REKINDLING HOPES IN A FORGOTTEN TERRAIN

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REKINDLING HOPES IN A FORGOTTEN TERRAIN

• Dr. Amita Singh
• Associate Professor
• Centre for the Study of Law and Governance
• Jawaharlal Nehru University
• New Delhi

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NASSCOM report on ICT growth in India in US
Million
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Surfacing intricate connectivity

• Between technological systems , state
  institutions and the process of defining human
  history
• Inverse proportionality between infrastructural
  growth required to sustain technology and
  democratic state.(Hirsh 1965 and Posner 1961)
• Motivation to create governance structure whether
  private or public to support technology not
  equitable development. (Francis Fukuyama
  Caroline Wagner 2001191)

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Generic Traits of Technological State

• decision making / controls shift from state
  apparatus to technological regimes
• governed by the efficiency doctrine
• group dominance at the expense of others

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Women ,ICT Governance

• Sanitation Programme - PURBA MIDNAPORE

• TARAHaat- Bundelkhand
  Change Initiatives

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ICT Applications Why?

• least developed regions in the country in which
  Per capita income lower than Rs.8000 versus the
  national average of Rs. 13,193 in 1997-98 .
• Less than 51 of rural men and 20 of rural women
  in the region are able to read and write in
  Bundelkhand .
• Severe patriarchy
• ratio of working factories to 100,000 people is
  lower than 1.6 in the Bundelkhand versus 6.3 in
  the rest of Central India.
• Crop productivity is among the lowest in the
  country
• Water logged or Rocky outcrops and boulder-strewn
  plains .
• region suffering from acute ecological
  degradation. Logging and mining activities
  denuded landscape and erosion.
• human population growing fourfold since 1961.

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Objectives of ICT Applications

• Motivating to participate in governance
  programmes
• Generating hopes through entrepreneurship
• Networking resource markets
• Overcoming market mafias
• Emboldening price determination of indigenous
  produce

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Methodology of ICT Applications

• Change Initiatives Nabannah,West Bengal
• Daily diary writing
• Communicating about skill development
• Training in computers
• Record keeping

• TARA-Haat Developmental Alternatives,BundelkhandM
  P.
• Networking market sales
• Street theatre
• Advocacy campaigns through Singing, sloganeering.

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Making problems visible

• Need for school education!
• Education for entrepreneurship!
• Entrepreneurship for freedom!
• Freedom for empowerment!

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Agricultural Knowledge Skills

• Crop patterns
• Use of chemicals
• Patenting indigenous knowledge
• Sharing information

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Overcoming Gender Stereotyping

• Child care for men
• Mechanical repairs for women
• Exchange of work evolves personalities

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8 - Selected indicators (Ranking from 1 to 10)

• Transparency
• Participation
• Accountability
• Ease of Service Delivery

• Social Well being
• Replicability
• Partnership
• Sustainability

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Catalyzing Governance!

• Giving voice to women in the marketegTARA-Haat
• Developing Self-help groups in solving local
  problems eg complete sanitation in Poorba
  Midnapore-UNICEF project
• Developing skills,egChange initiatives
• Demand driven development,eg Gujarat urban
  governance

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Towards Sustainability!

• Networking NGOs with local governance.
• Local resource development through appropriate
  technology
• Generating self-help groups with local government
  bodies
• Engendering markets
• Reinventing womens voice

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References

• Centre for Science and the Environment.  1999.
  The Citizen's Fifth Report Part II Statistical
  Database.  CSE New Delhi, 256p. 
• Development Alternatives. 1999. Reversing the
  Downward Spiral Understanding the influence of
  livelihood systems on the resource base in
  Bundelkhand. Development Alternatives New
  Delhi, 118p.
• Government of India. 2000. India 2000 A
  Reference Annual.  Publications Division,
  Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
  Government of India, p. 321.
•  Rawlins, Barbara, et al. April 1999. Checkdam
  Assessment Study Final Report  Development
  Alternatives Bundelkhand Region. 53p annexes
•  

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Thanking you

• Greetings from women in India