The media is an indispensable pillar of democracy and information/knowledge is power.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are powerful tools for the effective
dissemination of information or knowledge gain across different areas, and have a potential for
economic growth and social empowerment. ICTs have become one of the basic building blocks of
modern society (Smamy, 2012). The better utilization of knowledge gained over the years across
different sections of society leads to development. ICTs are a diverse set of technological tools and
resources to create, store and disseminate the knowledge base by bringing value addition to it by
managing information in a creative manner. ICTs has been conceptualised mostly as a monolithic and
homogeneous entity (Sein & Harindranath, 2004). Having knowledge is not enough, its applicability
is more important in present day context. ICTs are a range of electronic technologies which when
converged in new configurations is flexible, adaptable, enabling and capable of transforming
organisations and redefining social relations. The range of technologies is increasing all the time and
there is a convergence between the new technologies and conventional media (Michiels & Van
Crowder, 2001). ICTs are an expanding assembly of technologies used to collect, store and share
information between people using multiple devices and multiple media. Hence, Information and
communications technologies (ICTs) is a term that stresses the role of unified communications and
the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers, middleware
as well as necessary software, storage and audio visual systems, which enable users to create, access,
store, transmit, and manipulate information.
India still breathes in villages as its majority of population resides in rural areas and is largely
engaged in low productivity agriculture and allied activities. Even after sixty years of independence,
rural areas are lagging behind urban areas in terms of necessary infrastructure and services such as
transportation, health, education and government services. Rural India is characterised by severe
poverty, illiteracy, lack of health services, lack of employment opportunities and backwardness. This
generates a politically and ethically unacceptable disparity of services and opportunities for rural
populations and prevents them from participating appropriately and fully in socio-economic and
political life of the nation. Rural areas are information-poor and information provision has always
been a central component of rural development initiatives. Rural inaccessibility and deprivation can
negatively influence growth and certainly, growth cannot be feasible unless it is inclusive.
ICTs can overcome many infrastructural constraints. It has earned the reputation to be the key to
information-flow for intensifying the development efforts in rural India and considered as an
imperative strategy for achieving the goal of sustainable rural development. Through ICTs, people in
rural areas can connect with the local, regional and national economy and access markets, financial
services and employment opportunities. It also serve as an instrument of awareness creation and
feedback giving rural people a voice in the nations socio-political life. ICTs can act as a channel of
delivery of e-Government services including health and education. One of the main reasons for the
inequitable distribution of economic gains between the haves and have-nots is the gap in access to
information. ICTs play an important role in bridging this gap and eventually help in poverty
alleviation. Thus bridging the digital divide also bridges the overall infrastructural gap and addresses
other constraints faced by rural areas. ICTs can be utilized for providing accurate, timely, relevant
information and services to the farmers, thereby facilitating an environment for more remunerative
agriculture. Farmers can get better price for their produce through variety of ICT systems. To
empower the rural communities with a sustainable approach, ICT has been one of the most effective
instruments.

GROWTH AND ROLE OF ICTS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT

The communication scenario in India has undergone a spectacular change since
Independence. From the days of bullock cart, we have trekked down the modern age of satellite
technology and cyberspace. The country is going through an ICT revolution and this has become an
enabling force for the farmers and those living in rural India to become active participants in the
growth of the country. Rural development is the need of the hour for a country like India, which is on
the threshold of being a big world power with the capability to influence the course of events on our

