E-Governance and Digital Inclusion: Creating Smart Rural Women in India Rama Krushna Das
Manas Ranjan Patra
Harekrishna Misra
National Informatics Centre Berhampur 760 004 Odisha, India +91- 94370-64536
Berhampur University Berhampur 760 004 Odisha, India +91- 94371-45430
Institute of Rural Management Anand Anand 388 001 Gujarat, India +91- 94263-89861
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Keywords
E-Governance in India is fast progressing to the era of digital opportunities. Digital opportunities in India have shown the paths of collaborative governance and mission 2007 recognizes the role of women to be more important. Role of women in overall development of society needs no debate. In India, women who constitute almost half of the population are integral part of overall development of the nation and policies are abundant to support the cause though a lot is still needed to be accomplished. One of the major challenges at the hands of policy makers and implementers is to empower the women and especially in rural India. Rural India is still under the grip of digital divides, though overall India as a nation has shown the promises of digital inclusion and digital opportunities. However, these opportunities are yet to have its outreach in rural areas. National Informatics Centre, a national agency in India is striving towards supporting the digital inclusion strategies of India with active deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled services. In this paper, it is argued that digital inclusion outreach is better achieved through collaborative and group based approaches and thus Women Self-Help Groups (WSHGs) show these promises. This paper presents the success story of some women WSHGs in Ganjam district of Odisha province by introducing web-based applications for better dissemination of information regarding their products and performance.
Woman Self Help Group, MASS, B-MASS, D-MASS, eGrama, Women empowerment
1. INTRODUCTION Convergence and synergy among the numerous on-going as well as emerging programmes is needed to provide knowledge connectivity to every village of India by August 15, 2007. While the green revolution helped improve the productivity and production of rice, wheat, and other crops, the knowledge revolution will help to enhance human productivity and entrepreneurship.--M S Swaminathan, Chairman National Alliance for Mission2007. Mission 2007, the popular phenomenon to expedite implementation of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), has provided the impetus for digital inclusion in India. Today, under the aegis of NeGP, all the states and central agencies in India have their IT policies and implementation of these policies is progressing very fast. The grounding principles of Mission 2007 were well appreciated by the United Nations (UN) and World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) recognized the need for women participation and role of ICT in supporting the Millennium Development Goals as envisaged in Mission 2007 of India [1]. Mission 2007 envisaged creation of self help group movement and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) still remains as the leading agency to promote WSHGs in India. The rationale for WSHG movement is to enhance the outreach of the national development agenda with active and group based mobilization of women in rural areas. Women residing in rural set up in developing country in general and India in particular, still remain the vulnerable segment of the society and they need to be empowered. They are however, the most important links in the rural economic structure to foster development. There are various organizations including International Labour Organization (ILO) who have recognized this potential and aimed at promoting WSHGs [2], [3].
Categories and Subject Descriptors H.3.5 [Information Storage and Retrieval] Online Information Services - Data sharing, Web-based services: J.1 [Administrative Data Processing]: Business, Government.
General Terms Experimentation, Human Factors
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SHG movement is a global phenomenon today. It is believed that group activities and especially women in groups tend to organize themselves effectively in rural areas for their self reliance. It is argued that WSHGs go beyond the normal economic activities to effectively contribute to social empowerment, infuse collective bargaining power in the society and the market and above all to the sustainable development at the local level. This approach
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the world suggest that many groups are hindered by their social and economic circumstances from developing a relationship with ICT [7]. In relation to women, this inequality is referred to as “the gender digital divide”. The concept of a gender digital divide is supported by empirical evidence that shows that women all over the world use ICT to a lesser extent than men [8][9]. A variety of efforts have aimed to address this gap. If access to ICTs can promote sustainable socio-economic development and women lag behind, a significant portion of the world’s population must be aided by a targeted approach.
also aims to engender women participation in development process through economic and social empowerment. Basic activities of SHGs are also quite formalized in terms of saving and credit, linking to banks, taking up activities related to business and income generation. In spite of vast expansion of financial sector in our country, the rural poor depend a lot on moneylenders in major areas to meet their urgent requirements. A nation that wants to progress cannot afford to ignore capacity building and empowerment of women. Empowerment of women also requires overcoming social and institutional barriers and improving their participation in the economic, social, technical and political processes for an overall development in the quality of their lives.
