DRISHTEE TELECENTER INITIATIVE *

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1 DRISHTEE TELECENTER INITIATIVE * I. Abstract Drishtee is a franchise-based telecenter initiative for delivering information and services to rural and semi-urban populations in India. Drishtee s objective is to develop and manage a series of partnerships that will (1) work together to deliver both governmental and private services efficiently to citizens in rural areas, and (2) generate revenues to maintain the economic viability of the operation by charging fees for these services. Drishtee provides technical expertise and management consultancy to build the information technology (IT) infrastructure and the human capacity to link service providers (government offices and private enterprises) to rural citizens. The initiative is somewhat like Gyandoot, a network of rural kiosks that deliver government services in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh state, but with an essential difference: it is completely organized by the private sector and funded in a self-sustaining manner. The services currently provided include access to government records, issuance of documents, market-related information, private information exchanges, business-tobusiness transactions, and computer training for local businesses. In the past, villagers were forced to make extended and multiple trips to district authorities to obtain such documents as a marriage license; a copy of a land title; or an income, caste, and domicile certificate. This process could take months. Now, villagers can file their applications online and often receive the documents within a week, saving considerable time and money. Users can also consult commodity prices in multiple markets. By the second year of the project, 132 kiosks had already been deployed in such states as Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Orrisa. Improved access to market information, such as crop prices, has increased the bargaining power of farmers versus buyers. Rural kiosks encourage citizens to complain about poor public services, increasing the accountability of government departments. II. Background In February 2000, Cyber Edge (now Drishtee) entered into an agreement with the district administration of Dhar in Madhya Pradesh to develop e-governance modules for the state s Internet project, known as Gyandoot. Based on this initial experience, Drishtee has developed a franchise-based telecenter initiative for delivering information and services to rural and semi-urban populations in India. Drishtee hopes to build and manage a series of partnerships that can (1) collectively deliver government and private services to rural citizens in an efficient manner and (2) charge for these services so that the entire operation is economically viable. * This case study was prepared by a team comprising Prof. Deepti Bhatnagar and Ankita Dewan at the Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) and Magüi Moreno Torres and Parameeta Kanungo at the World Bank (Washington DC). 1

2 Key elements of Drishtee s model are low cost of operation, self-sustainability, and local entrepreneurial ownership. Initially implemented in Sirsa (a district in Haryana State), pilot projects have been initiated in other northern parts of India, such as Panipat, Bhiwani, and Fatehabad in Haryana; Jallandhar in Punjab; Moradabad and Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh; Patna in Bihar; Jaipur in Rajasthan; and Bhawanipatna in Orissa. Drishtee functions as a three-tier structure that comprises the management (Drishtee staff), the district operators (hub owners), and the village operators (kiosk owners). Drishtee s staff first selects districts and identifies district-level partners. Then the district operators recruit local entrepreneurs to build the network at the village level and provide the hardware that is installed at the district hub. They also deal with the local government to ensure access to government data and on-time delivery of service as agreed. Finally, the village operators market and deliver kiosk services to the villagers. Drishtee staff members supply the software, and create and manage the network. They also maintain and upgrade the software and interface with government and corporate clients. Drishtee has a head office in Delhi, 8 regional offices, and 29 state offices. The intranet software package facilitates communication and information interchange among villages through information kiosks, or Soochanalayas. It also serves as a platform for delivering a variety of government services to citizens. The initiative hopes to cover all the villages of the country in a three-phase rollout. Up to now, Phase I has covered 30 districts. Current services offered at the information kiosks include private services, such as Village Haat 1, a bus timetable, and government services, such as filing applications for copies of land records and issuing driving licenses. A Soochak owns and runs a kiosk on a commercial basis. He is elected from the village or local community itself, and has a tenth-grade educational level or higher. Trained to operate the user-friendly software, he acts as an interface between the computer and the illiterate farmers and villagers. A fee of Rs (US$ ) is charged for different services provided to citizens. The Soochak pays (1) a one-time license fee of Rs 10,000 (US$216), and (2) 20 percent of his income as a commission to Drishtee, and bears the cost of paper, maintenance, electricity, and telephone bills. He generates additional income by functioning as a petition writer and as a licensed vendor of government judicial stamps. Based on conservative projections, Drishtee expects that each kiosk owner will earn a net income of at least Rs 12,000 (US$260) per month after the end of the first year. In the future, Drishtee hopes to earn revenues from additional sources, such as rural consumer data sold to private and public concerns, and the use of Drishtee s organizational platform for several additional purposes: as a distribution network for various consumer goods; as a system to collect information about rural India for government censuses and surveys; and as a system to disseminate information to rural India by public and private organizations. 1 A Haat is an e-auction facility for land, agricultural machinery, and bullocks, in which an item may be included in a sale list for three months at a charge of Rs 25 and a list of commodities for sale can be browsed for a fee of Rs 10. 2

