DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT

G.H. BHAKTA MANAGEMENT ACADEMY

BUSINESS INFORMATION SYSTEM

Topic-USE OF IT IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT

SUBMITTED BY:

UPADHYAYA MEGHALKUMAR
N.

TOPIYA SRUSHTI M.

YADAV TARUN

F.Y.MBA (FULL-TIME)

TO: -PROF.
  INTRODUCTION

India is a country of villages and about 50% of the villages have very poor socio- economic
conditions. Rural India has always been associated with misery, poverty, lower status of living and
lack of opportunities.

Rural population (% of total population) in India was reported at 64.61 % in 2021, according to the
World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. India
- Rural population - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from
the World Bank on October of 2022.

India is witnessing a continuous GDP growth rate of around 8%. The contribution of rural area has
been depriving. The Information Technology can help in bridging the gap between urban and rural
areas by hastening the development of rural areas and by bringing urban amenities in rural areas by
encompassing the sector like education, healthcare, agriculture, e-governance, communication,
various services accessibility, banking, support to small scale industries etc.

Since the dawn of independence constant efforts have been made to emancipate the living standard
of rural masses. The five-year plans of the central government also largely aim at Rural
Development.

The Ministry of Rural Development in India is the apex body for formulating policies, regulations
and acts pertaining to the development of the rural sector. Agriculture, handicrafts, fisheries, poultry,
and diary are the primary contributors to the rural business and economy.

Rural Development which is concerned with economic growth and social justice, improvement in the
living standard of the rural people by providing adequate and quality social services and minimum
basic needs becomes essential.

The present strategy of rural development mainly focuses on poverty alleviation, better livelihood
opportunities, provision of basic amenities and infrastructure facilities through innovative
programmes of wage and self- employment.

ICT is the new tool for rural development. Information and Communication Technology, if used
properly can be of great advantage for the development at grass root levels. At the same time
challenge remains with the administration to capture the minds of the rural masses, mostly illiterate,
to make them adapt the new technology which is completely alien to them.

There are various Rural development schemes run by the government of India and also organizations
are present to look after the implementations of these programmes.

In 2020-21, the Department of Rural Development has an allocation of Rs 1,20,147 crore, accounting
for 98% of the Ministry’s allocation.  It witnessed a 2% decrease in funds from revised estimates of
2019-20.  Budget outlay of Rs. 131519.08 crores have been allocated to the department of Rural
Development for the Financial Year 2021-22 and Budget outlay of Rs. 135944.29 crores have been
allocated to the department of Rural Development for the Financial Year 2022-23.

 Schemes for Rural Development launched by Government of India Through ICT

The Department of Rural Development under the Ministry is responsible for implementation of

many major schemes in rural areas.  These schemes are targeted at poverty reduction, provision of
basic services, employment generation, rural infrastructure and habitation development.  

1. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY):

This scheme launched on 25th December, 2000 and fully sponsored by the Central Government of
India. The main objective of this scheme is to provide connectivity, by way of all-weather road, to
the unconnected habitations in the rural areas.

According to the current data provided on the PMGSY website, under the scheme the government
has completed length of 2,10,239 Kms road length were completed using new and green
technologies in PMGSY. The scheme has been allocated Rs 19,500 crore in 2020-21, accounting for
16.2% of the Department’s budget.

2. Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY):

SGSY was launched on April 1,1999. This scheme introduced to assist the poor families living
below the poverty line in rural areas for taking up self-employment. The scheme will be funded by
the Centre and the States in the ration of 75:25 and will be implemented by commercial banks,
regional rural banks and co-operative banks. This was implemented as a total package with all the
characteristics of self-employment such as proper training, development of infrastructure, planning
of activities, financial aid, credit from banks, organizing self-help groups, and subsidies.

3. Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY):

This scheme aims at increasing the food protection by the means of wage employment in the rural
areas which are affected by the calamities after the appraisal of the state government and the
appraisal is accepted by the Ministry of Agriculture.

4. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA):

MNREGA Launched on 2nd February 2006 as a momentous initiative towards pro-poor growth. For
the first time, rural communities have been given not just a development programme but also a
regime of rights. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005
(MNREGA) guarantees 100 days of employment in a financial year to any rural household whose
adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work. Now, 15,50,87,000 workers are active in
MNREGA.

5. Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) / Indira Awas Yojana:

Pradhan Mantri AwaasYojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) is one of the flagship schemes of the Government
of India launched on 20th November, 2016 which aims to provide “Housing for All” through the
provision of pucca house with basic amenities to all houseless households and households living in
kutcha and dilapidated house in rural areas by March 2024.

Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Grameen (PMAY-G) for providing housing to BPL households. As
on 27.12.2021, a total of 2.15 Crore houses have been sanctioned and 1.68 Crore houses have been
completed. In 2022, total 2,47,13,385 houses sanctioned in PMAY. In 2022, the government has
sanctioned over Rs 48,000 crore for the scheme in the budget, and the government aims to reach a
target of almost 80 lakh this year.
6. Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM):

Launched in 2011, the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission
(DAY-NRLM) aims at mobilizing about 9-10 crore rural poor households into Self Help
Groups (SHGs) in a phased manner and provide them long-term support such that they
diversify their livelihoods, improve their incomes and quality of life.

As on 30th November 2021, Mission has its footprints in 6769 blocks of 706 districts in 30
states and 6 UTs. In the current year, 248 blocks have been covered with the mobilization of
41.02 lakh households into 3.81 lakh SHGs. In 2020-21, the funds allocated to the scheme (Rs
9,210 crore) comprise 7.7% of the Department’s finances.

7. Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY):

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) aims to skill rural youth who are
poor and provide them with jobs having regular monthly wages or above the minimum wages. It is
one of the cluster of initiatives of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India that
seeks to promote rural livelihoods.

It is a part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) - the Mission for poverty reduction
called Aajeevika. The scheme will benefit more than 55 million poor rural youth who are ready to be

skilled by providing sustainable employment. During FY 2021-22, a total of 23,186 candidates have
been trained.

8. Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY):

Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) was launched on 11 October 2014 with the aim of creating
holistically developed model Gram Panchayats across the country. Primarily, the goal is to develop
three Adarsh Grams by March 2019, of which one would be achieved by 2016. Thereafter, five such
Adarsh Grams (one per year) will be selected and developed by 2024.
These ‘Adarsh Grams’ serve as ‘nucleus of health, cleanliness, greenery and cordiality’ within the
village community and, become schools of local development and governance, inspiring neigh
boring Gram Panchayats. In 2021-22 the funds allocated to the scheme comprise 7.7% of the
Department’s finances. 146 Gram Panchayats under Phase-VI for development under SAGY as on
29 December 2021-2022.

9. Pradhan Mantri Krushi Sinchayee Yojana – Watershed Component:

The main objective of the Integrated Watershed development programme is to restore the ecological
balance by harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative
cover and water. The process leads to prevention of soil run-off, regeneration of natural vegetation
and recharge of the ground water table. It enables multi-cropping and diverse agro based activities.
This promotes sustainable livelihood option for the nearby population.

10. National urban Mission:

The urban Mission follows the vision of "Development of a cluster of villages that preserve
and nurture the essence of rural community life with focus on equity and inclusiveness
without compromising with the facilities perceived to be essentially urban in nature, thus
creating a cluster of "urban villages”. This scheme helps to improve health and educational
status and to fulfil basic needs viz. food, shelter and clothing of rural people. In 2020-21, the
funds allocated to the scheme comprise 0.5% of the Department’s finances.

11. DWCRA (Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas):

This scheme was launched on September, 1982. It focuses on women’s economic empowerment
focusing on women as they are critical to the country’s development. The DWCRA programme aims
to raise the incomes of rural women in poor households and enables organised participation of
women groups in the programmes of skill training, credit and infrastructure support for self-
employment, so that the DWCRA women as a group could take up income-generating activities for
supplementing their incomes. The DWCRA programme seeks to enhance the quality of general well
being of women and children by improving their access in the following areas: health, education,
safe drinking water, child care, sanitation and nutrition. The primary objective of this scheme is to
improve the health, socio-economic and educational status of rural women by creating employment
opportunities. In 2020-21, 70 lakhs DWCRA women beneficiaries.

The Scheme had been merged into Swarna Jayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) with IRDP,
TRYSEM etc. from April, 1999.

Aajeevika- National Rural

Livelihoods Mission
 Rural Development in India-Organizations

1. Department of Rural Development in India:

This department provides services such as training and research facilities, human resource
development, functional assistance to the DRDA, oversees the execution of projects and schemes.
Haryana State Cooperative Apex Bank Limited: The main purpose of the Haryana State Cooperative
Apex Bank Limited is to financially assist the artisans in the rural areas, farmers and agrarian
unskilled labour, small and big rural entrepreneurs of Haryana.

2. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development:

The main purpose of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development is to provide credit
for the development of handicrafts, agriculture, small scaled industries, village industries, rural
crafts, cottage industries, and other related economic operations in the rural sector.

3. Sindhanur Urban Souharda Co-operative Bank:

The main purpose of the Sindhanur Urban Souharda Co-operative Bank is to provide financial
support to the rural sector.
4. Rural Business Hubs (RBH):

RBH was set up with the purpose of developing agriculture. The Rural Business Hubs Core Groups
helps in the smooth functioning of the Rural Business Hubs.

Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART): The main purpose
of this organization is to promote and organize the joint venture, which is emerging between the
Government of India and the voluntary organizations pertaining to the development of the rural
sector.

 Government Initiative for Rural Development Through ICT:

There are many ways in which Information Technology can be used to exchange the information
about one person to another. It also helps in determining marketing information, fluctuation, better
strategies for improving agricultural productivity as well as crop management information. There are
several information and communication tools are as follow:

(a) Kisaan SMS Portal:

In the rural area, farmers are not much aware of the latest technologies developed International
Journal of Academic Research and Development for the improvement of the agricultural
productivity. In this portal farmer get relevant information in their own or regional language. The
government is extending regular advisories to more than 5.00 crore farmers through Kisaan SMS
portal 24,62,37,10,138 SMSs have been sent to the farmers since launch of this portal on 25/5/2013
till 28/6/2021.

(b) Kisan Call Centre:

It is an expert advisory system, which help the farmers to provide appropriate information about
agricultural activities. The farmers need to call toll free number 1800-180-1551 to seek expert advice
to related agricultural activities. In 2021-22, total 10,91,237 calls have been registered by Kisan Call
Centre and total of 89.3 million farmer families are listed with the government.
(c) Kisan Vikas Kendra:

It is forming the backbone of information and technology dissemination in India. At present, around
630 KVKs are in operation whereas several new ones are being established. These KVKs work as a
link between scientific community and the Indian farmer by demonstrating new technology at district
level. The present Government has asked KVKs to use more and more ICT tools in their work to
reach the remotest farmer. Generous funding is being provided for this.

(d) e-Nam:

E-Nam is a electronic trading portal launched on 14 th April, 2016. It is a big electronic market
platform about agricultural product. This includes commodity arrivals & prices, buy & sell trade
offers, provision to respond to trade offers, among other services. It provides the transparency on sale
transactions and price discovery initially in regulated markets. A total of 1000 mandis of 18 states
and 3 union territories have been integrated with e-name platform and more than one crore 72 lakh
farmers have registered on this platform so far.

(e) e-Governance:

It is also known as electronic governance. It is an application of information and communication

technology for exchange information for government to our citizens. With the help of this, the
government services or administration will be made available to citizens in a convenient and
transparent manner.

(f) e-Chou pal:

e-Chou pal launched in June, 2000. e-Chou pal is an initiative of ITC Limited, a conglomerate in
India, to link directly with rural farmers via the Internet for procurement of agricultural products. It
tackles the challenges posed by Indian agriculture, characterized by fragmented farms, weak
infrastructure and the involvement of intermediaries. The programme installs computers with
Internet access in rural areas of India to offer farmers up-to-date marketing and agricultural
information. E-Chou pal services today reach out to over 4 million farmers growing a range of crops-
soyabean, coffee, wheat, rice, pulses in over 40,000 villages through 6500 kiosks across 10 states
including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu.

(g) A kash Ganga:

ICT is being used by Akash Ganga to help the milk producers of rural areas by making cooperative
societies and procuring milk and assists in maintaining accounts. In Gujarat first model of Dairy
Information System Kiosk (DISK) was implemented at Uttarsanda Dairy Cooperative Society. In
this society every farmer is having an individual identification card (plastic card). Their identification
is updated in PC when farmers come at Raw Milk Receiving Dock (RMRD) counter. As the milk is
emptied in the steel drum the weight of milk can be measured and at the same tie it is recorded in the
PC. However, one operator is required for filling the cans and a separator operator for measuring fat
content. The new technological development includes weighing balance, microprocessor, printer,
milk analysers and a display to carry out these operations.

(h) G yandoot:

The project was started in January,2000 and named as Gyandoot. Gyandoot is very beneficial as it is
economical and is owned by rural intranet system that is Soochnalaya, as it helps to fulfil the needs
of villagers in the district. Rural youth manage 35 such centres which were established since January,
2000. The unemployed educated youth were trained and they ran the Soochnalaya and are known as
Soochaks. They provide various types of services information related to agriculture, education,
health, issues related to women, information about market and user fee is charged for all this.