planet. The Indian economy is pre-dominantly rural where more than seventy-two per cent of the
Indian population resides in villages and rural areas.
The concluding decades of the 20th century were witness to revolutionary developments in the
mass media, telecommunications and information technologies. The old mass media technologies
were stand-alone isolated technologies: radio, television, cinema, the press, book publishing, were
looked upon and used as distinct and discrete technologies. Telecommunication (primarily the
telegraph and the telephone) developed on their own, and never considered as mass media. This was
also the case with developments in computers and other information technologies, which never taken
to be mass media. Communication satellites, cables, fibre optics, wireless technologies, networked
computers and internet changed the very nature of mass media and telecommunications. When the
computer appeared on the scene in the 1970s and 1980s, it was a stand-alone desktop technology,
interactive, but discrete. Rapid developments in ICTs over the past decade have considerably
changed the media and the way in which people access information. The modem (modulation and
demodulation) revolutionised the entire stand-alone approach. It is an electronic device, which
changes analogue to digital signals and vice versa. It brought together the media, the computer and
telecommunication technologies. Electronic mail and the Internet with its World Wide Web
developed in quick succession. Convergence of the various mass media, computers and
telecommunication technologies now became possible, reaching its acme in the multi- media systems
so common today for the transfer and exchange of information, data, graphics and sound. In addition,
mobile telephone with its many value-additions came to exemplify the very embodiment of the
emerging age of convergence (Kumar, 2011).
Throughout the twentieth century, people received most of their information from letters,
word of mouth, broadcasters or publishers of newspapers and books. Today, technological
development and the increasing prevalence of the internet have speed up. This has blurred distinction
between information-creator and information-receiver. Information flows are now broad, divergent,
reversible and accessible. ICTs are those technologies that interlink information technology devices
such as personal computers with communication technologies such as telephones and their
telecommunication networks. In the developing world, ICTs and new media, aid development and
provide people living in poverty to access information that helps them make decisions about their
lives. Companies and individuals can publish anything from text to images to a video using high
speed and broad bandwidth digital technology, and deliver them direct to computers or portable
devices like mobile phones. Today, information spreads around the globe in seconds. Billions of web
sites provide information and commentary on a vast array of subjects, in any language and in different
forms. Hence, due to the importance of ICTs in national development, countries across the globe have
put in place mechanisms such as Universal Service Funds and other forms of government
intervention to achieve universal access to technologies.
The Rajiv Gandhi government initiated the information revolution opening up the Indian
market to foreign investors, gradual privatisation, reducing import and excise duties on electronic
goods, computer hardware and software, and providing other incentives for the development of the
information industries (New Computer Policy, 1984). However, while urban India was swamped by
multinational brands of consumer goods, the latest hardware and software, value-added services like
cellular telephony, paging, and a plethora of cable and satellite channels, the rural areas and the urban
poor were untouched by such happenings. Liberalisation and re-structuring of the economy in the
early 1990s under both Congress and the United Front regimes, to promote foreign investment and
private business, re-enforced this urban approach. Nevertheless, the most striking development in
Indian telecommunications in the three decades preceding the new millennium was the phenomenal
growth of STD/ISD booths in cities and small towns across the land. This was the beginning of the
privatisation of the basic phone service (Kumar, 2011).
In August 1995, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Shri Jyoti Batsu ushered in the cellphone
revolution in India by making the first call to Union Telecom Minister Sukhram (The Times of India,
2012). By 2005, however, the phenomenal uptake of mobile telephones led to the gradual decline of
visitors to STD booths in the metros and large cities. In May 1994, the government of India
announced a new telecommunication policy, which threw open the basic telephone services to the
private sector. The primary objective of this policy was to provide telephones connections to all
villages in India.

