gyan ganga

Rural Telecom: A Case Study on Gyan Ganga Project

Advisor: Rekha Jain1

Authors: Payal Gupta2 and Sarvesh Madhu Agrawal3

Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

1 Rekha Jain, Professor at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad 2 Payal Gupta, Research Associate working at Centre for Telecom Policy Studies, Indian Institute of Management 3 Savesh Madhu Agrawal, Student at Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai

Case Study on Gyan Ganga Project 2

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Professor Rekha Jain for having provided us with this

opportunity to work on such an interesting topic under her invaluable guidance.

We are also thankful to Shadab Ambat, Research Associate, Centre for Telecom Policy

Studies, IIM Ahmedabad for extending help and valuable inputs in the process of

discussion.

My thanks are also due to all those people who agreed to be interviewed out of their busy

schedule and provided us with various insights and information about the project.

Finally we would like to thank all the village people, whose names are unknown to us, for

extending their unconditional hospitality wherever possible and also for participating in

informal discussions with us to quench our desire to catch a glimpse of rural life while

working on the project.


Table of Contents

1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………4

2. Evolution of the Project……………………………………………………………….5

3. Objectives of the Project ………………………………………………….…………. 6

4. Initial Plan………………………………………………………………….………….7

5. Current Status…………………………………………………………….……………8

6. Selection of the Locations…………………………………………………….……….8

7. Technical Details of Project…………………………………………………………...9

8. Structure of the Project ……………………………………………………………...11

9. Financial Structure…………………………………………………………………...11

10. Stakeholders ……………………………………………………….……………….. 12

10.1 Government of Gujarat and GIL …………………………………….…………12

10.2 n-Logue……………………………………………………………..….………14

10.3 Local Service Provider (LSP)………………………….…….…………………15

10.4 Kiosk Operator……………………………………….…………………………16

10.5 Villagers……………………………………………….………………………..17

11. Fact Finding………………………………………………………………………….18

12. Findings……………………………………………………………………………...18

13. Issues…………………………………………………………………………………25

14. Comparison with Similar Projects…………………………………………………...30

15. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...32

Appendix 1: Locations of the Initially Planned Project Sites………….…………….34

Appendix 2: Location of ‘Live’ Projects, LSP Details and No. of Kiosk Centres

Functional…………………………………………………………………...……….35

Appendix 3: List of Equipments/ Softwares provided to Kiosk Operator by n-Logue

and Cost…………………………………………………………………………...…37

Appendix 4: Services Offered at Kiosks……………………………………………..38

Appendix 5: List of People Interviewed……………………………………………..42

Appendix 6: Questionnaires………………………………………………………….43

Appendix 7: Financial Viability of the LSP Operator……………………………….46

References…………………………………………………………………………….....48


1. Introduction

Despite several attempts over the last more than ten years, telecom infrastructure in rural

areas is lagging behind the expected levels. There has been a phenomenal spurt in the

growth of tele-density in the country, with the evolution of new wireless technologies,

but the gap between the urban (25%) and the rural tele-density (1.85%) has been

increasing.

The scenario in case of internet spread is gloomier and hardly any rural areas have access

to broadband internet connections. In India as on April, 2005 total no. of broad band

connections were only 2.28 lacs which is a meager 0.02%. The primary reasons for the

slow growth of internet in country have been infrastructural bottlenecks, financial non

viability and absence of cost effective reliable technology.

With the advancement of technology, especially that in area of Wireless in Local Loop

(WLL), it has become possible to provide internet facility even in remote villages at

affordable prices.

In the recent years there have been several projects launched by the government (s),

sometimes in association with private parties, with basic underlying spirit of providing

the rural citizens with better mechanisms of governance using IT as a tool and leveraging

the connectivity for the empowerment of rural community so as to ensure a greater and

meaningful participation in the development process.

‘Gyan Ganga’ is one such project launched in Gujarat state by n-Logue with

aforementioned objectives.

This study has been conducted to evaluate the performance of the project in achieving the

stated objectives. The various aspects of the project which have been studied are:

§ Project Structuring ( Business Model adopted )

§ Project Financing

§ Commercial Viability

§ Pricing Mechanisms ( tariff structuring)

§ Regulatory Framework and Guidelines for Effective Implementation of the

Scheme

§ Social Benefits and Improvement in Quality of Rural Life


§ Comparison with similar projects implemented else where in the country.

The case also highlights the various bottlenecks which slow down the progress of any

such project.

2. Evolution of the Project

Having realized the growing influence and importance of IT on a common man’s day to

day life and the potential of this emerging technology as a tool for better and more

effective governance, the Government of Gujarat came up with its IT policy. The mission

statement of this policy is as follows:

“To help improve processes in the Government by using computing devices,

communication systems associated electronics and software to provide better delivery

systems to the citizens.

It is very clearly understood that IT is not an end in itself but means to provide better

quality of life to the citizens of the State. It does not aim at merely automating existing

process but the target is to use IT to improve overall organizational efficiency and pass

the benefits to the citizens of the State.” (www.gujaratinformatics.com)

The objectives of the policy were to promote overall IT growth in the state of Gujarat to

create enormous new employment opportunities, to train and develop skilled manpower

in IT, to facilitate information outlets at the doorstep of the common man and, to make

Government - Citizen interface more effective, efficient and transparent.

There have been multiple initiatives taken by the Government in achieving these

objectives such as; creating ‘information corridor’ in the state connecting state capital to

taluka headquarters, IT Action Plan for each department, digitalization of all government

records, setting up separate IT department and fund etc.

The Gujarat government’s initiative to provide e-governance has evolved over many

stages. It initially started with ‘Mahiti Shakti’ Project in Panchmahal district of Gujarat

where the collector of the district offered a few collector office services to villagers

online by setting up information kiosks in some of the villages. In this project total 8

services were offered such as ‘Old Pension Scheme’, ‘Ration Card’ and ‘Permission for


Hand Pump’ etc. 80 information kiosks were established in the district at various

locations. The project was a moderate success overall.

At the same time in a village of Bhavnagar district in Gujarat, village records were

digitalized on a stand alone basis. Inspired by the success of this individual project the

Panchayat Raj Department wanted to implement the same model for all the villages and

this led to the evolution of ‘e-Gram’ project in which all the village Panchayat records are

being digitalized and all the ‘Gram Panchayats’ are being interconnected as well.

The ‘Gyan Ganga’ Project has evolved out of the above mentioned projects with a greater

emphasis on bringing in a private party to be stake holder in the process of rural

empowerment through IT application. The private party in this project is n-Logue which

has been set up with the basic aim of bridging the digital divide between rural and urban

areas. The idea for the project was conceived in August 2003 and the roll outs started

taking place in July 2004.

3. Objectives of the Project

The ultimate objective of the project is to bridge the connectivity gap existing between

rural and urban areas in a cost effective manner. The various benefits which are expected

to accrue to rural population from this low cost connectivity are:

To build wealth by –

Reducing farming costs

Increasing crop yield

Enabling effective post harvest management

Reducing risks

Providing expertise in animal husbandry and watershed management

Enabling better credit options and facilities

To help plan the future through –

Curriculum based education

Adult education

Career guidance

Learning English


Higher education possibilities

Computer awareness

Job and career opportunities

Financial assistance opportunities

To live a healthier life by having access-

Health and sanitation

Medical diagnostic plans

Medical insurance

Disease prevention communication

Medical assistance

To enable e-Governance facilities such as –

Online registration of various applications

Online public grievance forum

Information on Government programmes

Online application formats

Updated Government information

4. Initial Plan

The Department of Science and Technology on behalf of Government of Gujarat, and in

coordination with n-Logue, finalized the 16 locations where the project is to be

implemented. At each location it is planned to provide connectivity to 200 near by

villages. Thus, the project when completed will cover around 3000 villages of Gujarat

state. The names of these 16 locations have been given in Appendix 1.

5. Current Status

As of now the project has been started in seven out of sixteen initially planned locations

and around 200 kiosk information centres are currently operational. Three more projects

are on the verge of commencement with in a month or two. The detailed information


about each of these ‘live’ and ‘in pipeline’ projects such as name and address of the LSP,

no. of kiosks functional has been provided in the Appendix 2.