 Scope of ICT in Rural Development

Recent developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have introduced a

plethora of opportunities for development in every conceivable area. ICT as an enabler has broken
all bounds of cost, distance and time. The fusion of computing and communications, especially
through the internet has reduced the world indeed into global village creating new actors and new
environments. One of the major components and driving force of rural development is
communication.
Conventionally, communication includes electronic media, human communication & now
information technology (IT). All forms of communications have dominated the development scene in
which its persuasive role has been most dominant within the democratic political frame work of the
country.

Persuasive communication for rural development has been given highest priority for bringing about
desirable social and behavioural change among the most vulnerable rural poor and women. Initially,
the approach lacked gender sensitivity and empathy of the communicators and development agents
who came from urban elite homes. Added to these constraints is political will that still influences the
pace and progress of rural development.

Technological changes further compounded the direction of rural development as information and
communication technology (ICT) has been thought by communication and development workers as a
panacea for other ills that obstructs the development process.

It has led to indiscriminate applications and use of ICT in every aspect of information dissemination,
management & governance of development. While there are few shining examples of achievements
of ICT in development, there are a large number of failures and unauthenticated claims.

The closing decade of twentieth century was the opening of historic information and communication
technology interventions for development. This period has witnessed enormous and unprecedented
changes in every aspect of communications technologies policies, infrastructure development and
services. The ICT boom in India has already started changing the lives of Indian masses. The role of
ICT in Rural Development must be viewed in this changing scenario.

 Expected Role of ICT in Rural Development

Since the dawn of independence, concerted efforts have been made to ameliorate the living standard
of rural masses. So, rural development is an integrated concept of growth, and poverty elimination
has been of paramount concern in all the five-year plans. Rural Development (RD) programmes
comprise of following:

1. Provision of basic infrastructure facilities in the rural areas e.g., schools, health facilities, roads,
drinking water, electrification etc.

2. Improving agricultural productivity in the rural areas.

3. Provision of social services like health and education for socio-
economic development

4. Implementing schemes for the promotion of rural industry increasing agriculture productivity,
providing rural employment etc.

5. Assistance to individual families and Self-Help Groups (SHG) living below poverty line by
providing productive resources through credit and subsidy

Communication has been seen by a large number of development planners as a panacea for solving
major social evils and problems. Apart from development, the introduction of communication in the
educational process for open and distance learning is seen as step towards improving the quality of
education and bridging the social and educational gap.

ICT can be used towards betterment of education, agriculture, social awareness and health and
hygiene.

 Private Companies roles in information technology for Rural Development

Some of the Private companies plays an important role in information technology for rural
development.

1. ITC Group:

ITC Group’s large-scale Social Investments Programmes that have now come to be known as SIPs,
which form the backbone of MSK (Mission Sunehra Kal). MSK aims at building rural capacity in
partnership with local communities to develop water and forest resources, open up new non-farm
livelihoods, empower women, expand primary education, and drive future skilling in India.

2. Mahindra & Mahindra:

M&M for Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP). IWMP is a Private Public

Partnership model with the Government of Madhya Pradesh in Bhopal, and in Hatta with the
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), to increase the groundwater
table of the region.

Implemented in 48 villages (35 villages in Bhopal and 13 villages in Hatta), this project will help
increase agricultural productivity and improve overall standard of living, benefitting 38,447 people
residing in these villages.

3. Hero MotoCorp:

Hero MotoCorp takes a friendly approach towards rural development rather than a high-handed one
that corporates are notorious for. Hero MotoCorp  tries to make a positive influence on the aspects of
healthcare and basic infrastructure needs like access to power and water. Hero MotoCorp works with
implementing partners and agencies to make rural women self-reliant and encourage
entrepreneurship.

Apart from providing villages with basic healthcare facilities and revamping the schools in their
villages, the company has been engaged in doing need-based interventions as well as following such
practices which help in making villages self-sustainable.

4. Tata Group:

Transforming Rural India (TRI) is a Tata Trusts initiative that works to trigger a large-scale
transformation of villages in regions of endemic poverty. TRI’s long-term goal is to reach 100,000
villages in 1,000 blocks transforming 200 million lives.

