Private sector's push to bridge digital divide

One more initiative in an attempt to bridge the digital divide has been kicked off in the private sector.

Companies like Comat, Wyse Technologies and ICICI Bank have come together for this effort with assistance from Azim Premji Foundation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and IFC.

The mandate will be to set up rural business centres through which social, educational and financial services can be accessed by the rural populace in a simple manner.

With this model, any individual will be able to manage a personal bank account, purchase insurance, obtain government forms or take vocational education classes. Four such pilot projects has been initiated in Karnataka. The consortium will upscale over time.

This effort in many ways marks a step forward in to deliver the benefits of connectivity and information access to remote and rural areas, combating the inefficiencies of historically paper-based transactions and record keeping systems.

This initiative will leverage the benefits of thin-client architecture, which represents a breakthrough delivering critical services to rural citizens in real-time.

Comat, which has partnered Government of Karnataka for its 'Bhoomi' project, will be the driver of the project with hardware and software support from Wyse, a thin client vendor. MIT has contributed its research expertise for this project. Azim Premji Foundation will bring in its rural education expertise and IFC will co-fund the exercise.

Said John Kish, president & CEO, Wyse Technology: "Our devices are ideally suited for this project. By combining our thin client technology with the experience and resources of our regional partners, this consortium can deliver unparalled information access to citizens in remote areas, offering services that have been traditionally inefficient and time-consuming. We see this as the rural services blueprint for populations in developing nations everywhere."

According to Comat, education services from these centres will be free of cost, while other financial and utility services will be at a nominal fee of around Rs 15.

A spokesperson for Comat said that with these centres, the rural population will have easy access to a host of private and public services which will attempt to raise their income, educational status and offer greater access to good healthcare.