6. Selection of the Locations

The selection of the locations for the project was done by Gujarat government and n-

Logue in coordination with each other. Government had asked n-Logue to have four

tribal areas and one hilly area as project locations as no other service provider will go

there.

The various parameters were considered in deciding the location of a project.

On commercial viability side the parameters considered were; number of villages covered

under one project, population of the villages covered in a project (more the number of

villages and population, larger the reach hence greater the business potential!). In general

projects covering more than 150 villages, each having population more than 3000, were

considered to be viable. All the villages covered were also required to have satisfactory

level of literacy as usage of computer and IT will directly depend upon literacy level of

the population covered.

No other socio economic factors were explicitly considered in choosing the location of

the project.

There were a few technical parameters which were also considered while deciding upon

the location. They are; the geographical terrain, back bone connectivity (BSNL lease

line), availability of power etc.

Availability of power is major factor which influences the success of an IT project.

Government of Gujarat has taken an initiative in providing uninterrupted twenty hours

power supply to all the 18000 villages of Gujarat. The project is named ‘Jyotirgram’ and

so far has been able to cover 9000 villages of the state.

7. Technical details of the project

The corDECT technology has been used in providing the last mile connectivity under the

project. corDECT is India’s very own Wireless Local Loop (WLL) technology, jointly


developed by Analog Devices Inc., Midas Communication Technologies (P) Ltd. And

TeNet group, IIT Madras. Based on the Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications

standards specified by European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI),

corDECT provides cost effective, simultaneous high quality voice and data connectivity

in both urban and rural areas. This indigenous technology provides voice communication

using 32 Kbps ADPCM, and Internet connectivity at 35/70 Kbps.

How it works:

Employing Multi-Carrier Time Division Multiple Access (MC-TDMA), a technique in

which the frequency can change from one time slot to another, DECT defines a wireless

communication standard between a Fixed Part (FP) and a Portable Part (PP).

Communication takes place using Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying (GMSK)

Modulation.

This new system uses a frame of 10 msec in which 24 time slots are defined.

Communication between FP and PP is time-division duplex in which 12 time slots are

used for a one way transmission. In a 20 MHz frequency spectrum, 10 carriers are

defined. Thus, for communication from PP to FP, 10 carriers can be used in each of the

12 time slots, amounting to 120 channels.

In DECT, no channel is permanently assigned to any FP or PP. This means, any PP can

select any of the 120 channels to communicate with a FP using the Dynamic Channel

Selection (DCS) algorithm. The algorithm requires the PP to measure Receive Signal

Strength (RSSI) on all the 120 channels. It locks to the FP providing the strongest signal

and then maintains a RSSI table for all other channels. When a PP tries to establish a

connection, it chooses the channel providing lowest interference. Even while a

communication process is taking place, the RSSI table is periodically updated and if a

channel with less interference than the current one is found, a seamless handover to the

new channel takes place.

ETSI has specified the 1880 - 1935 MHz band for DECT. Normally any 20 MHz band

out of this spectrum can be chosen for operation. Each DECT channel can carry 32 kbps

of payload, and the voice coding employed in DECT is 32 kbps ADPCM. It is also

possible for two DECT channels to be combined to provide data communication at 64

kbps between PP and FP.


corDECT subscriber terminal, called Wallset, provides an RJ-11 telephone port and an

RJ-232 serial port for simultaneous internet access using a PC. The Internet access speed

is 35/70 Kbps. The corDECT system has been designed such that it can be easily

integrated with the existing network. The system interfaces to the network on E1 (2.048

Mbps) lines as per ITU-T G703 standard. In one of the configurations, the corDECT

system acts like a switch along with the wireless local loop. The numbering plan is

flexible so that it can be modified as per the requirements. The tones, announcements,

metering, charging, switching, routing and special services are provided by the `switch

part' of the corDECT system. Alternatively, corDECT can also be configured as an

Access Network connected to a main exchange using ITU-T specified access protocol

V5.2.A transparent version with two-wire analog interface to any exchange is also

available for quick rollout.

corDECT has been designed to be a modular system. While the basic unit provides

service to up to 1000 subscribers, multiple corDECT systems can be connected together

using a transit switch. The system has been designed in such a way that the initial

investment for the Fixed Part is low. Further, since this scheme does not require

frequency planning, the installations need not be coordinated. Coupled with the low cost,

it thus makes corDECT one of the most versatile Wireless in Local Loop systems

available today.

The advantages of using this technology are:

§ Wireless deployment in last mile

§ Cost effective

§ Both Internet and telephony can be offered simultaneously with out incurring any

additional cost for telephony while using internet

§ Fast deployment in difficult terrain

§ High Internet speed which is around 7 times faster than a dial-up connection

(www.n- logue.com)


8. Structure of the Project

The project structure is a three tier structure. On the top is n-Logue which is the main

driving force behind the project. It acts as a central agency responsible for planning,

implementing, maintaining and monitoring all the projects once operational. It provides

partly financial support and full technical support for each project. It works in

coordination with Government of Gujarat in identifying the locations for the project and

also selects the local service provider (LSP) for a given project area.

At the middle level of the project is Local Service Provider (LSP) who is an important

interlink between n-Logue and the kiosk operators who actually run the Gyan Ganga

centres, also known as ‘Chirag’, in the villages. For each project an LSP is identified by

n-Logue who is having strong entrepreneurship skills as well as good rapport in the

project covered villages. He is also required to have in depth knowledge of business

environment in the rural areas and also sufficient know how and experience in dealing

with the IT sector.

The lower most level of the project, and perhaps the most critical one, consists of kiosk

operators in the villages who actually run the show in the field. There are not any

specified criterions for the selection of the kiosk operator. The process, in general,

involves identification of the operator by the LSP who either knows him personally or

through some other reliable source. After the identification, the LSP approaches the kiosk

operator and explains him about the project and possible benefits of the project and offers

him to be the kiosk operator for the village. A basic knowledge of computers and internet

is pre requisite for being the kiosk operator and the operator should have his own premise

(either owned or rented) to run the centre.

9. Financial Structure

Each project costs around 40 -45 lacs towards setting up initial infrastructure such as

towers, repeaters, access centre and power backups etc. This initial one time cost includes

cost of covering around 200 villages under one project umbrella. This cost is financed

with equal contribution, approximately 15 lacs each, from Government of Gujarat (GoG),


n-Logue and LSP. The GoG contribution is in form of one time aid. Once the access

centre is set up and the project is operational, the access centre is run by LSP on an equal

partnership basis with n-Logue. All the operational expenses and revenues are shared

between both the parties. On an average Opex of an access centre is around 25,000 to

30,000 Rs which includes electricity bill, lease line payment to BSNL, staff salaries,

providing technical support to kiosk operators, maintenance etc. Apart from this the LSP

will also have a Capex component of around 25,000 Rs. mainly on the account of interest

to be paid on the loan taken to finance the initial sum of 15 lacs.

LSP also has to deposit Rs. 5 lacs with n-Logue for 5 years as a caution deposit.

At the kiosk operator level, he has to make a one time payment to n-Logue of

approximately 60,000/- Rs. In return he gets a computer, 4 hours back up UPS, coDECT

kit, a digital camera and a color printer and six month free internet connection. All these

equipments are supplied by n-Logue on a non- subsidized basis with one year warranty.

A list of all such equipments and software is provided in Appendix 3.

Apart from this every kiosk operator also pays Rs. 1500/- to the LSP as one time

registration fee.

After the first 6 months of installation the kiosk operator has to renew his connectivity

license every month for a fee of 1100 /- Rs. This connectivity fee is the major and only

source of revenue for the LSP and the company.

10 Stakeholders

10.1 Government of Gujarat and Gujarat Informatics Ltd. (GIL)

The role of Government of Gujarat in this project is limited to providing financial

assistance as well as support services for ‘e-Governance’ such as soft copy of all

Government forms, coordination with various government agencies for content

development etc. On behalf of Gujarat Government, Gujarat Informatics Ltd (GIL) acts

as coordinating agency with n-Logue at top level.

