[INDIA] IT is the buzzword in this village

["Ashish Kotamkar" <ashish@mithi.com>]

IT is the buzzword in this village
01 October 2002, Maheshwaram, India
The Hindu

This fragile woman sitting in front of a computer in this tiny 
village is engrossed in the text and the images that keep changing on 
the screen. She scans the developments around the world as others 
watch her unbelievingly. They are surprised for the simple reason 
that she looks far away from an educated woman and definitely not the 
one who can dabble with computer and Internet.  

But the reality is otherwise. She knows the nuances of computer 
operation and is quite at ease with it. Whether it is clicking the 
mouse, browsing through the numerous sites or downloading some 
information, she is as good as any college-going student, despite the 
language barrier. Of course, she is more at ease with Telugu sites.  

And the woman is one among the several people who represent the 
rapidly changing villages in the State, thanks to the promotion of 
Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and such other schemes by the State 
Government for the uplift of the rural women. The latest benefit that 
accrued from the schemes is a computer centre that has come up in 
most of the villages.  

The computer centre in this village, nestled amidst the agriculture 
fields, is put up at the Mutually Aided Cooperative Thrift and Credit 
Society Ltd (MACTCS). In terms of the number of systems, it may not 
boast of many. But the solitary system is enough to attract most of 
the semi-literate and literate villagers.  

"It's not just learning Internet operations but many villagers have 
been trained in basic computer courses'', says, Bhoodevi, Director, 
MACTCS of Maheshwaram. The response has been tremendous since the 
idea of training women in computer courses was floated.  

The women now check the day-to-day developments of their MACTCS on 
Internet apart from reading Telugu dailies and learning about the 
Government programmes launched for their benefit. "It's a thrilling 
experience to operate computer. Till a year back I never even thought 
of touching a computer but now I can even surf the net'', says, a 
member of a SHG from Maheshwaram.  

However, they were lucky that the computer operator who was hired for 
the bank had shown interest in teaching the villagers apart from his 
work. But since he left the job for a better opportunity, the members 
themselves have taken up the task of teaching from whatever little 
knowledge they had gained.  

The Project Director of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), 
Srinivasa Raju, says that the computers installed for bank purpose 
are also being utilised for making the women computer-literate. Well, 
Internet is no more the domain of the urban and educated but the 
ruralites are fast catching on with the changing world.  

Source: Propoor.org 
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Warm regards, 
Ashish Kotamkar (ashish@mithi.com)