The entry of private service providers brought with it the inevitable need for independent
regulation. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was established with effect from 20th
February 1997 by an Act of Parliament, and called the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act,
1997, to regulate telecom services, including fixation/revision of tariffs for telecom services, which
earlier vested by the central government. One of the main objectives of TRAI is to provide a fair and
transparent policy environment, which promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition
(TRAI, 2012). The New Telecom Policy, 1999 (NTP-99) has also played a pivotal role to encourage
development of telecom facilities in remote, tribal and hilly areas. The public sector operators also
corporatized in October 2000.
In the previous decade, India has gone through telecommunications revolution, which is due
to the effective regulatory and policy environment coupled with an enterprising telecommunications
sector made of both public and private service providers. Practically all growth has come from mobile
telephony and the private sector has played a huge role in this expansion. With an average family size
of five, it assumes that almost every rural household owns a mobile phone. If not, then there are
Public Calling Offices and Universal Service Obligation Fund sponsored Village Public
Telephones in almost every inhabited census village in the country. Rural India is certainly well
connected through telephones though not to such an extent by the internet. Yet, even in small towns
and villages, a good percentage of Indians do access the internet regularly in-shared spaces (public
kiosks, offices, educational institutions etc. (Gulati, 2012).
The rising demand in the Indian mobile phone industry is the main reason for the rapid
growth in the telecom sector of the country. With low priced mobile phones and low-cost cellular
services, a large number of Indian customers are able to afford cell phones. Apart from mobile
phones, demand for personal computers is also increasing at a blistering pace due to rapid
industrialization. The smart phone is the leading mode for individual internet access suggesting a
good market potential for wireless broadband services (Financial Express, 2011).
Present Status of the Telecommunication Sector, as on 31.12.2011 in annual report of
Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications & Informational Technology,
Government of India, New Delhi is that:
Indian Telecom market is one of the fastest growing markets in the world.
With its 926.55 million Telephone connection, it is the second largest network in the world
after China.
It is also the second largest wireless network in the world.
The country is poised to achieve 1 billion telephone connections.
Wireless telephones are increasing at a faster rate. The share of wireless telephones is
96.47% of the total phones.
The share of private sector in total telephones is 86.09%.
Tele-density is an important indicator of telecom penetration in the country. There has been
phenomenal growth of tele-density in the country with the evolution of new wireless
technologies. The tele-density which was 18.22% in March 2007 increased to 70.89%
March, 2011and 76.86% in December11. Rural tele-density was 5.89% in March 2007,
increased to 33.83% in March, 2011 and 37.52% at the end of December11.
The urban tele-density increased from 48.10% in March 2007 to 156.94% in March 2011
and stands at 167.46% at the end of December11.

FIGURE: GROWTH OF TELEDENSITY

(Source: Annual Report of Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications &
Informational Technology, Government of India, New Delhi on 31.12.2011)
The rural telephone connections increased from 47.10 million in March 2007 to 282.29
million in March, 2011 and further to 315.39 million in December11. The share of rural phones in
the total telephones has constantly increased, from 22.88% in 2007 to 34.04% in December11. The
wireless connections have contributed substantially to total rural telephone connections. Their share in
the rural telephones increased from 73.33% in March, 2007 to 96.90% in March, 2011 and further to
97.53% in December11. During 2011-12 (up to December), the growth rate of rural telephone was
11.73% as against the growth of 8.35% of urban telephones. The private sector has also contributed to
the growth of rural telephones, as its share was 86.78% in December11 up from 51.87% in 2007. By
December11, 5.76 lakh (97.11%) villages covered by Village Public Telephone (VPT) facility in the
country under USOF (Annual Report, 2011).
Provision of Broadband in rural and remote areas will also help in bridging the digital divide
and the widespread adoption of broadband in rural areas will have a multiplier effect over the longterm. It will help improve productivity in rural areas, help overcome the constraints of an inadequate
transport infrastructure and overall improve the quality of life in rural areas. It is a known fact that
wireless is the quickest and most efficient medium to provide broadband services in the access
network. For providing broadband connectivity to rural & remote areas, the Universal Service
Obligation Fund (USOF) has launched a Wire line Broadband scheme in January 20, 2009 and is at an
advanced stage of formulation of a rural Wireless Broadband scheme. USOF has signed an
Agreement with BSNL under the scheme to provide wire-line broadband connectivity to rural &
remote area. National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) will connect five lakh village panchayats, with
estimated expenditure of approx. Rs. 20,000 crore. This scheme has to provide 888832 wire line
broadband connections to individuals and government institutions and set up 28672 kiosks, by 2014.
It will provide broadband to Institutional users such as Gram Panchayats, Higher Secondary Schools
and Public Health Centres. As on 31 December 2011, 338617 broadband connections and 6729 kiosks
were there in rural and remote areas. Subsidy has been proposed for the wireless broadband active
infrastructure such as BTS, which would provide broadband coverage to about five lakh villages at a

