Title: Mobile-Phone Farming
Author: Devin Banerjee
Source: WSJ.com
Publisher: The Wall Street Journal, Asia
Date (published): 24/08/2010
Date (accessed): 06/09/2010
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Which pesticide will protect my crops?

It's a question most farmers in insect-ridden rural India ask themselves or their neighbors. But it's also a question to which very few have the correct answer.

What's the best fertilizer? How do you get rid of bugs? India's farmers long had only their neighbors to turn to. A mobile platform by Tata Consultancy Services is changing that, providing personalized advice through low-end handsets.

That was the inspiration behind mKRISHI, a platform developed by Tata Consultancy Services to provide personalized advice to Indian farmers on low-end mobile phones. TCS, an Asian Innovation Awards finalist, spent two years studying farming patterns in rural India and developing methods to connect farmers to agricultural experts, with the belief that technology could jump-start some of India's seemingly ancient agricultural practices.

"It appears that there is a last-mile gap between farmers and agricultural experts," said Arun Pande, the head of TCS Innovation Labs and the leader behind mKRISHI. "In the absence of correct information and advice which is specific to him, the farmer relies on what other farmers do—or on his traditional wisdom."

In 2007, Mr. Pande traveled through different parts of rural India to meet farmers and understand their business. After listening to their concerns—Will it rain enough in my village this season? Will my crop catch my neighbor's crop disease? Where can I take out a loan?—he saw the opportunity to grow that business by providing personalized responses to such questions.

Title: Have Your Say with CGNet Swara - Tribal Citizen Media in India. A New Case Study
Author: PrabhasPokharel
Source: MobileActive.org
Date (published): 08/07/2010
Date (accessed): 04/08/2010
Type of information: case study
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"We have another new case study up where we report on an innovative audio-based citizen journalism project in Chhattisgarh, India. Tribal citizen journalists have been reporting news in their own languages through a new service called CGNet Swara. CGNet stands for Chhattisgarh Net. The service allows citizen journalists to call in and record news in one of four local languages. The news that has been produced has been picked up in India's mainstream media, and some reports have led to concrete action: in one case, teachers whose salaries hadn't been paid for months were paid after a news report elicited a calling campaign from listeners."

Title: “information needs to be democratised”
Source: eGov
Date (published): 01/07/2010
Date (accessed): 04/08/2010
Type of information: interview
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
A key architect of India’s well-lauded telecommunication revolution, Sam Pitroda is currently entrusted with the role of Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations. In this role, he will be driving creation of an information infrastructure for delivery of services to citizens and will also be charting a roadmap for a “Decade of Innovation” to drive benefits of technology at the grassroot level. In his usual candid and transparent manner, Pitroda spoke to Ravi Gupta and Pravin Prashant at length on how an all-inclusive development is at the core of the innovation objectives and on the progresses that have been made thus far.

Title: Email with a Pen, Paper and a Mobile Phone?
Author: Serene Leow
Source: FutureGov
Date (published): 03/08/2010
Date (accessed): 03/08/2010
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Citizens in India will soon be able to send emails using a pen, paper and mobile phone camera. HP Labs based in Bangalore are in the final stages of developing new technology that would enable any mobile phone with a camera to become an emailing device.
Simply write out the email text on a piece of paper and include the email address of the recipient, photograph the text using the mobile phone camera and the HP application software will send the message to the addressee as an email.

Title: Women Forge Ahead in India: Internet and the Public Forum
Authors: Kavita Karan, Dr. Rohit Raj Mathur
ISSN: 1712-4441
Source: The Journal of Community Informatics, Volume 5, Issue 3 (2010)
Date (published): 05/05/2010
Date (accessed): 23/07/2010
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
Women must be included and empowered to compete in this internet-driven global economy. The economic stakes are too high to do otherwise. This study provides an understanding of the economic and social impact on women working in the government launched E-seva (electronic-service) project that provides integrated services through a single window system. The study through interviews and surveys provides an understanding of how Internet and new technologies are aiding in the transformation process in empowering the much deprived poor Indian women. Apart from increasing the access and use of ICTs, it is resulting in economic independence and improved social status.-which is the very basic need for women in India

Title: ICTs for the Broader Development of India: An Analysis of the Literature
Author: Geoff Walsham
Pages: 20 pp.
ISSN: 1681-4835
Source: The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, EJISDC (2010) 41, 4, 1-20
Publisher: City University of Hong Kong
Date (published): 06/05/2010
Date (accessed): 28/06/2010
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
India is known around the world for the success of its export-oriented ICT services industry, but this paper asks whether ICTs have been valuable in providing broader development benefits to all Indian citizens. Secondary data from academic articles with a focus on India are used to analyse the contribution of ICTs towards the achievement of specific development goals. The analysis shows that many ICT-based initiatives have taken place over the last decade and some positive effects have resulted. However, the beneficiaries are almost always not the poorest or most disadvantaged groups, it is hard to scale up initiatives to have effects throughout India, and the need for attitudinal and institutional change remains a fundamental problem. It is argued that ICTs should not be seen as ‘silver bullets’ for development but neither are they irrelevant. Rather, they are potentially important contributors towards development in India but only through their integration in wider sociotechnical interventions.