Gujarat Informatics Ltd. (GIL) was established as the nodal agency for IT development in

the state in February 1999, by the Government of Gujarat. The company was started with


a clear objective to promote IT and accelerate the process of e- Governance in the state.

Along with the announcement of the IT policy, the Government has enabled GIL to

effectively implement IT projects in the state.

The various e-Governance projects taken up by GIL, apart from ‘Gyan Ganga’, are:

§ Center of Excellence

§ eCity

§ eDhara - Land records online

§ eGram

§ eNagarpalika

§ E-Databank

§ E-Governance Newsletter

§ Form Book & GR Book

§ Integrated Workflow & Document Management System (IWDMS)

§ Mahiti Shakti

§ Sales Tax and Treasury

§ SWAGAT (State-Wide Attention on public Grievance by Application of

Technology)

§ Talim Rojgar (www.talimrojgar.org)

§ Tele Fariyad

There have been few networking projects also undertaken by GIL such as:

§ Gujarat Portable VSAT Station

§ Sachivalaya Integrated Communication Network (SICN)

§ Sachivalaya campus Area Network (SCAN)

§ Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN)

The results so far have been mixed, but the important aspect is that the government has

realized that e-Governance is not just a one time change process, but an inevitable way of

governance, that brings with it the promise of convenience and transparency. Also, it has

been understood that the actual achievement of an e-Governance would not be complete

without having proper laws, legislations, standards and best practices in place. For more

information about these projects (www.gujaratinformatics.com).


10.2 n-Logue

n-Logue has been established under the aegis of the Telecommunications and Computer

Networks (TeNeT) Group of IIT, Madras, which is dedicated to evolve technically

superior and cost-effective solutions for countries such as India.

The TeNeT group has carried out extensive research on the issues associated with

providing connectivity in small towns and rural areas, and it has set up n-Logue with the

mission of providing Telecom and Internet services in such places.

The mission of the company is to provide Voice and Internet services in every

underserved village and small towns in India in a cost effective and self sustainable

manner.

n-Logue has a target of setting up around 2500 Access Centres across the country in next

3 years. That amounts to around a million subscribers in rural areas. The technology

being deployed by the company is corDECT.

n-Logue's business model is a decentralized model of operation (inspired by the cable TV

operations in India), whereby it identifies and partners with a local entrepreneur in every

place that it wishes to operate. It has also formed strategic alliance with various hardware

and software service providers, local language content providers and connectivity

providers in order to be able to implement its project in a cost effective and timely

manner using their expertise in the related areas.

Some of the ongoing projects are in Nellikuppam, Cuddalore District (with EID Parry),

Melur, Madurai District (with MIT, Harvard, and the I-Gyan Foundation), Dhar District

(with the State Government), Durg District (with the State Government), Sikar District

(with the State Government), etc.

n-Logue has also signed an MOU with Satyam Infoway to provide bandwidth for these

projects, and is making the case for a Rural Service Provider model to provide Voice

services along with BSNL / BSOs.

As mentioned earlier in the report that in case of ’Gyan Ganga’ project, n-Logue is the

agency responsible at the top most level for planning, implementing and monitoring the

project. It is mainly responsible for providing technical and marketing support for the life

cycle of the project.


In detail, the responsibilities of n-Logue are:

§ Supplying the Access Centre equipment and setting up the Access Centre along

with the support and training of LSP’s technical and networking staff in its

installation, operation and maintenance

§ Sourcing of cost-effective equipment for the kiosks

§ Supplying the equipment for the kiosk operator along with support and training in

their installation and the maintenance of kiosks

§ Marketing support and training to the LSP

§ Providing back-up support for all technical problems

§ Assisting in procuring all regulatory approvals including ISP license, agreement

with BSNL / BSO and approval from the Wireless Planning Cell (WPC)

§ Getting backbone connectivity to the Internet and PSTN network

§ Training in Internet content handling

§ Bringing in Internet content and applications through strategic tie-ups with

content and application providers

§ Helping the LSP with business proposals for financial assistance

§ Helping the Kiosk operators to link up with micro-finance organizations for

subsidized loans

10.3 LSP

The selection of LSP is entirely left to the discretion of n-Logue. The selection process

includes placing an advertisement in the local newspaper inviting people to be LSP in the

respective area. There are certain criterions based on which the selection of an LSP is

done. These criterions are:-

1. Business experience in related fields like IT, Telecom, Services in rural areas

2. Local medium size businessman with sound financial condition, strong

entrepreneur skills and a good track record

3. Well connected with local people with sound understanding of rural business

4. Commitment and willingness to learn and develop rural areas


So far n-Logue has received enthusiastic response to all its advertisements inviting people

to become LSP and based on the response n-Logue team identifies and interviews the

prospective LSPs and evaluates them on the above mentioned parameters to select the

LSP for the area.

The responsibilities of the LSP as envisaged in the project document are:-

1. Installing the equipment at the kiosk premise, training the kiosk operator and

providing after sales service and maintenance.

2. Maintaining the equipment at the Access Centre as well as ensuring the

uptime of the links to the internet and telephone backbone services.

3. Marketing the project in as many villages as possible to extend the reach and

benefits of the technology to as many people as possible

4. Creating awareness and educating people about the benefits and usage of

internet.

5. Helping in identifying possible applications and content that may be useful to

the rural population.

6. Billing the kiosk operator and collecting revenues as per the agreed billing

cycle.

The LSP has been given full freedom to select kiosk operators on his own and he also

gets to decide about what all villages to provide connectivity first. In general an LSP

starts his/her operations with a few villages (with more population!!!) in the beginning

and then gradually expands his network to 200 villages. The LSP we met had the kiosk

started in as many as 48 locations but now only 22 are ‘live’ as rest of the kiosk operators

opted not to subscribe to the connectivity as it turned out to be commercially non viable.

10.4 Kiosk Operator

As mentioned earlier in the report that kiosk operator is selected by LSP and is required

to have some basic knowledge of computers. He has to make an initial investment of

around 60,000/- Rs. The LSP helps in arranging loan from banks (mainly SBI), if needed,

on a monthly installment repayment basis. The installment amount and duration of loan

varies depending upon the local bank and the financial position of the kiosk operator.


All the kiosk operators undergo a 10 days ‘training’ to learn about the computers and the

functioning of kiosk.

The kiosk operator is basically responsible for daily operations of the kiosk in the village.

He is provided with a basket of services offered by n-Logue and LSP. He can choose any

of the services depending upon local requirements and demand. The services offered

consist both of on line and offline services. Apart from these services he is given full

freedom to develop and provide any service which he thinks to be beneficial to villagers

and commercially viable also. The services offered in general consist of computer

education, digital photography, astrology, video conferencing, medical and agricultural

consultancy, astrology, e-mailing, board exam results, government forms etc. A list of all

such offered services has been provided in the Appendix 4.

The responsibility of publicizing the information kiosk and the services offered by it in

the village lies with the kiosk operator. They use multiple modes of publicity such as

distributing pamphlets, organizing seminars in the village schools, organizing some

competition for the school children, word of mouth etc. In general the village dairy

centres where almost all the villagers assemble twice in a day are the best place to

publicize.

10.5 Villagers

Villagers are the end users to whom the benefits of this project are envisaged to have

percolated. The one major objective of the project was also to create awareness among

villagers about the computers and IT services and provide them with hands on experience

with the computers. To what extent the project has succeeded in achieving this objective

will be discussed shortly. But one must realize that there are so many parameters upon

which the success rate depends such as; literacy, level of education in the village, income

level, type of occupation, social structure of the village, existing facilities, real demand

for the services offered etc. The attitude of the villagers towards learning a new

technology also plays an important role in achieving the desired end result.


11. Fact Finding

The preliminary information about the project and the technology has been collected

through various websites of the respective organizations. A list of all the websites has

been provided in the reference section. It was a bit disappointing not to find any website

dedicated and developed for the project as it has been developed for another similar

project ‘Mahiti Shakti’ in Gujarat.