speed of 512 kbps. Scheme launched to strengthen OFC network in rural areas to provide sufficient
back-haul capacity to integrate voice and data traffic (USOF, 2012).
The government, under Bharat Nirman II Programme, has envisaged to provide broadband
coverage to all 2, 50,000 Gram Panchayats by 2012. For broadband provisioning USOF gives funds to
the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN). It (NOFN) will connect these Gram Panchayats and colocated Bharat Nirman Kendras (former Common Service Centres (CSCs)) with Optic Fibre thereby
providing high-speed broadband facilities. Bandwidth from NOFN will also be available to all
licensed telecom service providers to provide broadband services in rural areas. For implementation
of these schemes, USOF provides financial assistance by way of subsidy to the Universal Service
Provider, implementing the scheme. Keeping in mind the inadequacy of the market mechanism to
serve rural and inaccessible areas on one hand and the importance of providing vital telecom
connectivity on the other, most countries of the world have put in place policies to provide Universal
Access and Universal Service to ICT. The USOF is working on a scheme Rural Wireless Broadband
Scheme Phase I for providing financial assistance by way of subsidy for the wireless broadband
active infrastructure such as BTS, by utilizing the existing passive infrastructure available with the
Telecom Service Providers. The Satellite Broadband Connectivity is proposed for those rural &
remote villages where terrestrial connectivity i.e. wireline/wireless network, is not feasible. Because
of these measures, the no. of broadband subscribers grew from 0.18 million in 2005 to 11.87 million
in March 2011 and 13.30 million, at the end of the December11(Annual Report, 2012).
Government is actively working on formulation of a National Broadband Plan to connect
160 million Indian households with high-speed Internet connections by 2014. In addition, the
recommendations on the National Broadband Plan are expected to facilitate inclusive growth of the
country by including the large rural population in governance and the decision-making process, as
well as extend better education, health and banking facilities to rural areas. TRAI has also
recommended the formation of a government-owned holding company National Optical Fibre
Agency (NOFA) to establish the nationwide networks. In addition, TRAI had also recommended the
formation of a State Optical Fibre Agency (SOFA) in every state, with 51 per cent equity held by
NOFA and the rest by the respective state governments, for setting up the network. Both the
government holding companies will to bring in revenue to the tune of Rs 26,000 crore per year once
the network is established (Deccan Herald, 2012). ICT is the new tool for rural development, helps in:
STRENGTHENING RURAL GOVERANCE: Application of ICT in processes of
governance can be considered in two categories viz. for improving government processes
and secondly for building interaction with and within civil society. The examples of
former category are dissemination of public information, grievance redressal
mechanisms, utility payments and billing services. This intervention of ICT in public
domain, managed by Government, is referred to as e-Government. Secondly, ICT
improves civil society participation in the governing process, which is also referred as eGovernance. ICTs in rural India is anticipated to bring in changes in the whole process of
rural governance by improving transparency, accountability and administrative efficiency
of rural institutions, promoting participation of the poor in decision-making processes and
improving the efficiency and responsiveness of rural service delivery. It can facilitate
speedy, transparent, accountable, efficient and effective interaction between rural citizens.
ENCOURAGEMENT OF RURAL ECONOMIC GROWTH: ICTs provide crucial
knowledge inputs into productive activities of rural and poor households. It would stem
urban migration by generating greater income and employment potential in rural areas
and bringing the market to the people rather than forcing them to leave in search of the
same.
RURAL BPOS/KPOS: With the spread of ICT to rural areas, rural business process
outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing will become possible on a wide scale.
POSITIVE EXTERNALITIES: In purely economic terms, connecting more and more
areas and people in a country to the ICTs network, leads to a more intensive use of this
infrastructure, generating positive externalities.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Connectivity fosters social development, including
improved education, health and increased citizen participation in civil society, which
ultimately leads to social transformation.