3. ICT AND WSHGs SHGs work for maximizing returns on their group works and managing their activities is a challenge keeping in view their levels of skill and expertise. Role of ICT in addressing these issues can be well understood through identification of the transactions and activities normally SHGs pursue. IT may be noted that SHGs are expected to contribute to the developmentled supply chain in local areas with real development challenges. Costs, latency and local language based user interfaces for maturing transactions are few of the well-researched challenges [10],[11],[12]. In order to address these challenges SHGs are often supported with ICT enabled services to manage their contributions (saving and credit), linking their accounts to the banks, recording their contributions to the group in terms of labour and other services. In Indian context, these challenges are prevalent despite policy level support received from the national and state governments, NABARD and other civil society networks.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) are usually informal groups whose members i.e. the women have a common perception of the need and importance towards collective action. These groups promote savings among themselves and use the pooled resources to meet the urgent needs. They rotate this common pooled resource within the members with a very small rate of interest. The number of members in a WSHG normally ranges from 10 to 20.[4] Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK) which gave financial assistance to WSHGs was established by the Government of India in March, 1993 with objectives to undertake activities for the promotion of credit as an instrument of socio-economic change and development through the provision of package of financial and social development services, to demonstrate and replicate participatory approaches in the organization of WSHGs for effective utilization of credit resources leading to selfreliance, to promote and support experiments in the voluntary and formal sector using innovative methodologies, to promote research, study, documentation and analysis, to promote the federation and networking of women’s organisations for shaping and exchange of experience and information and to develop skills in response management and social mobilization, to promote and support the expansion of entrepreneurship skills among women, and promote and support grassroot level societies and organisations and other participatory structures for providing for women effective access to decision making.[5] The Government of Odisha province has started a campaign named Mission Shakti since 2001 to integrate all WSHGs in the province. The mission statement is to help construct a society which is: selfreliant, conscious of socio-economic issues, where there is a spirit of cooperation, where women are appropriately skilled to undertake their choice of activities without hindrance or dependence, where there is leadership development while maintaining gender equity and above all each having a respect for the values of others and each striving for the good of the greater society. [6]It aims to provide uniform guidelines, training of personnel, training materials, disseminate best practices, also aims on strengthening all WSHGs by giving them capacity building support, credit linkage and by federating them. Various Information communication Technology (ICT) platforms were used to address a particular need or enhance a specific activity in the women’s lives. The empowering use of ICTs is closely connected to socio-economic development, and this potential towards social transformation demands that everyone should have access. Prevailing inequalities in access to ICTs throughout
Under Universal Service Obligation Funds (USOF), it is envisaged to encourage WSHGs with active inclusion of ICTs more specifically to reduce gender gaps in development, improve WSHG’s access to information, financial services and enhance livelihood opportunities. USOF aims to support the WSHGs with value added service with mobile applications and connectivity [13],[14].
3.1 Mahiti Manthana Project The Mahiti Manthana project is an initiative of IT for Change and its Mysore field centre, Prakriye- Centre for Community Informatics and Development, which was undertaken in partnership with Mahila Samakhya Karnataka. It was initiated in 2005 with funding from the United Nations Development Programme, routed through the National Institute for Smart Government, Hyderabad. Since its inception, the project has primarily aimed at exploring the possibilities offered by community informatics practice, for strengthening the empowerment processes of marginalised women's collectives (locally known as sanghas ) formed under the Mahila Samakhya programme of the Government of India. Primarily, the project has attempted to strengthen the capacities of Mahila Samakhya sanghas through a three-pronged strategy consisting of community radio, video and telecentres, in the following areas [15]: 1. Transforming the information and communication processes within the Mahila Samakhya programme so that there is a qualitative shift in the reach of the programme; as well as enhanced involvement from the sangha women in self145
2. 3.
All these cases indicate different approaches to support WSHGs with Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS) supported by various agencies. However, it is important to note that web based ITeS provides enough scope to make the ITeS more resilient and provides spatial independence. It is also important to note that web based architectures provide thin-thin multi-tier ITeS for better user services. In the following section our work demonstrates a case that has the scope for convergence.
directing their collective-learning processes towards empowerment. Carving out a space for sangha women's voices in the local public sphere. Displacing information gate-keeping and control in information ecologies of local communities, and enhancing sangha women's access, use and appropriation of information.