To find out the ground realities of the project, method of survey and interview was

adopted. Attempt was made to interview people associated with the project at all the

possible levels such as government officers, n-Logue officials, LSPs, kiosk operators and

the villagers. Visits were made to few villages in order to interview kiosk operators and

the villagers. A list of all the people interviewed so far has been provided in the

Appendix 5.

Different sets of questionnaires were prepared for people associated with the project at

different levels. The questionnaire were designed in such a way to cover a variety of

issues such as project structure, financial viability, technical details, demographic

information about the village, benefits perceived and services delivered etc. The

questionnaires also have been provided in the Appendix 6.

12. Findings

In the process of fact finding quite a few interesting discoveries were made, different

view points gathered, and it provided insights about how the project and the benefits

associated with it are perceived differently by different stake holders involved in the

process

§ The selection of LSP has been a fair and transparent process. All the written down

criterions for the selection of an LSP have been followed to the extent possible.

The advertisements placed by n-Logue in local news paper generated enthusiastic

response in most of the cases and people with sufficient knowledge of IT business

volunteered to become LSPs.


§ The availability of the loan for the LSP is a major problem. Banks are not

convinced about the financial viability of the project; hence it is nearly impossible

to get bank loans at cheaper rates. LSPs have to resort to high interest rate loans

(18%) from relatives or some other source. A preliminary analysis of financial

viability of an LSP is presented in Appendix 7, in which it can be seen that the

project break even duration for an LSP is eight to nine years even if an optimistic

case scenario of having at least 100 kiosks connected to the network is assumed.

In case of kiosk operators the bank loans are easily available with interest rate of

around 8-12 %. The prime reason behind the difference in the attitude of the

banks towards providing the loans to LSP and the kiosk operators is that the

business risks associated with the LSP is higher than the kiosk operator as the

LSP will have only connectivity as his/her source of revenue while the kiosk

operator can generate money out of offline services also. Secondly the amount of

investment required at LSP level is much higher than that of the kiosk operator

and in case of kiosk operator the LSP helps him in getting loans as his own

income is dependent upon number of kiosks functioning.

§ The LSP maintains a staff of around 5 people at the Access Centre consisting of 2

engineers (trained by n-Logue), 1 Project Executive, 1 Marketing Executive and 1

Customer Care. As mentioned earlier the salary expenses are jointly born by the

LSP and the n-Logue company.

§ The LSP expressed satisfaction with the technical support provided by n-Logue.

But at marketing, content development and service delivery frontier they are quite

unhappy with the company. Even after one year the services promised could not

be started such as English speaking course, online education, medical and

veterinary and agricultural e-counseling and e-Governance etc. They also feel that

the company should have put in more efforts in making e-Governance a reality as

the LSP will have lesser authority in persuading government servants to

experiment with the new technology in delivering citizens faster and betters

services.

§ In some cases, where warranty period is over and the kiosk operator is not

‘connected’, the LSP is still providing them with the technical support hoping that


once in the future when the promised services become operational, these operators

will get back on network.

§ Various new services which are being planned by the LSP include tie ups with

cellular companies, banks, educational institutes and dairy co-operative society

and also provision of online e-bazaar.

§ The corDECT technology deployed is a sound technology with very few numbers

of breakdowns reported so far. People at all the levels expressed their satisfaction

with the working of the technology in all kinds of weather. The Internet speed

was also found to be satisfactory with any website opening in approximately 10

seconds.

§ Any of the villages visited did not have any formal computer centre before but at

few places people had personal computers which they used for personal as well as

commercial purposes.

§ The selection of kiosk operators has not been a well planned and implemented

process. Since the revenue of the LSP directly depended upon the number of

kiosks operating, so at many places people with very little knowledge of

computers and IT, little business skills, lacking interest in the project were made

kiosk operators just to get the kiosk started.

§ The training imparted to the kiosk operators appears to be a farce in which they

were imparted very perfunctory training about the basics of computer and that too

for a short period of time (about 8 to 10 days). They were also complaints by

operators about the content being in English language at the time of training.

However, the medium of training was Gujarati only.

§ The availability of the power seems to be a no issue as majority of the villages are

now being provided 24 hrs continuous power supply under ‘Jyotirgram’ project.

At all the places visited, except one, villages were covered by ‘Jyotirgram’ project

and power was available all the time as compared to haphazard and irregular

power supply before the project.

§ The six month unlimited internet connectivity charges were collected beforehand

itself in one time payment itself while it is being publicized as free of cost.


§ The caste of the kiosk operators was also an issue in one of the villages visited.

He being from different caste as compared to the majority of population led to

people refraining from the use of the information centre.

§ In most of the villages visited, the centres were located in middle of village and

easily accessible to villagers. The centre timings and working days were also

found to be quite convenient for users. Only in one case the operator was

operating the centre in his house (because of need of height to set up the FRS),

which deterred people from using the services of the centre quite often.

§ Villagers were found to be aware of the existence of ‘Chirag’ computer centre.

This highlights the success of efforts put in by the kiosk operator towards

publicizing the facility. However, when inquired about the services offered,

majority of them only knew about the digital photography service offered by the

centre and in some cases about computer education also.

§ Despite the aggressive marketing and publicity done at some places by the kiosk

operators, the internet has not become popular among the villagers for two

reasons; one that they are not aware of the all possible potential benefits of

internet and secondly, because currently the services which they need the most are

not available online.

§ Currently majority of the services being offered by the operators are offline only

such as DTP work, photography, Xeroxed government forms, computer education

etc. Few of the operators have taken initiative to start additional services such as

general insurance, banking and astrology etc.

§ Currently the courses offered by n-Logue in area of computer education (such as

green red and blue book) are not officially recognized by the state government.

This makes it difficult for the kiosk operators to convince villagers of the

authenticity of the courses.

§ The digital photography with out exception is maximum money making service

for the kiosk operators as its fast and majority of villages have no other

photographer / studio in the village. The kiosk operators also act as photographers

in marriage ceremonies and festivals, in that case the centre is to be closed for that

period.


§ Majority of the kiosk operators have discontinued with internet connectivity as it

proved to be a loss making affair. They have to pay 1100/- Rs. (LSP claims this

amount to be 1000/- Rs.) per month towards connectivity charges while the

revenue generated through internet usage are meager in comparison. In case of an

LSP who started with 48 kiosks, only 22 were functional and out of those only 3

have been continuing with internet. This builds an argument for charges based on

usages rather than having lump sum amount.

§ Currently VoIP is not being provided on these kiosks because Government of

India’s restriction on doing so for local and STD calls. This has taken away a

possible major source of revenue for the kiosk operators and this could have

benefited the villagers also because of low cost of making calls over internet. As

of now only international long distance calls are allowed to be carried over

internet and at few locations in Anand and Kheda districts, where majority of

population has relatives in gulf countries and Britain, kiosk operators are

providing this ‘Phone 2 Net’ services to the villagers who otherwise would have

to travel approximately 25 kms. to be able to make these calls. In turn, these

operators are generating handsome revenues. At few places the operator also

complained of the LSP charging very high commission for providing the ‘talk-

time cards’.

§ The promised medical and veterinary video conferences never took place at any

of the places so far. In case of the agricultural consultancy also the service is

almost dysfunctional at the places where it was started (which are very few in

number anyway). In any case it never took place ‘live’ by means of video

conferencing. Villagers were asked to mail it to the Access Centre where the Agro

expert will come once in a week and reply to those queries.

One should realize that in case of such enquiries time is of essence and a solution

provided a week later after the problem was reported is as good as no solution at

all. In some cases the queries were sent back to farmers to clearly specify the

problem again as by reading the mail the problem description was unclear. Most

of the farmers prefer to seek advice of the ‘Gram Sevaks’ on agricultural related

issues who regularly visit the villages (once in a week).


§ Much talked about regular video conferencing with all the government officials

also never took off. Only video conference which took place so far is once when

the Chief Minister of state, Mr. Narendra Modi talked to few villagers through

video conferencing from Pragati Maidan Delhi. Apparently the Government

officials are disinterested or too busy to conduct these conferences.