TRI has launched the ‘Sarathi’ platform to support youth aspirants in villages, towards making
informed career choices and connecting them to a screened pool of Training Service Providers
(TSP).

5. NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation Limited):

NTPC spent INR 34.81 crores on funding rural development in 2020-21 alone. NTPC in rural
infrastructure includes building community halls and centres, road repair, distributing solar lights,
dam repair and village infrastructure. NTPC have focused on health, education, eradication of
poverty, income generation targeting farmers, women empowerment, etc. They aim at promoting a
healthy living with proper sanitation and safe drinking water in villages.

6. Aditya Birla Group:

The Aditya Birla Group has been involved in welfare driven initiatives that distinctively impact the
quality of life of the rural poor. The Group implements social welfare in 7,000 villages, reaching out
to 9 million people annually through the Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural
Development. Making of a model village entail ensuring self-reliance in all aspects viz., education,
healthcare and family welfare, infrastructure, agriculture and watershed management and working
towards sustainable livelihood patterns.

 Experiences and experiments

Communication has been seen by a large number of development planners as a panacea for solving
major social ills and problems. Apart from development, the introduction of communication in the
educational process for open and distance learning is seen as step towards improving the quality of
education and bridging the social and educational gap.

However, experience indicates that those rich who could afford to have access to private resources
have hogged the advantage whether development or education.

In this respect it seems that communication technology has, in no way has helped the poor for
improving their socioeconomic condition. Primarily the responsibility of rural development
remained with the government. In the pre-economic liberalization period, i.e., before 1992
broadcast media were used to reach the large rural population or target groups for the rural
development Ent projects.

In the post economic liberalization period, rural development projects added information and
communication technology (ICT) to provide individual need-based information in broad
development areas through Internet. After independence, the government took upon itself the major
responsibility of development. Hence, the central and state governments carried out development
projects. Two such projects are briefly described.
 1. Radio for Rural Development:

It is popularly known as “Radio Farm Forum” was one of the earliest efforts in the use of radio for
rural development. The experiment was carried out from February to April 1956 in five districts of
Maharashtra State by All India Radio (AIR).

Rural listener groups were organized, who would listen to radio broadcasts twice a week at 6.30p.m.
for half an hour. “The group then stayed together for discussion of what they had heard, the
discussion lasted usually, about half an hour, seldom less, frequently more”. The summative impact
evaluation indicated positive outcome of radio rural forum.

Impressive knowledge gains as a result of radio listening were reported across illiterates and literates,
agriculturists and no agriculturists, village leaders and others. However, over a period of time the
project withered away.

2. Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE):

It is considered to be one of the biggest techno-social communication experiments in education and

rural development. The one-year experiment (August 1975 - July1976) aimed to provide direct
broadcasting of instructional and educational television in 2400 villages in states of Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan.

Over 500 conventional television sets spread over 335 villages in Kheda district, Gujarat was also
part of SITE. Satellite technologists had called SITE as leap fogging from bullock cart stage to
satellite communication, which did not discriminate between rural poor and urban rich for
information and communication.

It had given 50 years communication led to rural poor of the country. SITE provided telecast for
rural primary school children in the age group 5 - 12 years studying in grades 1-5. Rural adults
viewed television programmes on improved agricultural practices, health and family planning. They
were also able to view news. Television was considered as window to the world. The telecast
reliability was above 99 per cent during the experiment period. More than 90 per cent direct
reception television sets were in working.
Both quantitative (survey) and qualitative in-depth (anthropological holistic study) evaluation
indicated modest gains in some areas, whereas no gain or negative gain in other areas. The
one-year duration was thought to be too little for any positive results.

Based on the experiences and positive gains, INSAT satellite was launched in 1981. Since then, a
series of INSAT satellites have been launched and used for nationwide television telecast for
education and development. The sad part is that, in spite of best efforts, satellite television has been
used for entertainment more than rural development. I am sad that my prediction came true that
satellite television will be used for entertainment and not rural development.

Information Technology and Rural Development in India could not be operationalised for large-
scale implementation in one form or the other. Lack of political will and indifference of 7
bureaucracy killed the rural development project even before it could help poor to take advantage of
radio broadcast.

 ICT and e-Governance for Rural Development

Several states have initiated the creation of State Wide Area Networks (SWAN) to facilitate
electronic access of the state and district administration services to the citizens in villages. The
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are being increasingly used by the
governments to deliver its services at the locations convenient to the citizens.

