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TARAhaat is
an information company promoted by Development Alternatives to
propagate rural information exchange leading to sustainable
livelihoods. It started with the idea of disseminating information
on sustainable technologies. However, it was soon realised that to
make a large impact and to endure, TARAhaat would have to offer all
sorts of information services. This way, it would be able to pay for
itself through large numbers of small payments charged for each
small service.
The TARAhaat project, now in an advanced state of
trial at pilot scale in Bundelkhand and Bathinda, operates as
follows. Local entrepreneurs are identified to invest in the setting
up of a cyber centre (called a TARAkendra) and become franchisees of
TARAhaat. TARAhaat supplies a variety of support services, including
(but not limited to) assistance with loans, training in hardware,
software, and human resource development, physical design of the
TARAkendra, a customised web portal (www.tarahaat.com), and
special services, all in the local language of the region.
The business model is designed so that the user
pays for the local costs while other revenue streams pay for
long-term investment, such as for developing the software. This
latter category includes the investment of the accumulated
institutional experience of the Development Alternatives group in
rural sustainable technologies, environmental programmes, and
institutional mechanisms.
At this point in time, TARAhaat is developing
education and training services as a priority, based on the demand
and paying capacity of the village users. However, a system such as
TARAhaat, expecting to grow and cover rural users across the nation,
has immense potential for widespread local action in improving the
state of shelter across the nation. Therefore, TARAhaat has recently
begun a shelter programme through its network.
There are three main areas of information on
sustainable and conventional shelter technologies on which work has
begun:
| 1. |
Information
on design of buildings, including a library of standard
designs suitable to the local situation of the user, and
information on techniques and technologies including listing
of sources from where more information and support may be
obtained. |
| 2. |
Information
on materials, skilled workmen and contractors including
listing of local sources where these may be obtained. |
| 3. |
Information
on sources of funds (loans and grants) through government
schemes, banks, or other institutions. |
It is expected that a soft launch of this shelter
information channel on the TARAhaat portal is likely in about six
months. All the information being built up right now is somewhat
biased towards the work of the Development Alternatives group.
However, in order to be truly useful, TARAhaat invites other
organisations to partner to provide information on a commercial or
philanthropic basis. TARAhaat offers to host this information on a
no-charge basis. Interested organisations should write to pat@sdalt.ernet.in
for working out the details.
As TARAhaat works with rural users, it is
observing why the dissemination of appropriate shelter technology is
not as efficient as it could be. The information channels outlined
above, in fact, are not valuable enough for bona fide rural users.
What they require are information services (as opposed to just
information). These services, which most users would gladly pay for,
correspond with the list of information above. They translate into
the following activities that TARAhaat has also begun:
| 1. |
Online
(and high speed) design of buildings according to users’
brief and suitable to the local situation, including layout,
choice of technology, detailed design including structure,
bills of materials and estimates, and connecting by e-mail,
chat or discussion forums to experts and/or peer groups with
the same or similar building needs |
| 2. |
Connecting to material suppliers, skilled
workmen and contractors including direct sales of sustainable
and conventional shelter technologies, either in the form of
material or training (a limited amount of direct sale of
TARAgram products has been successfully tried out in
Bundelkhand this year, even overcoming the market resistance
to buy materials from TARAkendras which are not perceived to
be traditional building materials vendors) |
| 3. |
Facilitating
the access and approval of loans and grants through government
schemes, banks, or other institutions, and connecting by
e-mail, chat or discussion forums to experts and/or peer
groups with the same or similar funding needs |
TARAhaat looks forward to forming partnerships
with like-minded organisations to provide these services. The reader
can imagine the difference these services can make not only in the
average rural hinterland, but also in special areas such as
disaster-struck Orissa and Kutch. Interested groups should write to
pat@sdalt.ernet.in for working out the details.
The information and communications technology
revolution has the capacity to speed up the process of shelter
provision in a revolutionary way not hitherto possible. The shelter
channel of TARAhaat is attempting to make a beginning towards that
revolution. q
Sanjay
Prakash is a Senior Consultant to TARAhaat.
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