Title: Who's got the phone? Gender and the use of the telephone at the bottom of the pyramid
Authors: Ayesha Zainudeen, Tahani Iqbal, and Rohan Samarajiva
Pages: 37 pp.
Source: LIRNEasia
Date (published): 15/06/2010
Date (accessed): 17/06/2010
Type of information: research paper, pre-publication draft
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
Much has been said about women’s access to and use of the telephone. Many studies conclude that a significant gender divide in access exists particularly in developing countries. Women are also said to use telephones in a different manner from men – making and receiving more calls, spending more time on calls, and using telephones primarily for ‘relationship maintenance’ purposes, in contrast to men. However, much of this research on usage patterns is based on small-sample studies in affluent developed countries. The article provides evidence that a significant gender divide in access to telephones exists in Pakistan and India, to a lesser extent in Sri Lanka, but is generally absent in the Philippines and Thailand. This article also challenges some of the findings of studies which claim that women’s and men’s use is fundamentally different, shedding light on women’s access to and use of telecom services at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) in five Emerging Asian markets.

Title: Connect to the bottom of the pyramid. South Asian and African countries share notes on mobile services for socio-economic development

Author: M. Somasekhar
Source: The Hindu Business Line
Date (published): 10/05/2010
Date (accessed): 10/05/2010
Type of information: aricle
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
How much time do you think it takes a poor person in one of the least developed places in any South Asian country to reach a telephone — either fixed or mobile?

The answer is about five minutes. This facilitates chat and basic communication for people who fall under the category of bottom of the pyramid (BoP). At the other end of the spectrum are people who have access to broadband services, high-speed Internet connectivity and e-commerce on their mobile phone.

This is a typical scenario in many South Asian and African countries where telecom and the Internet promise to usher in dramatic changes in the quality of life of the people. The challenge is to come up with suitable applications to harness this power to help the poor people.

So, in addition to talking, can such technology help them transfer money, pay utility bills, get information on health/ farming, or book tickets and so on?

via http://lirneasia.net/

Title: India: Community Radio Stations Multiply, but Will They Thrive?
Author: Sushmita Malaviya
Source: AudienceScapes
Publisher: InterMedia
Date (published): 05/05/2010
Date (accessed): 06/05/2010
Type of information: blog post
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
From modest beginnings nearly a decade ago in the academic community, India now boasts 70-plus community radio stations (CRs) run by universities as well as NGOs and agricultural agencies. But visits to seven CRs, as part of a study sponsored by the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), showed that they face common challenges to sustainability and growth: time-consuming licensing processes, weak transmission power, the need for more human resource training, and the perennial search for a viable CR business model.

Title: Review of E-governance for Development: A Focus on Rural India, 2009, Palgrave Macmillan, London ISBN 978-0-230-20157-6
Author: Chris Westrup
Pages: 2 pp.
ISSN: 1681-4835
Source: The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, (2010) 40, BR1, 1-2
Publisher: www.ejisdc.org
Date (published): 08/01/2010
Date (accessed): 03/05/2010
Type of information: peer-reviewed article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:
Shirin Madon’s book is a welcome addition to a select corpus of monographs addressing issues in ICTs and development. It is fitting that Madon has written this book as it gives her space to articulate her position and findings on e-governance based on twenty years of fieldwork in India. This experience makes her well placed to address a key theme in the book understanding e-governance for development in relation to ‘historical processes of development and governance’ (p.166). The book sets out to question commonly understood assumptions about e-governance. First, that good governance is a key feature to achieve human development and second, that e-governance is supportive of good governance in a variety of ways including improving government’s efficiency and effectiveness; improving the relationships between government administration and citizens; improving transparency and accountability; and enabling access to information and participation in the processes of public policy. These are, as Madon notes, ambitious claims. Her approach is to critically review the relationship between governance and development which is then exemplified through description and analysis of three case studies of e-governance projects in the rural parts of the states of Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala in India.