3 In every district, the project is executed within a period of one year, and in three stages: (1) inception, (2) implementation, and (3) monitoring and evaluation. In the inception stage, the district is identified, talks are held with government officials on the viability of the project, and a needs assessment survey is carried out in 5 percent of the district s villages. The implementation stage includes content development, pilot testing, identification of the kiosk owners, and capacity building for the execution team government officials, the project team, and the kiosk owners. Training for the District Channel Partner (the group of private kiosk owners) covers an understanding of the government s domain and exposure to the Drishtee model and components in greater detail. Training of government officials provides exposure to the proposed system and highlights the need for making modifications in their service delivery processes. The selected kiosk owners are required to go through three weeks of initial operational training, covering an understanding of the Drishtee software, enhancement of skills for the promotion of Drishtee s services, and basic computer education for running profitable training courses for villagers. New nongovernmental services are being added, such as market-related information, which allows villagers to find markets with the best prices to sell their produce; auction sites to promote interpersonal transactions; and matrimonial services. Drishtee has also provided localized content for educational and health services. So far, there has been no effort at systematic evaluation, since the Drishtee teams are overworked in dealing with teething problems and expanding coverage. However, some anecdotes have been compiled to project the impact of the system. The kiosks are established in Gram Panchayat (village councils) buildings, located at a block headquarters, at a haat bazaar (a weekly marketplace in tribal areas), or by the roadsides of the villages, usually at the major bus stands servicing rural areas. Each kiosk serves about 15 Gram Panchayats (that is, 25 to 30 villages, or 20,000 to 30,000 people). The population of the villages served by the kiosks ranges from 500 to 9,000 inhabitants. For a kiosk to reach the break-even point, a base of 2,500 customers is deemed necessary. III. Impact/Results The Drishtee model is gaining momentum in the northern states of India. Eleven new Soochanalayas were established in the first year of the project s inception. At this point, more than 130 kiosks have already been established, and the system services more than 40,000 villagers. The long-term aim of Drishtee is to connect 60 percent of the 600,000 villages of India to the system. Drishtee has won two awards to date, namely the Most Promising Social Enterprise Award 2002 by Digital Partners USA and the Best Information and Communication Technology Story Award by IICD (International Institute for Communications and Development) and Infodev (World Bank). Currently, about 15 percent of an average village s population takes advantage of a kiosk s services wherever one has been set up. This percentage is likely to increase, but the remaining 85 percent also gain in terms of wider reach, modern outlook, and a definite change in social perception. 3

4 The complaint module of the software has enabled the government officials to take quick actions on the grievances of the villagers and thus has improved kiosk efficiency levels. Drishtee has contributed to increased awareness of computers and information technology in the rural areas. Government functionaries at lower levels have become computer-savvy. This is apparent from the increased number of applications for computer loans from the Employees Provident Fund and the increased number of officials who have joined computer training classes. Computer literacy is increasing in rural areas as indicated by the fact that around 120 rural youths are being trained in kiosks in remote areas. IV. Key Elements of Empowerment Information The availability of customized information in many rural areas has increased the knowledge base of many villagers, who gain easy access to information on government plans, market-related data, and education and health services. Farmers get detailed information on market rates, crops, farming patterns, and pesticide use. Information on crop prices has enabled farmers to obtain better deals for their produce, because they are able to sell their produce in the market that offers them the best price. Trading without intermediaries has increased the profit margins of these farmers from 3 percent to 5 percent. 2 Inclusion/Participation Drishtee s model helps community development by improving the lifestyle of the average villager and by promoting economic and social relations through services such as auctions and matrimonials. The site provides an opportunity for schoolchildren to ask questions about career counseling or any other field at no cost. Self-help groups in rural areas are becoming more organized and empowered as a result of the transparency brought about in government services. The Farmers Association in the village Kod is demanding a new kiosk in the village. The need to market kiosk services helps in breaking the traditional caste barriers. Recounting the story of the kiosks in Punavali village owned by three upper-caste sisters, a team of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reported that faced with low turnout at the kiosk, these sisters descended on the village and visited several homes of low caste residents to find out why the mothers were not sending their children to learn computers at the kiosk. 3 2 Digital Partners. Case study on Drishtee. Source: < 3 MIT Sloan School of Management. Drishtee Pvt. Limited: Case Study in Punavali. < s+to+information+-+drishtee&hl=en&ie=utf-8>. 4