§ As far as e-Governance is concerned, none of the promised benefits materialized

except availability of a few government forms online (that also had some fonts

problem earlier). This also could not become driving force for the use of

connectivity as the forms once downloaded could be Xeroxed and used again and

again. These forms were available earlier also before the advent of the kiosk

centre and there were very few takers. The non availability of facility of online

submission of the forms also is a major hindrance towards delivering effective

services by government. The issue of few certificates such as birth and death

certificate, ration card, driving card etc could have given major boost to the

financial viability of the services but the problems associated with online issuance

such as authenticity and validity (digital signature required), nonchalant, and in

fact at some places adverse, attitude of the government servants towards IT

proved major obstacles in this becoming reality.

§ The availability of land records online is the major demand from the villagers’

side which could not be fulfilled till date due to lethargic and indifferent attitude

of Government machinery. This led to loss of interest in the facility among the

villagers and they also lost faith in the credibility of the centre as at the time of

inauguration of the centre they were promised online land records (known as ‘saat

bar ki nakal’ in local language).

§ The kiosk operators’ response towards the technical and content and applications

related support provided by the LSP has been mixed. The ones who are relatively

new and are still connected are happy with the services of LSP while the old ones

who have discontinued the connectivity displayed very high level of

dissatisfaction with the poor service and management policies of the LSP. There

have been cases in which the hardware related complaints of the kiosk operators

were left unattended for weeks leading to the closure of the centres at few places.


A few kiosk operators also complained of LSP demanding money for repair and

maintenance while according to terms of agreement the kiosk operator gets one

year of warranty period on all the equipments supplied.

§ Earlier there used to be monthly meetings of kiosk operators with LSP but as the

complaints on part of the kiosk operators towards non availability of promised

services and poor technical support from LSP side, the meeting were

discontinued. However, the LSP continues to pay personal visits to the kiosk

centres on a regular basis.

§ Majority of villages do have landlines provided by BSNL in households and

significant no. of lines with STD facility also.

§ The reach of the TV in villages seems to be far wider (around 70-80 %) than

phone lines, with significant proportion of population having cable facility at

home. This raises an interesting question; should not there be anyway to exploit

this reach of TV and cable network to rural households to provide voice and data

connectivity?

§ Most of the villages visited also had primary health services available in the

village itself. Apart from the primary health centres run by Government, few

villages also had private registered medical practitioners. The complicated/serious

medical cases are referred to district headquarters or nearby town centres.

§ There has been no complaint on part of the villagers about the charges of the

services offered being too high. For most of the services charges have been fixed

by the company and kiosk operators have fo llowed it.

§ It was found that the villages which are more developed, have larger population

and have higher level of education and literacy, also have larger consumer base.

§ Usage of Internet among women was found almost nil with exceptions of a few

girl students here and there.

§ Credibility of the project, as perceived by the end–user, has been neglected in this

project. Gaining credibility involves building trust in the services offered by

delivering the promised services and a constant feedback loop between project

implementation team and the end-users.


13. Issues

§ A cursory glance at the performance of the project so far would reveal that the

project, to a great extent, has failed to meet the specified objectives with which it

was initiated. There are many reasons for this, primary of them being failure to

deliver the promised services. Most of the services promised such as e-

Governance, medical and veterinary counseling through video conferencing,

agricultural advice, and online education were never made available which led to

the kiosk operator resorting to ‘offline’ sources of revenue such as photography,

DTP work, astrology etc. This reduced the importance of connectivity and after

first 6 months of trial with connectivity it was seen as a financial burden by the

operator and he/she discontinued with it, thus the whole purpose of the project

was lost.

§ The role of kiosk operator is of utmost importance for the success of the project.

If he himself is not aware of the potential benefits which can derived out of

Internet, or is not capable of providing the entire basket of services such as

computer education etc then the objectives of the project will largely be unmet.

They also need to be continuously updated on the latest happenings in the field of

IT.

§ Failure to deliver the promised services has led to a situation where there is a

feeling of mistrust between various stakeholders such as n-Logue, LSP and kiosk

operators.

§ The financial structure of the project also makes the LSP operations a high risk

enterprise as the initial investments required are large, the only source of revenue

is connectivity charge which again is highly service dependent and also depends

upon number of subscribers, the break even period is long (3-4 years) and

uncertainties are really high as the LSP has not much control over the service

delivery.

§ The project, no doubt, was initiated with holy intentions of providing rural

connectivity but the lack of necessary homework is quite obvious. Despite having

similar experience in some other cases such as ‘Mahiti Shakti’, ‘Gyandoot’ etc.,


where the promises made could not materialize, it seems that no lessons were

learnt from these projects. The similar promises have been made again and no

additional efforts or measures have been taken to ensure that this project does not

meet the similar fate. One should realize that the project is highly service

oriented project where the financial viability of the project at each level entirely

depends upon how fast and how effectively these services are rolled out. The

technology is one aspect but more important part is the applications which are

developed using the technology. Just providing the technology and assuming that

the service will follow is a wrong conception. One has to really put in his heart

and soul in developing the content and applications especially when there are so

many other factors that influence the delivering of the services.

For example, medical and veterinary services through video conferencing were

promised. In this case would not it be a better option to first make all the

concerned doctors in a particular project area familiar with the concept, conduct

some trials, formulate a nut and bolt strategy as how exactly and how frequently

these counseling sessions will take places, finalize the service agreements with the

doctors and then roll out these services in the concerned project area? Nothing of

this sort was done and the result is that even after 12 months of project being

launched not even a single medical video conferencing has taken place in any of

the covered villages. We don’t even know whether the doctors will be

comfortable with the idea as majority of the doctors prefer to see the patients face

to face, talk to them, measure pulse and temperature etc. How much of the same

comfort level can be attained through video conferencing is a debatable question.

§ One should also realize that the amounts of efforts one need to put in case of rural

marketing are of much higher magnitude as compared to the urban areas.

Perseverance and patience is the key to success. Unlike urban areas in rural areas

the spread of education is small and the basic needs of the villagers are different

as compared to an urban house hold. Once the kiosk becomes functional, the LSP

should ensure that timely and satisfactory technical and marketing support is

provided to the operator in order to ensure that kiosk operator remains connected

to the network.


§ corDECT technology as mentioned earlier is capable of carrying both voice and

data packets simultaneously. Currently the technology is not being exploited fully

as the telephony services cannot be provided by the kiosk operator due to TRAI

restrictions. n-Logue is negotiating with TRAI to obtain rural area service

provider license. If provided, telephony will serve as a source of significant

revenue and at the same time will also benefit the rural population.

§ Currently the Government is not too much involved into day to day operations of

the project. After having provided one time financial aid there is no mechanism

built- in for continuous monitoring of the progress of the project from government

side. This gives rise to a wide range of problems such as commitment of

government officials towards the project, coordination among various

departments for delivering e-Governance etc. In absence of a clear government

objective this project is seen as a private project with no legal or administrative

binding on part of the government officials to pay attention to the requests of the

LSP to promote the use of IT in the government offices.

§ e-Governance is a term whose actual connotation is yet to be fully understood at

various levels of government. Its not just about mere availability of a few

government forms online, it should also bring an attitude change among the

various government departments and officials where they recognize and utilize IT

as a way of delivering citizen oriented services. In fact apart from the availability

of forms if the entire transaction could be done online then the benefits of e-

Governance would be realized in a much better way.

The efforts at higher levels of government are on and it’s the middle and lower

level of governance we need to focus on because finally this is the section which

directly interacts with the citizens of the state. The World Bank has recently

granted approval to the National e-Governance Action Plan (NEGAP) and

sanctioned half a billion of dollars to be spent over four years. But the past

experiences in this as well as few other similar projects show that mere

availability of funds does not translate into e-governance. It calls for first order

commitment of political will, with funding coming an important second. In a

World Bank finding it has been stated that putting up state of art hardware and


software in place is no answer to basic bad and non transparent governance. E-

Governance is an enabler in the effort to bring about better processes, improve

transparency and reduce corruption. The question is how well prepared we are to

initiate these changes and how receptive the entire government machinery would

be to this reform process? It not only requires digitalization of mountains of

government records but also a change in the mind set of the people to shed their

apprehensions about the technology. It will require training of government

servants at various levels, of various age groups, with different socio economic

back grounds, having varying level of educations etc. The willingness of these

people in adapting to the new scenario in which IT is the way of life will play a

crucial role in the success of various government initiatives towards e-

governance. Right now the lack of institutionalized procedures, non availability of

technical expertise to suggest electronic alternatives to various ultra complex

procedures followed in the government offices is another area of concern. What

perhaps we must be aiming for is the re-engineering and restructuring of the

government processes everywhere.