3.2 Sanchar Shakti Project
4. CASE OF THE MASS
The Sanchar Shakti project of the Department of Telecommunications was launched on 7 March 2011. The scheme is funded by Department of Telecom's (DoT) under USOFs. The information to be provided would include details about government schemes and health and social issues, besides inputs related to and training in livelihood. It envisages empowering women particularly those in the rural areas with the help of NGOs and other national and international organisations working for the uplift of women. The Sanchar Shakti scheme includes four categories of projects aimed at rural women SHGs [16]
To meet the problems of rural women, Ganjam district administration in Odisha province conceptualized the idea of formation of Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) in each and every village of Ganjam district during the year 1998-99 and expanded it to the Block level through the “Mahila Sanchayika Sangha” (MASS) or Block MASS (B-MASS). All the Block MASS, at district level forms the District MASS or D-MASS, which is registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860. The main objective behind this is to unite the rural women to uplift the economic status of poor women and bring in them empowerment by fulfilling the financial as well as social needs of the women. WSHGs are formed in each village through a house hold survey. A group of women consisting of 10 to 20 members of a locality with similar social and economic status form the SHG, on the basis of thrift and credit. The business rules, principles, terms and conditions for lending are framed and governed by the group members themselves. The group is not formally registered. The activities undertaken by the WSHGs are Pisciculture, Floriculture, Banana cultivation. Mushroom cultivation, Spices making, Pottery, Candle making, Stone cutting, Leaf Plates stitching, Agarbati making, Handloom Sarees, Bamboo product , Kweda flower business, Broom making etc. The basic principle of Self Help Groups is of mutual help and savings. The WSHGs linkage to Banks for economical requirements is essential. The Mahila Sanchayika Sangha (MASS) at village level tries to meet the economic and financial needs of the groups, while B-MASS will provide financial assistance to these WSHGs through Banks. Presently there are total 17,431 number of SHGs are formed in the district, covering 2,17,661 members of which 15,808 SHGs are enrolled in MASS and total members enrolled in MASS is 1,91,977 until December 2011.
1. Provision of mobile connectivity and Value Added Services (VAS) subscription to SHGs with a service validity/warranty of at least one year 2. Setting up of SHG run mobile repair centres in rural areas 3. Setting up of SHG run modem repair centres in rural areas 4. Setting up of SHG run solar based mobile/ fixed wireless phone charging centres in rural areas.
3.3 Initiative by the Federal Government The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)[17] aims to reach out to all the rural poor families (BPL families) and link them to sustainable livelihoods opportunities. It will nurture them till they come out of poverty and enjoy a decent quality of life. It provide the poor the platforms for collective action based on self-help and mutual cooperation. Different Government institutions provide savings, credit and other financial services to meet their priority needs. It ensure that at least one member from each identified rural poor household, preferably a woman, is brought under the Self Help Group (SHG) network in a time bound manner. It promotes WSHGs and provide space, voice and resources for reducing their dependence on external agencies. Particular focus is given on developing and engaging community professionals and community resource persons for capacity building of WSHGs and their federations. National Informatics Centre (NIC)[18] in collaboration with Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India, has implemented a MIS at http://sgsy.gov.in for capturing the details of all the WSHGs in India. The MIS captures the details of the WSHG as formed at Village/Grampanchayats. The details of the WSHG wise fund allocation and expenditure, details of the training and tracking the individual beneficiaries to a limited period is done through the MIS. The MIS helps in monitoring, Funds expenditure planning at District level, Bank linkage details of SHGs, Activity details, Product details, Revolving fund details, Loan sanction and rejection details, Loan disbursal schedule, Loan subsidy details, Loan repayment details, Marketing details, Sales outlet details etc. It helps in reaching the poor faster and more effectively.
Figure 1. Functional diagram of SHG’s and different
levels of MASS 146
from the Block office. Each SHG pay Rs 50/- as one time entrance fees and the monthly contribution ranges from Rs 30/to Rs 150/-.
The Table-1 shows the loan and savings details of WSHGs in Ganjam district as on December 2011. It is very difficult to get a firsthand information about the WSHGs, their financial status, their product items and marketing strategies. At Government level also it is difficult to review different activities of WSHGs. Marketing of their products becomes very difficult, which occurs only through physical contact or brokers leading to loss and wastage. The MASS activities functions as a three tier structure in the district, like the three tier Panchayat Raj institutions in India. At village level the Woman Self Help Groups (WSHGs), at Block level the Block MASS (B-MASS) and at the district level the District MASS (D-MASS). They are closely interlinked to each other for smooth functioning of MASS.
It scrutinizes the loan applications of all WSHGs and recommend for sanction to the Executive committee. It acts as an interface between WSHGs and the nodal Bank.
