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About TARAhaat
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T ARAhaat is
India’s premiere social enterprise dedicated to bridging the digital
divide between rural communities and
the mainstream economy. It provides villagers, particularly the youth,
with access to information and livelihood opportunities comparable in
quality to those available in urban areas. TARAhaat does this by
maintaining a rich portal (www.tarahaat.com), with information tailored
to meet local needs and with access provided through a managed a network
of franchised telecentres (TARAkendras).
TARAhaat also provides services that enable customers
to participate fully in the economy and in the institutions of
education, governance, finance and the marketplace. Using Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) TARAhaat serves as a platform for
sustainable development action. The TARAhaat network is a powerful and
cost effective channel to link businesses, civil society organizations
and government to rural communities. The TARAhaat Network of telecentres
currently located in the rural areas of Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya
Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, is systematically
expanding across the country.
A broad portfolio of services is offered through the
TARAkendras. Initial focus has been on vocational training, community
development, information and e-governance through a host of programmes
customised for local communities.
TARAhaat covers all three components for rural
connectivity: content, access and fulfilment. TARAhaat uses a
franchise-based business model to bring computer and Internet technology
to rural regions and plans to use these technologies to create revenue
streams leading to financial viability for itself and its franchisees.
Given below are a couple of example of how TARAhaat has impacted its
stakeholders. |
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Ashok Sansthan
is a small but progressive civil society organization (CSO) based in
Kundesar village in Ghazipur, adjoining Varanasi, in Eastern Uttar
Pradesh. The organisation, established in the early 1980s is headed by
Narendra Kumar Rai, a technology enthusiast. Rai has been instrumental
in introducing technology, through partnerships with various rural
development agencies, in his own as well as in the neighbouring villages
of his district. Rai had earlier worked with Development Alternatives on
a Low-cost building construction technology project. Therefore, when he
came to know about Development Alternatives’ plan to help Civil Society
Organisations establish ICT-based telecentres, he immediately agreed to
the proposal and got a resolution passed to this effect in the General
Body meeting of his organisation. A decision was taken to set-up the
centre at Kundesar, where the organisation is headquartered. Rai and
other staff members of his CSO have made all efforts to make the
telecentre a success. Now, the Centre is buzzing with youth, women and
farmers alike. With Development Alternatives’ support, the CSO also
received a VSAT and other communication equipment through a project run
by Indian Space Research Organisation. The telecentre operated by Ashok
Sansthan is connected on a Closed-User-Group network with other such
centres, a hospital and an agricultural university, which provide expert
advice through a video-conferencing facility. The telecentre not only
offers products and information to all segments of the population but is
also self-sustaining.
Vibhoti Vaibhav Chaturvedi,
22, with a Bachelors degree in Arts, from a middle class family hails
from the arid village of Bangra block, district Jhansi(U.P). He is
proficient in basic computer applications from TARAhaat. In between his
computer course he began to work as a MMT(Mobile Master Trainer) to
provide IT education to girls living in remote areas and not ion a
position to come to TARAkendra. He has trained over 200 women in various
villages. After his computer course he secured an EDV job (Ek Duniya
Volunteer) in the Bundelkhand region. His job is to motivate and help
farmers who face agricultural problems. He facilitates the farmers by
helping them obtain solutions through the mobile phone provided to him.
He travels extensively to visit all the villages that are close to his
own natal village. He covered at least 200 villages in a year’s time. He
is a volunteer for community mobilization to generate agri-based queries
for the Lifeline India project. q
Neelam Rana
nrana@devalt.org
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