 MAINSTREAMING RURAL INDIA: Access to ICT would allow Indians in rural and
remote areas to participate in the decision making process and would decrease their sense
of isolation.
A BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE FOR RURAL POOR: ICT can ensure a better quality
of life for the rural poor with a better access to markets, health, and education. It pushes
rural India towards economic development, job creation and poverty-alleviation.
STRENTHENING THE INFORMATION-BASE OF RURAL COMMUNITIES: ICT
can improve their access to the information they need, provide support to the local
governance, make them aware of their rights, entitlements and the availability of various
government schemes and extension services.
ENHANCING PEOPLES PARTICIPATION IN NATION-BUILDING PROCESS:
ICT is one of the key elements in modernizing agriculture, in producing healthy, literate
and trained workers for industry and for bringing about effective participation in nation
building activity.
INTENSIFYING EFFORTS TOWARDS IMPLIMENTATION OF THE RURAL
DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES: ICT plays a crucial role through demand-driven
information and communication services. The potential of using ICT to promote rural
development lies in addressing the information gaps and blockages by strengthening the
decision-making capacity of the rural poor as well as the resource institutions of every
rural community.

ADOPTION PROBLEMS OF ICTS PRESENT IN RURAL SEGMENTS AND THEIR

SOLUTIONS
All the literature related to rural development and ICTs has indicated various issues impeding
success of such initiatives. ICTs access or connectivity is a necessary but not sufficient condition for
bringing about positive outcomes such as improved socio-economic status, greater political
participation and ultimately rural development. To achieve these ultimate objectives, ICTs should not
only be accessible and affordable, but must also deliver relevant and usable content to the target
receivers. It remains challenge with the administration to capture the minds of the rural masses,
mostly illiterate, to make them adapt the new technology, which is completely alien to them.
However, given the high incident of poverty in rural India, ICTs implementation to cover 135 million
rural poor is an increasingly complex process. There is relatively small percentage of rural population
who benefits from connectivity. These literate, employed/self-employed persons can understand and
benefit from the available English language content. At present, the overall literacy rate in India is
75% and rural literacy stands at 68.9 % (Census of India, 2011). For ICTs to succeed in India,
education for all must be the first priority.
Existing e-Governance models are more technology centric, which have been adapted from
west and thus do not completely assure rural development in context of developing countries like
India. However, for majority in rural India, language if not literacy is a major barrier. Lack of
localisation of content for rural communities and inadequate participation of rural communities in
design of rural ICT initiatives are also the major problem in adoption of ICTs in India. Most rural
Indians have no use for broadband beyond mere entertainment and it is debatable whether they would
use it at all, even if it were available and affordable. Even in countries like Malaysia with much higher
rural literacy rates of almost 89% and broadband coverage of more than 50% of population, the
Government has to make active efforts to popularize the use of subsidized rural Community
Broadband Centres (CBC). They run customized training courses on broadband usage tailored to the
needs and interests of various age groups of rural society. They integrate its use in school curriculums
and encourage children to learn online games and crafts and to use Facebook at special training
classes held in the CBC. The specially trained franchisees running the CBC even go door to door to
promote broadband usage. We would need similar efforts to popularize broadband usage in rural
India. Hence, both content and capacity building are essential if ICTs are to achieve their promised
impact on rural development.

