Volume 12, No. 2, August 2002
Avoiding
Crisis in Rural Areas through Information Technology
B. D.
Badgaiyan
It is often seen that a problem keeps brewing in Indian villages, but comes to the notice of authorities and media only when it has precipitated a crisis. The authorities are quick to shift the blame and at best, a departmental enquiry is launched. Such efforts do not help in avoiding / solving problems at a time when they could have been tackled, but are only an exercise in ex-post-facto analysis. The question is, can a problem be brought to the notice of the public and the Government before it is unmanageable. And can sufficient public pressure and accountability be imposed on the authorities / people’s representatives? To be fair, it is not possible for Government departments to carry out surveillance checks of all the aberrations / problems in an area, and so it is difficult for them to take proactive action. However, sometimes even when the information is available, because of sheer apathy and callousness, it is not accorded the priority it deserves. The proposed model attempts to solve both the issues of proactive information provisioning and bringing up sufficient public pressure to ensure accountability and performance. The model has built-in checks for fraudulent, mischievous and motivated registering of problems.
Basically the model comprises establishing a resource centre with two PCs with connectivity to Internet at the block headquarters. With the spread of Internet, this is possible in atleast two-thirds of the country. The systems would be manned by an IT professional and a development professional, both selected locally. To accomplish the information dissemination as mentioned, a website would be launched for every block with the facility of uploading information from the block itself. The people of the area would be free to proactively raise the problems emerging in the area with respect to health, immunisation, water, hunger, education, insects and pests affecting their agriculture, among others. The problems are now in public domain and are available for any one to respond. This facility would enable the authorities particularly, to remain in contact with ground realities and gain insights into the problems; independent of reports emerging from different departments on their own performance. Thus another mechanism for monitoring and verification at the ground level is provided. Further, authorities can respond to the problems raised through the website. This ground level information can act as a good source of material for local newspapers, which can bring to notice the problems at a larger scale for proactive action. The system will have great use in Indian conditions, as this model provides for reporting of problems by the common villager, thus increasing accountability and giving the authorities sufficient time to act. The solution also provides that people need not go to various Government departments, and the onus will be on the Government to take notice of the problem and resolve it.
To guard against malicious and fictitious registering of complaints, each problem that is reported has to be ratified by the local Panchayat - a self governing body at the village level - and displayed on the website. In case any problem is not recognised as valid, the Panchayat must specify the reasons for that. Quarterly reports can be generated for assessing the invalid complaints and also for identifying any Panchayat that has been overactive in downplaying the problems for political, personal or other reasons. Thus this system provides for free and proactive registration and reporting of problems, with free access to all.
The website would be updated by locally hired IT trained personnel, as it does not require much sophistication. The development professionals can assist in specifying and putting the problems in the right perspective.
Financially, one time investment in the form of two PCs, and a printer is not much and can be obtained from the funds allocated to the local legislators. For regular maintenance, Internet connectivity, and for paying for services of the IT and development professionals, suitable amounts can be collected from the Panchayats being served by the system, as the amount involved is not large and can be sustained. Depending on the acceptability and working of the system, further services which are transaction oriented or require information gathering from the World Wide Web can be provided.
The author presently working with CARE-India has been National Coordinator for Sustainable Development Networking Programme of UNDP and IDRC