E-Paper
IIIT-A to empower rural India
EXPERTS OF Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-A) are all set to come to the aid of the farmers of the State. In partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the IIIT-A is going to make the latest knowledge about farming available to them through a series of Gram Gyan Kendra Kiosks (GGKs) and an Agricultural Planning and Information Bank (APIB) that it plans to set up and nine Village Resource Centres (VRCs) that are ready to be put into service.
EXPERTS OF Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-A) are all set to come to the aid of the farmers of the State. In partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the IIIT-A is going to make the latest knowledge about farming available to them through a series of Gram Gyan Kendra Kiosks (GGKs) and an Agricultural Planning and Information Bank (APIB) that it plans to set up and nine Village Resource Centres (VRCs) that are ready to be put into service.
The Institute has also geared up to teach the basics of computers to the rural youth and women to help them gain employment under the initiative.
IIIT-A Director Dr MD Tiwari informed that IIIT-A is planning to establish GGK in select villages of Amethi and Rae Bareli district of UP.
"The backbone of the GGK will be the Village Resource Centers (VRCs) of the ISRO.
GGK will be the knowledge hub. Within two weeks in association with ISRO we will launch four VRCs in Amethi and four in Rae Bareli besides one in Allahabad," he added.
Dr Tiwari said that ISRO will provide the connectivity and requisite support services whereas IIIT-A will be undertaking the management of the VRCs and content development.
"Once the VRCs stabilize in these locations it will be extended to other locations. VRCs will facilitate in effective and efficient development of infrastructure and integrated development and routing of enterprises and investment to boost rural development," he said.
Connectivity made available through VRCs will provide rural population of Amethi and Rae Bareli access to an expanding market for their agricultural and non-agricultural products.
"This will give them better price for their products thus increasing their income and alleviating economic poverty," Dr Tiwari explained.
About the proposed APIB, he said that in partnership with ISRO, IIIT-A is working on a road map for implementing APIB for Amethi on the footsteps of Karnataka, West Bengal and North-Eastern Region where they are already functioning sucessfully.
"Farming community in Amethi is passing through a phase of reducing incomes, uncertain and unpredictable markets and weather conditions. They need advance information and intelligence on agricultural commodities; their supply/demand position in the local as well as global markets; advices on the impending climate/weather so as to regulate their choice of crops and farm management and operations. We would like to empower them so that they get enabled to face the global competition," Dr Tiwari said.
Dr Tiwari informed that IIIT-A is going to organise a three-day National Seminar on "Empowerig Rural India Through ICT" at its campus ( Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Information Technology (RGIIT- Amethi) from April 15 where various issues related to the latest intiative will be dealt with in detail.
"The objective of this seminar is three-fold:
To showcase Information Communication Technologies (ICT) based initiatives that can be implemented in Rural India, to seek the views of the multi-disciplinary experts for developing the road map for the socio-economic development of Rural India and to deliberate on the designing of the rural development initiatives, implement these and make successful rural development models available for replication in other states in India," he explained.
Dr Tiwari said that tele-medicine is one of the initiatives that will be launched by IIIT-A in the districts of Sultanpur and Rae Bareli.