The rural ICT applications attempt to offer the services of central agencies (like district
administration, cooperative union, and state and central government departments) to the citizens at
their village door steps. These applications utilize the ICT in offering improved and affordable
connectivity and processing solutions.

Computerization of land records have been a great success in application of ICT in rural
development. Land records are great importance to contemporary socio-economic imperatives and
their revision and updating are necessary for capturing the changes in rural social dynamics. Land
records are an important part of rural development. The govt. of India started the centrally sponsored
scheme of Computerization of Land Records (CLR) in 1988-89.
Main objectives: -

1. Creating database of basic records.

2. Facilitating the issues of copies of records

3. Reducing work load by elimination of drudgery of paper work

4. Minimizing the possibilities manipulation of land record.

5. Creating a land management information system.

6. The farmers were largely benefited CoLR

The farmers can get all necessary records when they need it, these records are free from human
arbitrations, the updating becomes easy, free from harassment and the farmers had direct access to
information regarding their property.

 Model of e- Governance

The rural ICT applications aim to present the services to citizens at their village access stepladder.
The E-governance uses the ICT in present for better and reasonable connectivity and processing
solutions. The emergence of ICT has provided means for faster and better communication, efficient
storage, retrieval and processing of data and exchange and utilization of information to its users, be
they individuals, groups, businesses, organizations or governments. With all these opportunities ICT
also have some challenges which is also being discussed below.

The concept of e-government started with the advent of government websites in the early 1990s. The
system of government is fixed, static hierarchical regulated, whereas web is dynamic, flat and
unregulated. Government's function is like enormous, where one hand does not know what the right
hand is doing.

With the development of Information Technology and increased dependence on the internet as a
transaction medium and the development of adequate infrastructure and regulations, government
websites soon developed into highly potential channel for supporting a frontend and back-end
applications.
The emergence of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has provided means for
faster and better communication, efficient storage, retrieval and processing of data and exchange and
utilization of information to its users, be they individuals, groups, businesses, organizations or
governments.

These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to
citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to
information, or more efficient government management. The resulting benefits can be less
corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/ or cost reductions.

 Challenges in Setting up of Information Technology in Rural Development

ICTs alone can't bring about rural development. Education is one of the basic problems for
application of ICT as 40% of India’s population is illiterate. All modern economies have
demonstrated in the past that education is the first step to building the capacity which people can
then use. If the Indian economy grows at 5-6 per cent per annum as it has been growing over last 2-3
years, then over 10-15 years the size of the Indian economy would have doubled.

Even with this level of growth it cannot by any means bridge disparities and eradicate poverty.
Therefore 8 introducing ICTs alone will not meet the development challenge. For ICTs to succeed in
India, education for all must be the first priority.

It is, of course, important to note that the proportion of the economy involved in some or other form
of adaptation or usage of ICT is still very small. The proportion of people involved in the ICT
Industry, especially in the rural areas is negligible.

Thus, another priority action, in order for the benefits of ICT to trickle down as well as contribute to
the rural prosperity, would involve setting up several rural and village level micro- enterprises.

1. Illiteracy:

In India the literacy rate of the rural population is much less than the urban population. The
government is creating attempt to growing the literacy rate in rural population but still a large
amount of needs to be done as it is far less than the literacy rate in urban population.

Literacy rate in rural areas stand at 68.90% with rural male literacy rate 82.1% and rural female
literacy rate 65.5%. Whereas literacy rate in urban areas stand at 85.0%with urban male literacy rate
at 88.76% and urban female literacy at 79.11%.

2. Technical illiteracy:

There is need of technical literacy as well as literacy in India; there is a connection between
education level and use of electronic means or Internet. This is a major drawback in which the users
are not technically literate to use the technology.

In India, where many of the projects launched by the government like Gyandoot, Bhoomi etc. for
rural people but because of the lack of technical awareness they are not capable of using the services
provided by the government.

3. Poverty:

In India the poor people who does great effort for their daily living. To who’s accessing the Internet
is a costly issue for necessary communications in the form of installing the required telephone lines
needed for internet or email access is similarly too exclusive in developing country.
4. Limited citizens’ awareness:

There is common lack of awareness concerning advantages of E-Governance as well as the process
mixed up in executing successful.

5. Infrastructure:

There is the shortage of required infrastructure like electricity, internet technology and methods of
communications will influence the speed which postponed the implementation process.

6. Discrimination:

There is too much dissimilarity in fast access to public sector services between various divisions of
citizens, mainly among urban and rural communities, among the educated and Illiterate, and among
the rich and poor.