Finally the e-governance is all about effective governance specially for the

empowerment of rural citizens and these basic objectives can not be realized

without a firm commitment to the philosophy that e-Government seeks to provide

a better deal to citizens, especially in rural India, who have been unable to enjoy

their entitlements on account of multiple deprivations, particularly income

poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, and absence of health care and a largely

corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy.

Along with the change at the bureaucracy level, we also have to focus at the end

user that is, the citizen of the state. Educating him about the e-governance and the

benefits of IT is an area where the projects like ‘Gyan Ganga’ play a critical role.

These projects impart quintessential basic computer education to the rural

population, create awareness among them about Internet and provide them with

hands on experience at IT at affordable rates.

§ Importance of education in the spread of IT has to be given its due importance. As

has been found in the villages that the awareness about the internet is directly


dependent upon the level of education of the villagers. If we just look around for

the internet usage and spending pattern in cities and towns in country we would

find that majority of the internet users either belong to commercial class whose

business has internet as an essential component, for example online trading,

banking etc., or the people who are at the higher end of the education system such

as college going students, researchers in various institutions or people who work

at higher levels such as managers, engineers in various business organizations.

And in most of the cases these users don’t pay directly for the internet usage as

it’s made available to them free of cost in most of the places as these

organizations realize that access to the internet to their employees is of paramount

importance. If we look at the usage of internet by a ‘common man’ in a city, its

very limited and students, who are the largest customer base for most of the cyber

cafes, use it mainly for chatting, e-mail and entertainment purposes and

sometimes for seeking information. All these users belong to the sections of

society who are highly educated and nearly impossible to be found in villages. So

along with the spread of internet we should also be focusing on providing higher

level education in the villages which will fuel the growth of the internet in the

rural areas and in turn internet can help in improving the quality of education in

rural areas. So both share a symbiotic relationship with each other and by working

in coordination can produce synergies in area of rural development.

§ The role of the project in bridging the computer awareness and education gap,

existent between rural and urban areas, can not be downplayed at all. The very

fact that because of the project villagers in 200 villages got an opportunity to try

their hands on computer should be seen as a positive step taken in right direction.

Because of the project, school children in those villages have access to computer

education today which has become a ‘must’ qualification now a days for any one

in every walk of life. In some cases some professional courses as ‘tally’ and

‘autocad’ were also being taught at the centres. Earlier the interested students

would have to travel to the nearest town centre to learn these courses, so the

savings in terms of time and money spent on traveling are significant. It also


makes them equally competitive with urban students when it comes to

qualification required for certain jobs.

§ The communication infrastructure set up under the aegis of this project in various

villages is a great asset which can be of significant local importance in future

when new development takes place in terms of policy making, services provided

etc. This can also serve a great deal in case of a natural disaster when other means

of communications are down.

14. Comparison with other similar projects

There have been quite a few e-Governance and ICT project initiatives taken in the

country in recent past and the results have been mixed so far. Centre for e-Governance,

IIM Ahmedabad conducts periodical surveys and studies to evaluate the success of such

projects. While some of the projects have been able to bring in more transparency,

efficiency and accountability, reduce cost and increase convenience to the consumers in

the delivery of citizen services, some others have failed to do so for multiple reasons.

One of the few success stories in e-Governance projects are that of Civic Centers of

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, Gujarat (CCAMC), Fully Automated Services of

Transport – Andhra Pradesh (FAST) and, to an extent, Regional Passport Offices (RPOs)

across the country. The success of these projects can be attributed to the extent of

reengineering and improvement of back-end services, extent of integration of backend

processes with front-end and web site, degree of employee involvement and change

management and technological robustness of the system architecture deployed.

Meticulous home work, extensive marketing, customer oriented business approach,

simplification of complex government procedures and superior training imparted to the

staff also played an important role in the success of these projects.

Most of the projects mentioned above are urban projects. There have been quite a few

initiatives taken in rural areas such as ‘Mahiti Shakti’ in Gujarat, ‘Gyandoot’ in Madhya

Pradesh, ‘Bhoomi’ in Karnataka, ‘Drishtee’ in northern India, Land Property Registration

in Andhra Pradesh and ‘e-Chaupal’ by ITC in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, All

these initiative except ‘e-Chaupal’ were state driven efforts and had same objective of


greater welfare of rural population by means of e-Governance and citizen oriented IT

services. These projects had almost similar set up in terms of implementation, operation

and management with a few changes here and there. The services provided to rural

citizens were also similar except ‘Bhoomi’ which was exclusively for providing online

land records to farmers. The projects have been moderately successful in achieving the

envisaged results and have faced similar hurdles of infrastructure bottle neck, financial

non viability, lack of a project champion, lack of computerization of back end processes,

non responsive nature of government officials in the later stage of the project etc. The

weak value proposition for the end users was also a major cause limiting the success of

the project. Actually ‘Bhoomi’ is a good example of a project in which government

clearly and rightly identified the services which need to be provided online on a priority

basis. In this project land records (RTC) were made available to villagers online at a

nominal fee. Any alterations in the ownership of the land also could be made online. This

significantly reduced the time taken to complete the process and level of corruption

prevailing in the department.

‘e-Chaupal’ on the other hand is a private initiative taken by ITC for its own commercial

benefits (to minimize the length of the supply chain), which also resulted in increased

empowerment of the rural farmers as they had better access to information about market

rates in the nearby ‘mandis’. It was a win-win situation for both the parties as the

company was able to bring down its procurement costs because of removal of

intermediaries from the supply chain and at the same time farmers also got a better deal.

Though the objectives of this project were rather commercial in nature unlike other

projects with social motives, still a few lessons can be learnt from it about how to get the

end users interested and involved in the project, what value propositions to be provided,

how to overcome the regulatory hurdles and maintain and manage a large network of

around 140 kiosks.

The ‘Gyan Ganga’ project appears to be a mix of all previous schemes with improved

technology. Apart from the technology part no other learning from the past few similar

experiences have been incorporated while designing the project.


15. Conclusion

Perhaps it is early comment on the long term prospects of ‘Gyan Ganga’ project, since

ramping up usage in rural areas takes time. An important lesson learnt should be that

building awareness and improving the usage patterns of ICT applications in rural areas

may take much more time than anticipated by a project team. This holds true especially

when the value proposition for the citizen is weak, as in the case of ‘Gyan Ganga’ where

in only one part of the entire process (availability of forms online) has been improved.

The digitalization of the back end processes and a seamless interface between back end

and the front end of an IT application is a must for realizing the meaning of e-

Governance in true sense. The roles and responsibilities of government officers need to

be clearly demarcated. In each department, IT enthusiasts could be identified who could

be responsible for a complete end-to-end delivery of a service to the citizen.

Given the non availability of promised service and a weak demand for existing services, a

new service is needed with broad and strong appeal that could attract a large number of

villagers to the kiosks, such as the issuance of certificates of land title to farmers.

So far we have not paid any attention to use the information technology to increase the

participation from the citizens of state in development process of the state.

One reason for this is that the promoters have seen the information kiosks only as a

mechanism for delivering services efficiently. Increasing the participation of the

community in the political or development process was not seen as one of the objectives.

Empowerment should become the focus of the next stage in the evolution of the project.

After getting over the initial obstacles being faced by the project and automation of

departments at various levels to ensure quicker service delivery, the scope of the program

can be widened to publish data on development plans and their implementation.

Partnerships can be built with grassroots organizations to encourage feedback on

development plans and systems.