Relevant applications and content would draw people to broadband usage, as rural Indians
would easily recognize their potential to augment incomes and access useful e-services. Similar
results would flow from wider availability of services such as Department of Agricultures Kisan call
centres where farmers would obtain crop/weather/market advice and information through
mobiles/broadband. An SMS/online feedback and grievance redress system for all government
services on the lines of NREGS would encourage rural Indians to contact the Government through
ICTs. This would empower them while also generating a much needed transparency and
accountability in Government service delivery.
In this regard it is heartening to note that the stated objectives of the draft National IT policy
include the goals of making at least one individual of every household e-literate and of leveraging
ICTs for key social sector initiatives like education, health, rural development and financial services
to promote equity and quality. Equally significant are the objectives of enabling access to content and
ICT applications by differently-abled people to foster inclusive development and of encouraging use
of mobile phones for value added services and transactional services such as financial services. Indeed
the mobile phone can be much more than a tool of connectivity when supported by relevant content
and services.
The stated mission draft National Telecom Policy 2011 includes creating a knowledge
based society through proliferation of broadband facilities in every part of the country. Its objectives
include enabling citizens to participate in and contribute to e-governance in key sectors like health,
education, banking etc. to ensure equitable and inclusive growth. Other objective is reposition the
mobile phone from a mere communication device to an instrument of empowerment that combines
communication with proof of identity, fully secure financial and other transaction capability, multilingual services and a whole range of other capabilities that ride on them and transcend the literacy
barrier. The policy document also indicates that the Department of Telecommunications would work
closely with Department of IT to promote content creation in vernacular languages to stimulate the
demand for broadband. India could consider a model adopted by other nations such as Singapore
whereby a high level nodal authority oversees the adoption of broadband including inter alia capacity
building and content development (Gulati, 2012).
It is clearly the content and services delivered through mobiles and broadband those have the
power to transform rural India. One important step would be to provide the entire content suite at the
(CSCs) located in the village panchayats and commercial PCO type public access points can provide
rural public with a place from which to access either general or specialized services including
entertainment services. This would include e-government services, telemedicine facilities, distance
learning facilities and ICT training facilities etc. Health Centres and Schools in villages would need to
be broadband enabled with relevant services and content and schools can serve as a public access
points/broadband training venues after school hours. However, a key requirement is proper training of
officials/franchisees that run these services. Support from the Government by way of not only its own
e-content development but also funding for private entrepreneurs engaged in rural-centric content
development and training facilities is necessary. There are excellent existing examples of mobilebased value added services. Celebrated examples, such as e-Choupal and Kerala Governments
Akshaya project show us the way.
The Department of Telecommunications Universal Service Obligation Fund has recently
launched Sanchar Shakti a scheme aimed at ICTs for rural womens Self Help groups (SHGs) which
includes projects to provide pertinent information to rural women in local language through their
mobile phones. The unique feature of this project is the multi-stakeholder approach, which makes it a
path breaking effort to ensure success of the project by focusing not only on technology but also
content and capacity building. In these projects, the Telecom Service Provider (TSP) who has the
overall responsibility for the project must ensure that it collaborates with an NGO, which will help
identify the SHGs livelihood, related content needs. A Content developer/Provider partner would
develop content for the project. The NGO will also assist the TSP to train the SHG members in use of

mobile phone to enable them to access the content (delivered through SMS and Integrated Voice
Response Systems (IVRS)), assimilate it through group discussions and training sessions and to
utilize it to improve their awareness and independence levels. USOFs programme for the persons
with disabilities (PwDs) in rural India similarly lays stress on multi-stakeholder participation and
partnerships as an essential element. Specific role and responsibilities have been assigned to each
stakeholder including related Ministries and Departments (Human Resources, Social Justice and
Empowerment etc) to ensure programme success (kurukshetra, 2011).

CONCLUSION
The communication scenario in India has undergone a spectacular change since
Independence. The country is going through an ICT revolution and this has become an enabling force
for the farmers and those living in rural India to become active participants in the growth of the
country. Rural development is the need of the hour for a country like India, which is on the threshold
of being a big world power with the capability to influence the course of events on our planet. The
Indian economy is pre-dominantly rural where more than seventy-two per cent of the Indian
population resides in villages and rural areas. Government is making continued efforts to provide
equitable growth opportunities to rural people by the ways of empowerment and upgrading the
information infrastructure in rural and remote areas. ICTs have played a catalytic role in
dissemination of information, knowledge transfer, healthcare, capacity building and improved
governance. However, despite the thunderous growth in ICT technology, main problems in adoption
of ICT in rural segments are ICT illiteracy, unavailability of relevant and localised contents in their
own languages, uneasy and unaffordable accessibility. India has attained tremendous increase in rural
tele-density and the Governments focus is now directly on rural broadband. Apart from universal
and affordable access to ICTs, greater emphasis must be to the availability and relevance of services
and content in local language or multi-media/accessible format as per needs of target beneficiaries. In
addition, capacity building of various stakeholders to use ICTs is essential for rural development. This
requires a shift in focus away from purely technology related issues to the evolution of policies,
strategies and plannings that ensure cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder involvement and engagement
including most of all the local communities and target beneficiaries. The draft National Telecom
Policy 2011, telecom policies of the Indian government and the recent special initiatives of the USOF
are steps in the right direction. Both content and capacity building are essential to achieve the
promised impact of ICT on rural development.