5 Accountability Increased access to information and availability of prompt services at the doorstep has empowered villagers to enforce accountability and demand an increased efficiency level in relevant government departments (see Text Box 1). Lower-level government functionaries are now reported to have become more computer proficient, since many officials have joined computer training classes. Box 1: Repairing the pump through an online complaint The 39 households of Baidi Awar, a small hamlet of village Mafipura, shared one hand pump to get clean drinking water. When the pump broke down, villagers had to fetch water from a distance of two kilometers for more than six months. Government officials turned a blind eye to the complaint lodged by the villagers. The villagers then lodged a complaint through a Soochanalaya by paying Rs 10. The pump was repaired within two days. V. Issues and Lessons Challenges and Key Factors for Success The lack of appropriate infrastructure and power supply has been the major hindering factor in the implementation of the initiative. Connectivity has become a constraint for spread of Drishtee within a district. There are kiosks in the village of Sirsa, for instance, which have not received promised telephone connections even after six months of operation. In comparison to telecenter operations run by government with a limited set of services, Drishtee s comprehensive package of services is an advantage in attracting large numbers of rural citizens to its kiosks. When a larger number of citizens are involved in an innovation, its positive impact on social interactions within communities can be higher. However, the success of the Drishtee model depends heavily on the responsiveness of the district administration to citizens electronic applications for services. Drishtee s model has no specific incentives for the government to participate in the endeavor and to increase its responsiveness. One way to build such an incentive would be to publish comparative statistics on the quality of service delivery. Such data can be automatically compiled by the system. While the network seeks to function as a source of information for the villagers, groupspecific information is often missing. For instance, the network has low value for groups such as landless laborers or artisans, women, children, and elderly people. Services related to health, education, entertainment, and employment need to be provided if the network really hopes to reach its assigned targets. In addition, the requirements of farmers in northern India may be different from those of farmers in the south. Demand variations according to geographic and cultural factors need to be taken into consideration if the model wants to establish its presence on a national scale. 5

6 Currently, more than 80 percent of the network s online revenue is dependent on services offered by block or district government offices. Consequently, the model has been accepted and implemented more readily in states that are aware of the benefits of information technology. In other states, where there is little support from district authorities, Drishtee needs to expand its private services. Drishtee is customizing its software and services for nearly 500 districts in India. However, the project will require startup capital of Rs 32 million if it wishes to expand its coverage to at least 60 percent of the total villages of the country and capture at least 30 percent of the total rural market. The financial sustainability of the early set of kiosks will determine Drishtee s ability to raise these funds. Outlook Drishtee's long-term goal is to position itself as an integrated model for providing a comprehensive range of services to the rural villager. Such integration would be possible by incorporating the application of the service provider into Drishtee's software so that the service can be delivered through the kiosks. Drishtee has begun to forge alliances with strategic partners, such as a large tractor company, and the tractor company s distributors have agreed to become Drishtee s channel partners. In another partnership, SRISTI, a nongovernmental organization that documents rural innovations, has agreed to place its contents on Drishtee s servers. Drishtee has also been experimenting with newer technologies to expand reach. For example, a team from the MIT Sloan School of Business's Global Entrepreneurship course spent a summer with the project exploring the use of handheld computers to expand the reach of Drishtee. The team is working on the premise that to penetrate the market fully, kiosk services must be expanded beyond customers who live nearby and are willing to walk to the kiosk. It appears that there are two demographic groups that the current business model is ignoring: (1) those who live beyond an 8-kilometer radius from the kiosk, which effectively puts them too far away to walk; and (2) those who live within 8 kilometers of the kiosk but are unable or unwilling to walk there (typically women). A handheld computer, when coupled with a kiosk, may be the solution to tapping into both of these demographics and penetrating beyond 1 percent of the market. In order to test the hypothesis, the MIT team lent handheld computers and inexpensive digital cameras to existing kiosk entrepreneurs. Based on limited feedback from these field trials, the kiosk owners were eager to integrate the devices in order to expand both their existing suite of services and their customer base. 4 4 MIT Sloan School of Management. Drishtee Pvt. Limited: Case Study in Punavali. < s+to+information+-+drishtee&hl=en&ie=utf-8>. 6

7 VI. Further Information: References and World Wide Web Resources American Graduate School of International Management. Drishtee Case Study. Digital Partners Website. URL: < Communication Initiative Website. Program Descriptions: Drishtee India. URL: < DataQuest Website. June 24, URL: < Delgado, Sergio, Nathan Eagle, Amir Hasson, Prabhat K. Sinha A Market Analysis of Mobile Computing Services in Rural India. New Delhi: Media Lab Asia/Global Entrepreneurship Lab. See also URL: < Drishtee Pvt. Limited. URL: < Drishtee Pvt. Limited. Drishtee s Business Plan. URL: < Malik, Shenaz. Drishtee: Connecting India Village by Village. Digital Opportunity Channel Website. URL: < Mishra, Satyan (CEO of Drishtee) Highlights from a presentation at the conference Achieving Connectivity for the Rural Poor in India. May 1 June 3. Baramati, India. URL: < baramati/highligh.pdf+key+lessons+drishtee&hl=en&ie=utf-8>. MIT Sloan School of Management. Drishtee Pvt. Limited: Case Study in Punavali. URL: < ~nathan/research/mla/punavali.pdf+access+to+information +-+Drishtee&hl=en&ie=UTF-8>. Stockholm Challenge Website. Project Description: Drishtee Soochna Aapke Dwaar. URL: < 7