The study of the project also raises few interesting questions, answers to which are open

ended. Given the prevailing political and administrative framework in the country, can

the availability of internet in rural areas can ever be commercially viable or even if we

assume that bureaucratic reforms will take place sooner or later, then does the


implementation of such projects, which fail to obtain desired results as of now due to lack

of serious commitment from the government side, not create a negative image in the

mind set of local communities about the utility of such initiatives? The issue is whether

the projects have been prematurely rolled out which might adversely affect the future of

any such improved projects because kiosk operators who had bad experience in this

project will hesitate to venture in to similar enterprise in future.

There is also the issue of ‘commercial’ viability of internet, because if we consider

internet to be an information dissemination tool then should we not also consider the

large social benefits derived because of this spread of information which are difficult to

quantify in monitory terms?

In this era of information technology, should not internet be considered the basic

infrastructure input required for the development of any society just like roads, ports,

power etc.? And if yes, then what mechanisms we should adopt to provide this

infrastructure utility to the all the citizens of the country?

Are there any lessons to be learnt from the explosive growth of internet in countries like

South Korea that were exactly in the same situation in terms of coverage a few years ago

as India is today? The Korea government pursued the broad band policy aggressively and

as a result of that today 80% of the households in the country have broad band connection

and 30% of their entire GDP transaction takes place online. No doubt that the two

countries are different in many ways such as size, population, education level, social

structure, type and size of economy etc. but there are certainly few lessons which can be

learnt from the Korean experience such as importance of strong political will in

delivering the results.

In conclusion one can say that there is a gamut of issues which need to be addressed

before launching such a project. Most of the times one needs to work in coordination with

different agencies to get these issues resolved. A lot of homework need to be done while

designing such projects especially in area of demand assessment, service delivery and

financial structure. Because of poor planning and execution even the greatest of the ideas

and the best of the technologies can fail to contribute significantly towards the uplifting

of the deprived section of a society.


Appendix 1: Locations of the Initially Planned Project Sites

1. Vyara 5. Mehemedabad 9. Wakaner 13. Palanpur

2. Dahod 6. Palitana 10. Prantij 14. Limbdi

3. Vaghodia 7. Dhoraji 11. Viramgam 15. Amreli

4. Shehera 8. Jasdan 12. Visnagar 16. Patan


Appendix 2: Location of ‘Live’ Projects, LSP Details and No. of Kiosk Centres Functional

Sr.

No.

Location LSP Address E-Mail No. of

Kiosks

1. Palanpur Mr. Niraj Garg Banas Kantha Dist. Co-operative Milk

Producers Union Ltd., Banas Dairy, Post

box-20, Palanpur-385001

Phone:- (02742) 253881/85

[email protected] 35

2. Mehmdabad Mr. Hitesh Patel 1, Pramukhdarshan, Khatalal Road,

Khatraj, Mehmedabad

Phone:- 9426005412


3. Visnagar Handed back to

company

- [email protected] 32

4. Patan Handed back to

company

- [email protected] 12

5. Vyara Mr. Pranav Joshi Gramshree Telent Pvt. Ltd, 1/1 Floor,

Vaibhav Complex, near Vaibhav

Cinema, Vyara-394650

Phone:- 9825641371


6. Prantij Ms. Heena Dave 3-Jogmaiya Complex, Opp. BSNL [email protected] 17


Sr.

No.

Location LSP Address E-Mail No. of

Kiosks

exchange, Railway station road, Prantij,

Sabarkantha.

Phone:- 9426580065

7. Palitana Mr. Kirtibhai Survey # 144, plot # 6/1, Gariyadhar

Road, Behind Leelapir Dargah,

Palitana-364270, Bhavnagar Dist.

Phone:-9824215360

[email protected] 3

8. Waghodia Mr. Sharma - [email protected] *

9. Dhoraji Mr. Gopal Khirsania - [email protected] *

10. Amreli Mr. Nishant Bhatt - - *

11. Shehera Mr. Rakesh Shah - [email protected] *

*Under pipeline


Appendix 3: List of Equipments/ Softwares Provided to Kiosk Operator by n-Logue

and Cost

Sr. No. Items/Description Net Price (in Rs.)

1. HCL multimedia PC with 15” color monitor, keyboard,

Mouse, 52X CD ROM, speakers, stand mike with 3

years onsite warranty

19580.00

2. 250V-A UPS with battery, 3 year warranty for UPS &

1 year for battery. Make: Alacrity CPS sinew 250 or

equivalent

7767.00

3. Digital camera – DXG 2.1 MP or equivalent 4420.00

4. Inkjet Printer – HP 5160 4472.00

5. FRS with cables 13,183.04

6. Local Language Software (750) and iSee software

(2250)

3000.00

7. Training on basic computers, Chiraag Internet services

and entrepreneurship

1322.40

6 months unlimited internet introductory offer 6612.00 8.

Total 60,357.00


Appendix 4: Services Offered at Kiosks

Chiraag Computer Education

All Chiraag computer education courses include online exercises and practice sessions,

tests and additional lessons.

Blue Book

Designed for children 6-9 years old, this 6-day self-paced learning course

introduces the computer to the children, making them aware of all the interesting

things that can be done with it. Blue Plus, a 26-day version of the course that

includes more details and practice sessions, is also available.

Green Book

Green Book is a 10-day course for students aged 10-17 years old. It teaches the

basics of Internet browsing and email use, and familiarizes the student with

applications such as CK Shakti, a local language office suite. Like Blue Book, a

Green Plus version is also available. The course is a 26-day Internet- intensive

version of the original.

Red Book

Red Book is the most comprehensive Chiraag computer training available. The 2-

month self-paced course focuses on teaching the intricacies of the CK Shakti

office suite, and is meant for those who are 17 and older and are interested in

enhancing their job skills or improving their businesses.

Other Education

English Early Reader

A 10-day English workshop to teach children to read and write frequently used

words in English. The course covers more than 100 words, and supports school

curriculum.

Online Testing Tutorial

The 10-month course is aimed at 9th and 10th grade students wishing to improve

their English Grammar, in preparation for higher education exams.

Topper CD

The educational CDs provide coaching in Match, Physics and Chemistry for


engineering and junior college entrance exams. The self-paced tutorials contain

self-tests and 8500 sample questions and answers.

Online Photoshop Tutorial

The online course teaches computer graphic skills to those interested in working

for a digital studio or printing house. It is also used by the kiosk operators to hone

their own photo studio skills.

iSee

The software is a multiparty video conferencing application developed by the

collaborative efforts of TeNet group and Oops Pvt. Ltd. The software was

developed specifically keeping in mind the requirements and communication

needs of rural areas. It enables users to do real-time sessions in different locations

at the same time, irrespective of time and distance. The software is only ½ MB in

size, takes less than two minutes to download, and works reliably on low

bandwidth networks with speeds as low as 12 kbps

Health

n-Logue has established several partnerships with area doctors and hospitals to provide

health expertise in remote areas. Using the kiosk's Web camera, villagers can send

pictures for diagnosis or conduct live videoconferencing consultations with health

professionals. One such partner is the Aravind Eye Hospital, an organization that has

built its reputation on providing free or low-cost eye care to thousands in India. Patients

are able to receive a preliminary diagnosis without leaving their village, and if further

treatment is required, they are directed to the nearest Aravind hospital or free eye camp.

A Web portal, WebHealthCenter.com, is also accessed through the kiosks. The site has

developed several local language interfaces for n-Logue’s kiosks.

Agriculture

n-Logue has also established regional partnerships that provide agricultural services to

farmers. Solution providers, such as the Tamil Nadu Agricultural College and Research

Institute, provide expert advice on better farming techniques and solutions to crop and

animal diseases via email and videoconferencing. Sales of tractors and spare parts

through the kiosks have been made possible through partnerships with farm equipment

manufacturing companies. In areas where many people own farm animals and pets but


have no access to veterinarians, some kiosks are also providing online veterinary advice

for livestock. Agricultural portals used by kiosks to find weather information, crop prices,

and best-practice farming techniques include JFarmindia.com, kvbaramati.com,

krishiworld.com, agriwatch.com. Potential future agricultural services include soil

testing, online farming “schools”, an early warning system on disease outbreaks, and

long-term predictions on crop prices, demand, and rainfall.

