This book documents the successful use of information and communication technology (ICT) in rural development. The book begins with an introductory chapter that traces the history of ICT use in rural India, examines some of the problems that have afflicted the implementation of rural development programmes, at the same time showing how ICT applications could help overcome them, assesses the early efforts in ICT use, and proposes a scheme by which to classify ICT applications. Written by administrators who lead projects in their areas, sixteen case studies follow, which spell out the various applications of ICT that have made a difference in the delivery of services or products in rural India. Among the services covered are health care, milk distribution, disaster management, postal services, telephones, and services for the disabled. These applications of ICT cover the use of simple and inexpensive technologies at one end, and sophisticated satellite-based communication at the other. An important collection that delineates the main elements of a strategy that can be used by governmental agencies to derive maximum developmental impact from investments in ICT
Subhash Bhatnagar is an alumnus of Mayo College, Ajmer, IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad (IIMA). He has been a Professor of Information Systems at the IIMA since 1975. In his many years at IIMA he held the CMC Chair Professorship in Information Technology, served as the Dean and was a member of the Board of Governors. He was instrumental in establishing and coordinating the activities of two research centres at the IIMA, Centre for Electronic Governance and Telecom Policy Study Centre. From 2000 to 2006, he worked for the World Bank in Washington DC to mainstream e-government in the activities of the World Bank. At present he divides his time between teaching and research at IIMA as an Adjunct Professor and advising different institutions which work on e-government.
Professor Bhatnagar’s research has focused on ICT for development, e-government and e-commerce. He has published 80 research papers and seven books. He is the Founder Chairman of the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries and was the Chief Editor of the International Journal of Information Technology and Development. He also publishes a quarterly newsletter on Information Technology in Developing Countries, is on the editorial boards of half a dozen international journals and is a recipient of the IFIP Silver Core and the Fellowship of the Computer Society of India.