7. Cost:

Cost is one of the most important exclusive factors that arrives in the path of e governance success
mainly in the developing Country India where majority of the people of whole Population living
under the poverty line. They do not have the funds for the operating Expense of telephone line,
internet connections etc.

8. Hesitate to revolutionize:

People are disinclined to change. As e-governance means transform of the system from manual to
computerize based, it is generally disliked by the employees and the general public. People Generally
hate it as they require to learn new things in it for which they necessitate to give in Additional time
and effort.

9. Speed:
On the time of internet accessing, speed plays an important role. But because of the Infrastructure,
there are the major dissimilarities between the rural and urban area, that’s why the Speed of internet
connectivity is not same to all over the India.

10. Lack of Participations of Society, Public and Private Sectors:

Designing of any application requires a very close interaction between the govt. department and the
agency developing the solutions. At present the users in govt. departments do not contribute Enough
to design the solution architecture. Consequently, the solution developed and implementation does
not meet the requirements of an e-governance project and hence does not get Implemented.

11. Privacy and Security:

There will be three basic levels of access exists for e-government stakeholders: no access to a Web
service; limited access to a Web-service or full-access to a Web service, however when personal
sensitive data exists the formation of the security access policy is a much more complex Process with
legal consideration. On the time of execution of e-government projects successful procedures must
be taken to guard receptive private information. A lack of comprehensive security standards and
protocols can limit the development of projects that contain sensitive information.

12. Language Dominance:

The dominance of English on the internet bounds the access of non-English-speaking population. In
the case of India, mostly population does speak Hindi. Due to such irresistible domination of English
over these communication channels, computers and the internet are relatively useless in Indian
villages‟ populations.

13. Funding issues:

All over the world, governments provided fund for the select pilot projects on e governance,
Including projects such as public works, government services, and human resources. The actual
challenge for the government is to set off regarding funding the complete variety of schemes in order
to achieve the goal of E-governance. One idea is that the related department has to come up with
sufficient fund by themselves. Other issue is utilizing the available resources both in the plan sector
and outside it. In the next stage every village will be connected via wireless and dial up access.
Accordingly, each state government is imagined to make stronger the infrastructure in this way for
the project of E-governance.

14. Trust:

Trust can be defined along two dimensions: as an assessment of a current situation, or as an innate
personality trait or predisposition. The implementation of public administration functions via e-
government requires the presence of two levels of trust.

The first is that the user must be confident, comfortable and trusting of the tool or technology with
which they will interact. The second dimension of trust pertains to trust of the government. There has
to be a balance between ensuring that a system prevents fraudulent transactions and the burden that
extensive checks can take place on people who are honest. Recently, confidential information on
military veterans was compromised when a computer containing their personal information was lost.
This type of incident can erode trust and user confidence in government systems. Trust, along with
financial security, are two critical factors limiting the adoption of e-government services.

15. Resistance to change:

The innovation diffusion theory states that over time an innovation will diffuse through a population,
and the rate of adoption will vary between those who adopt early - referred to as early adopters and
to those who adopt the innovation much later, referred to as laggards.

The resistant to change phenomenon can explain much of the hesitation that occurs on the part of
constituents in moving from a paper based to a Web-based system for interacting with government.
Citizens, employees and businesses can all have their biases with respect to how transactions should
be processed. However, government entities and public policy administrators cannot ignore the
changes that occur as a result of the implementation of information and communication technology
(ICT).
In the early 1990s identified the important role that ICT would have in shaping public policy, and
cautioned both rich and poor governments about neglecting its significance. Education about the
value of the new systems is one step toward reducing some of the existing resistance. It can also be
particularly useful for a leader or manager, to buy into the new system at an early stage in the
adoption process.

16. Digital Divide:

The digital divide refers to the separation that exists between individuals, communities, and
businesses that have access to information technology and those that do not have such access. Social,
economic, infrastructural and ethnolinguistic indicators provide explanations for the presence of the
digital divide.

Economic poverty is closely related to limited information technology resources. An individual

living below poverty line does not afford a computer for himself to harness the benefits of e-
government and other online services. As the digital divide narrows, broader adoption of e-
government in the public domain becomes possible.

Economic poverty is not the only cause of digital divide. It can also be caused by the lack of
awareness among the people. Even some of the economic stable people don’t knows about the scope
of e- governance.

