Come May 14, 2002, TH would complete 2 years of its operations in the field. It all started at TARAgram, Orchha on May 14, 2000 where a small workshop was organized to present the concept of TARAhaat (TH) before the youths of the Bundelkhand region. Much water has flown down the Betwa since then. Problems notwithstanding, TARAhaat has achieved significant gains, both tangible and intangible, since then.

TARAhaat has been launched, by the Development Alternatives, with the objective of bridging the ever increasing digital divide between rural and urban India by offering to the rural masses knowledge, services and products through a network of franchised cyber-kiosks called TARAkendras and the web-portal TARAhaat.com.

At the time of its launch it wasn’t very much clear, except the broad areas of e-education, e-governance and e-commerce, as to what specific kind of services TARAhaat is going to offer to its customers besides providing information on a variety of subjects through its web-portal TARAhaat.com.

The TH team just decided to step into the field and find out from the people themselves as to what kind of products and services they would like TH to produce and are also willing to pay for.

In the early days, the TH team in the field had to face enormous difficulties viz. IT (computer) awareness levels among the community were very low;

Internet was totally unheard of; even in a city like Jhansi, there were only 2 cyber cafes with very poor connectivity and that too at exorbitant rates (@Rs 120/hour).

Under such circumstances it was hard to persuade the people ( prospective franchisees) to take initiative to install the equipment (computers and VSAT) for experimentation. TH team (field people) had to work really hard to find the initial lot (7 in all) of franchisees on an experimental basis.

Moreover, internally, in the beginning staff strength at the field and HO was very small, there was no tangible product, except connectivity through VSATs, for the franchisees and prospective franchisees to offer to their customers. The systems, procedures and processes were also either non-existent or very weak.

During the pilot tests in the field, education emerged as the single largest product/service which people demanded and TH responded back instantly by coming out with customised educational courses, and that too in local language, aimed at imparting skills which can enable the rural students to fetch gainful employment/self-employment besides increasing the self-esteem and self-confidence.

Last two years have witnessed a sea change , as far as IT awareness levels are concerned, in the communities where TH started its operations and much credit for this could be attributed to the efforts made by TH during this period though increase in the overall awareness levels owing to the internet wave sweeping across the globe can’t be heavily discounted.

Even today, the people in places ( like Punavali, Niwari, Lalitpur, Orchha etc.) where there is still no internet connectivity, the VSATs were removed after the initial experimental period, are demanding that TH should get the satellite network re-installed.Not only that they are even willing to pay for it, even though surfing charges have seen a steep downtrend (Rs. 30/hour) since May, 2000.

These days the enquiries to set up a TARAkendra come unsolicited and the field people doesn’t have to toil hard to find them. People have started seeing the value and the rewards of becoming a TH franchisee.

This, partly because TH has developed many new products and is in the process of developing many more and, partly because of the promotion and publicity, though low key, people have started recognizing TH as a brand.

Because their share of the revenues from TH products has grown since the early days, and because the help delivered by TH to ensure the success of the TK, the Franchisees are more than willing to invest in their own infrastructure and equipment, and ready to pay the annual franchisee fee and security deposit. This is a major step forward from just a year and half back, when the very same people used to look forward towards TH for help in cash or kind (infrastructure, equipment, guidance and handholding etc)

One of the most heartening feature has been that these days educated youth (Engineers, MCAs, MBAs etc) are coming forward to set up TARAkendras. They are the ones who understand and buy into the vision behind TH and are willing to experiment. They are broadminded and progressive in their attitude.

On the students front, they no more ask for certification from universities or some other recognized govt. institutions. Instead they readily accept certificates issued by TH. The courses developed by TARAgyan, educational division of TH, are fast finding wide acceptance among the student community.

Lot of this attitudinal change can be attributed to the excellent work done by the entire TH team in Delhi and Jhansi in the last 2 years.

Internally, TARAhaat, based on its learning from the field, has developed stronger systems and procedures although it still has a long way to go. A standardized franchisee agreement; a franchisee manual to help the TARAkendra owner to manage their business, and IT and non-IT courses developed by TARAgyan, greatly increase the chances of success and high returns to the Kendra owner.

TH’s business model has also been refined based on its two years of learning from its field operations. As a result it has become more robust. Rural and peri-urban habitats have been segregated into 5 segments (A to E) in Bundelkhand based on population of the catchment area, paying ability of the people, awareness levels among the people etc. For example a village Kendra like Punavali has been categorized as E, a tehsil town like Niwari as C and small district towns like Lalitpur and Datia as B.

The franchisee fee and minimum infrastructure requirements for these segments are also different. And are designed to reflect the economic reality facing the individual Kendra location. Specific courses are also developed to reflect the overall economic needs and capacities of the people in each region. Accordingly students have the choice of selecting more affordable courses.

This kind of differentiation has helped TH develop needed and appropriately priced products for the end consumer. Moreover, it has also highlighted the need to come up with very innovative solutions at the lowest possible costs to meet the increasing demands of the people belonging to D and E communities for setting up of a viable, profitable and therefore, sustainable TARAkendra.

The entire TH team is working in tandem to meet the growing needs of the present and would be TARAkendras.

Therefore, with the business model becoming more realistic, systems and processes getting into place, newer and newer products getting developed to augment the income of the TARAkendra owner, awareness levels about Information Technology and its applications and TARAhaat been seen as a rising brand among the community the future definitely augurs well for TARAhaat in the Bundelkhand region. q

Back to Contents