The
Gyandoot project was initiated in January 2000 by a committed group of civil
servants in consultation with various gram panchayats in the Dhar district
of Madhya Pradesh. Gyandoot is a low cost, self-sustainable, and
community-owned rural Intranet system (Soochnalaya) that caters to the
specific needs of village communities in the district. Thirty-five such
centres have been established since January 2000 and are managed by rural
youth selected and trained from amongst the unemployed educated youth of the
village. They run the
Soochanalayas (organised as Kiosks) as entrepreneurs (Soochaks); user
charges are levied for a wide range of services that include agricultural
information, market information, health, education, women's issues, and
applications for services delivered by the district administration related
to land ownership, affirmative action,and poverty alleviation. Kiosks are
connected to the Intranet through dial-up lines, which are soon to be
replaced by wireless connections using CorDECT technology. The Soochanalayas
have been equipped with Pentium multimedia colour computer along with dot
matrix printers. The user interface is menu based with information presented
in the local Hindi language and the features of the Gyandoot software are
continuously being updated.