Awareness can only help to bring users to that service delivery channel once. It cannot guarantee
sustained use of the system unless the system is also designed in such a way as to deliver satisfactory
outcome. Procedures need to be simplified to deliver concrete benefits and clear guidelines provided
to encourage their use by the actual end users and reduce users’ dependence on middlemen/
intermediaries.

 Prospective Contribution of Information Technology to Rural Development

Specially, Information Technology can contribute to rural development through four main types of
applications.
 Education and Food Safety
Training

Prospective
Contribution of
Information
Technology to

New Business e-Business

Opportunities

1. Education and Training:

To reduce the gap between training facilities in urban and rural areas, an action on rural development
requires deep understanding and coordination with regional, national initiatives in this area. It
provides opportunities for influencing the way in which massive development funds are being used
to educate rural community through appropriate training programmes on relevant aspects which need
to fulfil their desires.

The access of such an action requires identifying high value applications for the development and
integration of rural areas as well as addressing the key research and technology challenges that are
posed by the specific available infrastructure and application requirements.

2. Food Safety:

The objective is to manage and trace the food chain from the point of production to point of
consumption. The Information Technologies offer many possibilities to achieve this objective and
provide added value to Indian agrifood stuff.

3. New Business Opportunities:

To encourage and provide the necessary technology for rural business to link with outside the
metropolitan areas, starting from the call centres that have been transferred to remote areas where
operating costs are significantly lower, similar business model could be used to promote further
transferring of other business process. However, the technologies and applications to support them
still need to be further developed.
4. e-Business:

This includes both applications for improving processes and management practices inside the
organizations as well as trading support. These applications are developed to the current kind of
business in rural areas in order to increase their competitiveness.

 BENEFITS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Short Term Benefits:

1. Support to farmers about crop selection, Accessibility of quality seeds, fertilizers, pesticides etc. at
lower cost, access to new technologies and Reliable weather forecast.

2. Support to villagers in profession other than farming to help Small Scale Industries to get better
prices for their products.

3. Support in the village’s development through increase in the computer literacy and draw the
village maps to identification of resources.

Long Term Benefits:

1. Development of better infrastructure opportunities, new business developments and better level of
trade in rural areas will accelerate the development. It leads to construction of roads, highways,
railways and other means of transportation.

2. Movement of existing business to rural area to make better purchasing power. It will accelerate the
movement of existing businesses from urban areas to rural areas and help to provide urban amenities
in rural areas.

3. Geographic Information System (GIS) can help in a big way. Use of high-resolution satellites and
extensive network of associated infrastructure can give impetus to GIS in variety of rural India’s
development need.
With the help of GIS, assessment of ground water level may help the agriculture sector and can ease
out the problem of irrigation. Also, the transportation infrastructure can also be benefited and road
network can be mapped.

4. Implementing the Information Technology in the field of education will rise to new opportunities.
The IT can help to encourage the distance education and with this it can penetrate into the village, so
that the bright students living in the villages can have access to the quality education.

It helps to create a sound interactive medium for expressing and sharing the views of people using
the technologies like video conferencing etc.

 Conclusion

E-Governance not only provides information about various activities of a government but also
involves citizens to participate in government’s decision-making process. The ICT provide the
services to different modes like government to citizen (G-C), government to business (G-B),
government to government (G-G) to get better reach.

As we know that India had lots of award-winning projects but behind this it also faces the no. of
challenges for better delivery of information on rural areas which can be discussed in this paper.
According to Skoch consultancy New Delhi, 81% citizens report reduction in corruption, 95% find
cost of e-governance affordable and 78% favours fast of delivery of services.

Therefore, we can say that e-Governance is the explanation to the “Good Governance” for the
developing country India to minimize corruption provides efficient and effective services to their
citizens. ICT acting as a main responsibility in e-governance.

This paper describes the use of ICT tools such as internet, mobile computing, and phones by
government to streamline processes and transactions, which resulting the no. of impacts for e-
governments and citizens like make the working of government more efficient and effective,
broadcast the information about government procedures and rules, improve service delivery to
citizens and business and other arms of government, and save cost.

REFERENCES

A. Padma Priya:” E-Governance (2013), A move towards paperless Administration in

India”, International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology, Vol.4, Issue.3
Bagchi, K. (2005). Factors contributing to global digital divide: Some empirical results. Journal of
Global Information Technology Management, 8(3), 47-65

Dr. Dwivedi Sanjay Kumar, Bharti Ajay Kumar (2010), E-Governance in India – problems and
ACCEPTABILITY: Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology.