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In response to the CM’s
letter, the BDO sent
instructions to the Village
Head that he given back
his job - permanently
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Eye Care
• An email is sent to the Aravind
Eye Hospital with a photograph
attached
• The patient is told that her
problem was not serious and
could wait for some time
• The Benefits?
1) She saved a visit to the
hospital
2) She knows she has to make
that visit after 2 months
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Online Consultations
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General Health – An Online Clinic
with a Doctor
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Talking to an Agricultural Expert
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Video-conferencing
(6 kiosks in conversation)
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Bridging the Digital Divide – Computer
Education for Rural Children
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Digital Studio – Low cost
Photography
Photograph taken
with a Web Camera
Photograph
at Printing
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Can Kiosks become Micro-banks?

TeNeT and n-Logue working with ICICI Bank





Remote Bill Payment
Rural ATM
Micro-finance
Remittance
Credit and Product Marketing is one of the biggest
requirement of Rural India
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Knowledge and Training

Another Driver of Rural Prosperity


Information Dissemination and Knowledge Enhancement
Need a Virtual University in every District
to enable this

Basic Structure would
• Consist of a Central Hub
• And Knowledge Extension Centres in every village
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The Extension Centre
• Virtual Extension of the
University
• Located in Every Village
• Enhanced Village Internet
Kiosk equipped with
•Computer(s)
•Internet Connection
•Web Camera and
Multimedia
•Power backup
•Local Language Software
• Run by a local person who
is trained to facilitate the
learning process
There will about 1000 such
Extension Centres in Every
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To Sum Up


Doubling of Rural GDP will change India

Finance, Commerce, Training & Information are key

Wireless Internet can enable these
Internet in Rural Area is the key Infrastructure for a
prosperous India
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