4.2 D-MASS It is the apex body at district level for all MASS, which is also registered separately under the Indian Societies Registration Act. 1860. It has a Governing Body having one member from each BMASS and five nominated members from district administration/ District Rural Development Agency (DRDA)/Banks. D-MASS functions as a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) supported by District Administration in the District Social Welfare section of Collectorate. It compiles the information on the progress of all B-MASS and monitors their activities. It sensitizes the poor functioning MASS, motivate them and prepares different strategies for its improvement. It conducts various training programmes on new trades bringing master trainers from other districts, even from other states. Also helps in proper marketing of the WSHG products. Figure1 shows a functional diagram of MASS, B-MASS and D-MASS in the district.
Table 1. Loan and Savings Details of WSHGs in Ganjam District Loan Details No. of loans disbursed(Group) Total Disbursement amount in Active Loanee (Member) Principal Amount Due Principal Realized Interest Due Interest Realised Cumulative Repayment Rate (%) Loan outstanding
13366 1450700441 65214 1269870105 1205757131 126346683 117778147 90.83333333
5. ROLE OF NATIONAL INFORMATICS CENTRE
225754024
Efforts are made by National Informatics Centre Berhampur in Odisha province to computerize the activities of Self Help Groups of Ganjam district in February 2010. In a very short period of time a web enabled software was prepared and ported on the “e-Grama” intranet portal [19]. The software has facility for data entry of new WSHGs and for updating existing WSHGs. It has provision for detail reports generation regarding number of SHG details entered village-wise. Also Block-wise, Grampanchayat-wise and village-wise detail reports of all WSHGs are generated as shown in Figure-2. Detail statistical and financial reports generation facility is provided in the software.
Savings details Savings of SHGs(Rs)-Group level No. of members doing savings at group Level Entrance fee Saving in MASS ( monthly subscription)
313664854 76591 617990 33224636
4.1 B-MASS The village level WSHGs are federated at Block to form BMASS. It is a registered body under Indian Society Registration Act 1860. All village level WSHGs, which have completed six months from the date of formation are enrolled as members of BMASS, which has a General body and an Executive Committee to look into the day to day functions of B-MASS. Every year the members of General body and Executive committee are elected through election process. General body consists of one member from each SHG while the Executive Committee consists of fourteen members out of whom eleven members are elected from the General body with Voting Powers and three members are officially nominated through concerned Block Development Officer (BDO) and Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) and nodal Banks without voting power for guidance and advice. The President, Vice-president and Secretary are elected by the Executive Committee members. One of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) supervisors or Block Extension officers function as “Project Manager” in addition to his own duties to assist in the functions of B-MASS. B-MASS functions
Figure 2. Snapshot of Village wise details of all Self 147
Help Groups
recommendations and feasibility steps are being taken to explore the available infrastructure with Government and NonGovernment Organization (NGO). Total 9310 women have been trained during the campaign period till date. Greater thrust has been given to skill upgradation during 2009-10 and 2010-11 as per the decision of the steering committee. Government has decided to involve potential NGOs who possess necessary infrastructure and expertise in the process of Capacity Building as per the recommendations of micro-finance conventions. In the rural areas, where access to computer technology is not very significant, it was important that this was not left in selfish hands and, therefore, the e-Grama project has given the responsibility of running the kiosks to self-help groups run by women. Training on fundamentals of computer and its day to day use is provided to the literate members of WSHGs, through the “e-Grama” IT Kiosks run by woman, with a nominal fees to bridge the digital divide [19]. Maintaining of the accounts at village level MASS is a problem as most of the WSHG members are illiterates. The Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan [22] affiliated youth club members are trained to help the village WSHG members for maintaining accounts and updating of their information in the “eGrama” intranet portal.
5.1 Marketing of SHG Products The financial contribution by the members of WSHGs and funds received from Government are monitored, based on this it is decided how much loan can be given to its members and how much loan they can get from banks. The Kiosk operator in the village “e-Grama” IT Kiosk [19] acts as an interface between the software and the SHG members. The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are being increasingly used by the government to deliver its services at the locations convenient to the citizens. The rural ICT applications attempt to offer the services of central agencies (like district administration, cooperative union, and state and central government departments) to the citizens at their village door steps. The next step towards empowerment would be on economic front of the Self Help Groups through self-employment mode. This could be realized through proper marketing of the products of these Self Help Groups. It is observed that most of the WSHG products are sold in local rural markets (haats) to the “middle man”, who pays very less price to the members, resulting in low income for the group. The products and their corresponding price list of different WSHGs are put on the intranet portal for better price and marketing, as the district is aware of the availability of these products. Different groups are encouraged to participate in district and state level exhibition and melas for better exposure, price and propaganda of their products. Efforts are started to port the same software over internet to help the marketing of the SHG products globally. The poor availability and low speed of internet at village level reduces the urgency of the Internet version of the software.
7. FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO WEAK WSHGS Among the WSHGs, there are many Groups comprising women from the poorest of the poor families. Most of these Groups are interested in taking up small income-generation activities such as collection and sale of minor forest produce (MFP), bee-keeping and honey production, value addition to MFP like hill-brooms, making of leaf-plates etc. However, these SHGs do not move beyond the savings and internal lending phase to the credit availing phase. In order to encourage them to avail credit, a financial incentive is provided to them in terms of a saving corpus of Rs. 5000/-($80 USD) when they avail their first credit from the financing institution. This corpus with a lock-in period of three years, can be used to avail further credit from the banks thus increasing the group activities more viable. This approach helps poor women to build their self-confidence, interaction in group meetings and collective decision making enables them in identification and prioritization of their needs and resources.
6. CAPACITY BUILDING Women, because of their low levels of literacy and lack of access to technical education, are therefore even more disadvantaged than men in countries like India. It is a commonly held view in India that women are less engaged with Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) than men [20]. Information and Communication Technologies are for everyone and women have to be an equal beneficiary to the advantages offered by the technology. . However, there are now enough experiences to show that when women are trained, they show remarkable understanding and control in using technologies effectively [21]. In India, women comprise a large portion of the rural population and play a substantial role in the rural sector. It has emerged as next important felt need of the WSHGs more particularly in the field of ICT skill upgradation. At the initial stage the WSHG members were producing primarily for their household or at best village needs. In order to make it a commercial proposition quality product along with improvement the productivity was much needed to face the competition from the varieties of producers flooding the market with quality products at competitive price. In view of this all Districts have been requested to assess the training need of the WSHGs for formulation of a comprehensive action plan. Alternative channel has been also explored through NGOs who have formed at least fifty SHGs and possess necessary infrastructure and expertise in the field of Capacity Building assessment of the training needs. Besides, the State level SHGs federations have also been suggestive about the training needs. Depending on these
8. CONCLUDING REMARKS The very purpose of any social welfare programme is to elevate the "quality of life" of the citizens in term of living standards, health, education, earning avenues etc. But, in most cases a study on the impact of such programmes on the beneficiaries is rarely carried out in order to assess the success, failure or limitations of a welfare programme. Since SHGs are formed by the people and are meant for the people, it is necessary that the health of the SHG as well as the benefits received by the members of an SHG is to be carefully studied. Needless to say, auditing is necessary for the purpose of enhancing local governance, particularly for strengthening accountability and transparency in the activities of a WSHG. However, this requires a well planned methodology to carry out social auditing of the activities of WSHGs and its impact on the target beneficiaries, which could be in the form of better participation, ensure inclusiveness, articulation of accountability, responsiveness and transparency. The sole 148
[10] Shoba Arun, Richard Heeks and Sharon Morgan, 2004. Researching ICT-Based Enterprise for Women in Developing Countries: A Livelihoods Perspective , Women's ICT-Based Enterprise for Development project, IDPM, University of Manchester, UK
purpose is to bring out a clear picture of the socio-economic status of the members of any WSHG both qualitatively and quantitatively. Our future work in this direction will be to evolve a methodology for social auditing and to develop a matrix that can enumerate the impact parameters and their effect on the socio-economic condition of the members and the women folk at large. The experience of Mahila Sanchayika Sangha (MASS) has shown that the poor can use and save credit productively using ICT. It is helping local communities to generate income and reducing migration to other provinces for employment. Steps need to be taken to provide more micro-finance for engaging the rural poor in micro-enterprises. As there are many women selfhelp groups operating in the district, any earning from sale of products produced by them will add to the household income of the SHG member who are below poverty line.
[11] Richard Duncombe, Richard Heeks and Sharon Morgan, 2005. Supporting Women's ICT-Based Enterprises, A Handbook for Agencies in Development, IDPM, University of Manchester, UK [12] K. Venkatalakshmi and N. K. Ambujam, 2012. Information and Communication Technology use Frameworks among Self-Help Group Women, European Journal of Social Sciences, ISSN 1450-2267 Vol.27 No.2., pp. 206-212. [13] Government of India, 2011. Report of The working Group on the Telecom Sector for the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012Ǧ2017), Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, New Delhi, August 2011
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