Email and Web Browsing

Browsing, email, voice mail, video mail, chat and video chat are available at all of n-

Logue’s kiosks.

E-governance

Kiosks provide access to government portals that contain online forms and applications

for documents such as birth and death certificates. n-Logue has also organized

videoconferencing sessions between village kiosks and local government officials.

Chiraag Bio-Data Maker

The Chiraag Bio-Data Maker is a bilingual online program designed to make a

professional resume and cover letter. The job-seeker provides the answers to predefined

questions, and the software generates the final product which can then updated with new

information, or formatted to the user’s preferences.

Chiraag Children's Center

Many kiosks also function as Chiraag Children's Centers (CCC). For a nominal

membership fee, children can come to the kiosk for three hours on Sunday morning to

participate in activities that include: reading and math, games, coloring, listening to and

recording songs, chatting online and sending email, watching movies, and using iSee

software to chat with people from other villages. On weekdays, the children can also

come twice a month and use the kiosk for an hour doing any online or offline activity.

Astrology

Through its partnership with Astrovision.com, villagers can receive personalized

astrological predictions and horoscope charts. Matrimonial services are also available.

Offline Services

Kiosks also offer a variety of offline services. DTP (desktop publishing) is the most

popular, followed by offline computer education, such as Mouse and PC Tutor. Chennai


Kavigal has developed CK Shakti, a local language office suite that includes a word

processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, an email client and browser. For

entertainment, villagers can also use the computers to watch movies, listen to music or

play video games.

Chiraag Photo Studio

Digital photographs can be taken and touched up at the kiosk. These are frequently used

for government documents, such as passport applications.

Source: - www.n-logue.com/services.htm


Appendix 5: List of People Interviewed

Sr. No. Name Post / Org.

1. Ms. Neeta Shah Director, Centre of Excellence, GIL

2. Mr. Shekhar P.T. Dy. Manager-Marketing, n-Logue

3. Mr. Hitesh Patel LSP, Mehmdabad

4. Mr. Jaydev Rawal Director, Gati communications Pvt. Ltd.

5. Mr. Ritesh Marketing Exe. Mehmedabad

6. Mr. Vimal Shastri Kiosk Operator, Modej Village

7. Mr. Ketan Bhai Kiosk Operator, Navagam Village

8. Mr. Preetesh Pareek Kiosk Operator, Bhumel Village

9. Mr. Chandra Sekhar Vyas Kiosk Operator, Nainpur Village

10 Mr. Kanu K. Chauhan Kiosk Operator, Areri Village

11 Mr. Sana Bhai Vilager, Modej Village

12 Mr. Kishan Villager, Areri Vilage

13 Mr. Kijal Student, Areri Village


Appendix 6: Questionnaires

To Gujarat Informatics Ltd. / n-Logue:-

1. What is the current status of the project?

2. What is the cost and duration of implementation of the project?

3. Project structuring and financing (who provides what?)

4. Tie up with n-Logue

5. Role of GIL and n-Logue in the project

6. Technical details of the project

7. Reasons for selecting this particular technology (corDECT)

8. Reasons for selecting these particular areas/villages

9. What kind of business model has been deployed at local level?

10. Procedure for selecting an LSP and any financial/technical support or training

provided to him

11. Coordination with various state agencies to develop the services and local

language content

12. Efforts on your side to create awareness/popularize the project among rural

people

13. What have been shortcomings or difficulties faced so far and what steps have

been taken to improve upon them?

14. Future plans to expand the scope of the project further

To the LSP / Kiosk operator:-

1. What was your incentive to take it up? (Did you apply for it or were you

persuaded by company officials to invest in this?)

2. Initial investment required and how you financed it?

3. How much you yourself understand the IT technology? (Any special

course/diploma done?)

4. What are the various services provided by you and the charges for them?

5. Have you yourself developed/provided some additional services and have you also

tried to popularize use of IT among villagers by means of advertising etc?


6. Is there a reliable supply of power and what’s the back up available?

7. How often you come across a hardware/software problem and how do you solve

it?

8. How good the technical support provided by n-Logue / LSP is?

9. How many people use your kiosk in a day and for what various services?

10. What are the various segments of consumer class you get (like commercial,

educational, domestic, medical, farmers etc)?

11. Are there any special occasions for the increased use such as matches/board results

etc?

12. What are the timings and days for the facility to be operative?

13. Revenue/Expenditure details on monthly basis

14. Has the awareness among villagers about IT increased and is the no. of users going

up?

15. Are the services available are effective (availability of doctor, effectiveness of

agro-solutions provided)?

16. Is it commercially viable or what are your suggestions to make it a greater success

or improve it?

To the consumer/villager:-

1. Education level and the income level of the consumer

2. Have you ever used a computer/IT application before inception of this kiosk?

3. How far is the kiosk from your place?

4. What are the various facilities available at kiosk which you put to use?

5. What types of calls do you make the most (local, nearest town, nearest market

centre, STD, ISD etc)?

6. Comparison of earlier expenditure with current expenditure on IT or its

alternatives

7. What are the perceived benefits from your point of view?

8. Are the doctors / advisors / Govt. officials really available through IT kiosk?

9. Any complaints (like charges being too high or inaccessibility etc)?


Miscellaneous:-

1. Geographic terrain of the area

2. Population of the village, literacy level, average per capita income, major source

of livelihood, Tele density etc

3. Any peculiarity about social structure etc?

4. What are the quantifiable change in living standard and socio economic structure

etc?


Appendix 7: Financial Viability Analysis of the LSP Operator

Assumptions:

1. First year amount invested is Rs. 15 lacs by the LSP operator.

2. Growth of kiosks is as follows

a. 25 in first year,

b. 50 in second year and

c. 100 by the end of third year

3. In a reasonable case scenario, we assume that 100 kiosks stay connected to the

network.

4. LSP has taken the Rs. 15 lac loan to start operations at an interest rate of 18%.

5. LSP gets back Rs. 5 lac back from the company at the end of the 5 year period which

was deposited as caution money, which he repays for the loan amount.

6. This EMI for the first five years is Rs.27027 (3.24 lakhs per year), after fifth year he

repays 5 lakhs, therefore his EMI for the last five years reduces to Rs. 14332 per

month ( 1.72 lakhs per year).

7. Assumed Opex of an access centre is Rs. 30,000/month i.e. Rs. 3.6 lacs a year, out of

which 50% is contributed by LSP.

8. Each kiosk operator pays Rs. 1100/- per month (Rs. 13,200 / year) as connectivity fee

to the LSP, of which he gets 50%.

a. The calculation for connectivity fees is done on linear basis.

9. All the calculations are done based on current prices.

10. Rate of discount for NPV calculation is assumed to be 15%.

(lacs)

Years Particulars Amount Year 1

Interest on Loan -3.24

Opex -1.8 Income 0.825 Total -4.22 Year 2 Interest on


Years Particulars Amount Loan -3.24

Opex -1.8 Income 2.475 Total -2.57 Year 3


Opex -1.8 Income 4.95 Total -0.09 Year 4


Opex -1.8 Income 6.6 Total 1.56 Year 5


Opex -1.8 Income 6.6 Total 1.56 Year 6


Opex -1.8 Income 6.6 Total 3.08

6th year onwards it’s Net Income would be Rs. 3.08 lacs every year.

Net Cash flow for 10 years

Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Amount -4.22 -2.57 -0.09 1.56 1.56 3.08 3.08 3.08 3.08 3.08

NPV at 15% is 1.10


References

§ Jain, Rekha and Raghuram, G., (2005): “Study on Accelerated Provisions of Rural

Telecommunication Services (ARTS)”.

§ www.gujaratinformatics.com

§ www.n-logue.com

§ www.trai.gov.in

§ www.iimahd.ernet.in/egov.htm

§ www.hindu.com/thehindu/seta/2003/03/06/stories/2003030600160200

§ www.hindu.com/2005/03/21/stories/2005032101751000.htm

§ www.i4d.csdms.in

gyan ganga

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