Entrepreneurs, activists look at tech to bridge divide

Armed with a combination of cutting-edge technology and ideas, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and a city-based NGO aim to elevate the competency of rural Karnataka by offering residents easier access to the internet and online learning.

Hobbled by 32% illiteracy rate in the state, Dr Shankara Prasad of the Sampoorna Swaraj Foundation said development in rural areas was held at the mercy of inefficient systems and governance.

“Nearly 60% of gram panchayat members cannot read or take up books and understand the context,” Dr Prasad said.

In a case study provided by the foundation, Nanjamma (name changed), a 30-year-old newly elected member of a gram panchayat, who had no prior administrative experience, was forced to contest elections by her husband, a former member.

“As a panchayat member, Nanjamma was required to understand complex concepts such as finance, grievance redress and the tenets of the Constitution within the mandatory three-day training period,” Dr Prasad said. “Instead we found that she was dazed by the amount of information and could not cope.”

Five years later, she was still a panchayat member and could be found collecting ‘meeting honorariums’ and voting on issues her husband advised her on,” Dr Prasad added.

Even as the literacy level between urban and rural areas expands to over 17%, activists see technology as a way to bridge the gap. Within their arsenal is an open-source learning app called Gooru developed by Dr P Ram, a former Google engineer based in Silicon Valley.

“The mobile app is a sort of GPS for learning,” said Dr Ram, in which the learner’s skill and understanding levels are identified on an educational landscape, after which tailored tutorials are delivered via a mobile app.

Gooru, which is currently deployed across some schools in the United States, will be deployed in 10 pilot gram panchayats across Karnataka and Maharashtra.

The cost of deploying the software and associated internet connectivity hardware has been estimated at Rs 50,000 per panchayat.

When asked about the new initiatives, gram panchayat members across Bangalore Rural (South) largely said it was a good development.

“Knowledge is useful. A three-day training regimen is not enough to teach people anything,” said Shivakumar, a panchayat member in the village of Kodathi, although he said the focus should be on addressing drought in the area.

At another panchayat, Bhagyalaksmi (name changed), however, said that no amount of technology could reform what she described was corrupt practices endemic to panchayats. “Unless you make people accept things like equality for women and transparency in governance, nothing will really change,” she said.