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ISRO-VRC |
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ICT
& Rural Entrepreneurship
In keeping with its mandate to empower rural and
marginalized communities through ICT with the purpose
of enabling them to integrate with the mainstream
economy, TARAhaat's latest venture - ICT enabled Enterprise
Development and Support Services- is an exciting step
forward. It focuses on providing entrepreneurship
opportunities to youth, women and self-help groups
through the rapidly expanding network of TARAkendras,
TARAhaat's rural business-cum-community centers. When
ready, the Enterprise Development Support and Service
(EDSS) will add a critical dimension to the scope
of services provided by TARAhaat, or indeed any experiment
in Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
enabled services for rural India!
To meet the most important and widespread need in
rural India - Jobs, the next generation of services
under development focuses on the promotion of micro
and small enterprises through a unique, comprehensive
Enterprise Development and Support Programme.
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There
are more than 600,000 villages in India and around 700
million people live in villages. Many villages are relatively
deprived in terms of basic amenities and services, especially
those related to education, health, sanitation and empowerment.
There is a need to improve the quality of life in villages
to achieve overall national development.
Indian Space Programme started in early 60’s has become
largely self-reliant with capability to design and build
satellites for providing space services and to launch
those using indigenously designed and developed launch
vehicles. Over the years, India has achieved a notable
progress in the design, development and operation of
space systems, as well as, using them for vital services
like telecommunications, television & radio broadcasting,
meteorology, disaster warning as well as natural resources
mapping, monitoring and management.
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What is this new venture all about?
The EDSS is an innovative experiment in addressing
a critical need in rural India employment. Micro and
mini enterprises can be a driving force for the rural
economy, seen as key to addressing the 15 million new
jobs needed every year in India. Small and local enterprises
together account for the largest number of jobs in the
country and have shown the positive impact that they
can have on individuals and communities. The service
is also in line with the Government of India focus on
rural enterprise and addresses the broader objective
of the Eighth Millennium Development Goal that calls
for cooperation with the private sector to address youth
unemployment and make available to all the benefits
of new technologies.
The proposed service will be a comprehensive package
comprising an Enterprise Package for technical training
and financial linkages, an Entrepreneurship Development
Programme for understanding business set-up, planning
and management and a web-based Business Support System
for on-going support. A network of local consultants
is also being developed as an integral part of the venture.
Entrepreneurship Development Programme
The objective of the Entrepreneurship Development Programme
is to motivate rural youth towards entrepreneurship,
develop their business understanding and skills and
empower them to independently establish and manage successful
enterprises. It covers the basics of identification,
setting up and management of businesses to meet the
needs of budding as well as existing entrepreneurs.
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The training is delivered through a multimedia platform.
Enterprise Packages (MCR and Poultry Farming)
The enterprise packages have been developed to provide
rural unemployed persons the options to acquire technical
training in a variety of different businesses. To begin
with, broiler-based poultry farming and Micro Concrete
Roofing (MCR) tiles manufacturing have been selected.
These enterprises have been selected based on the criteria
of scalability, sustainability and replicability. MCR,
a technology developed by DA, has specifically been
selected as it is a waste recycling based enterprise.
The enterprise packages teach the entrepreneur about
the entire business, from an introduction to the sector
to the detailed production process to the specific management
methods.
Web-based Business Support System (Ask the Expert/
FAQ)
The web-based business support system provides entrepreneurs
with ongoing support, even after the training period
is complete. It is a computer-based system that does
not rely on live internet connectivity and has a very
user-friendly, multi-lingual interface. The system integrates
two applications; the first is an exhaustive database
of questions categorized by enterprise, domain and region,
called the FAQ Database. It is designed on a search
engine model allowing for free text, keyword based and
category-based searches.
The second application is called the Ask the Expert
service, and allows entrepreneurs to submit queries
to which he/she has not found answers in the FAQ database.
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The queries are submitted through a user-friendly, multi-lingual
web-site in multilingual voice or text format along
with pictures. The queries are stored in the computer
until it connects to the internet and is transmitted
to experts identified by TARAhaat. The entrepreneurs
can expect answers from the experts within 48 hours.
TARAguru- Entrepreneur Mentor
Local consultants, known as TARAgurus, represent the
virtual TARAguru or teacher in physical form and assist
the entrepreneurs with on-site problems and provide
standard services such as project proposal corrections,
creating linkages and so on.
How is TARAhaat's EDSS Unique?
TARAhaat's ICT based EDSS attempts to address existing
limitations to rural enterprise development in a unique
fashion. To begin with, the EDSS will be an exhaustive
package designed to support entrepreneurs through every
stage of the business life cycle. The content and delivery
will be customized to the various regional languages
and other local needs, keeping the end user in mind.
An important outcome of the EDSS would be the framework,
engines and tool kit for delivery, as a base for future
enterprise packages that can be rolled out, in an economically
sustainable and scalable manner. While the focus is
on unemployed youth and women, the experience from this
project and the enterprise packages can be adapted to
meet the needs of other audiences as well as contextualised
to other geographies.
Will ICT Work?
ICT provides the key to servicing potential entrepreneurs
located in the large and highly dispersed geographical
canvas that is rural India, cost effectively. Sporadic
initiatives across the country have shown the potential
of ICT as an effective tool. Our own efforts at TARAhaat
have been very encouraging and give us the confidence
to go forward with this ambitious plan.
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