In ancient times, according to traditional belief, the sage Bhagirathi's rigorous worship forced the holy Ganges River to come down to earth from heaven so that happiness and prosperity could flow across India. The river transformed the Indian civilization and it still remains a vital component of life across the regions it passes. Today, however, another river is starting to flow across this same land -- a river of bits -- that is bringing the hope of a new prosperity through modern technology.
Sarauhan, a village located 25 kilometers from the Kanpur-Lucknow highway in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is testimony to this technology-based transformation. Inside the village, a 40-metre Wi-Fi tower stands tall over a pucca-roof control room. Its "Public Call" booth with a telephone set, along with its network of wires, battery-sets and solar power back-up equipments gets the attention of people visiting the village.
The Wi-Fi hotspot has revolutionized the life of more than 2000 people living in the village. Before establishing the call center there, villagers would have to walk 6 kilometers, either to the north or to the south of the village, to access a conventional telephone facility. Residents of many other villages are still in a similar predicament.
The initiative to connect villages like Sarauhan has been dubbed "Digital Gangetic Plains" as it follows the Ganges River and connects villages in the surrounding area. It was launched by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur as an effort to explore the use wireless to promote community development.
Mohan Mishra, now project manager of the Digital Gangetic Plains project, explained, "In Sarauhan, it's a 12 kilometer walk there and back to access a conventional phone. And until March last years, it was actually a 20-kilometer drive. So simply making a phone call would take half a day. Now the Wi-Fi network has brought phones and Internet connectivity to Sarauhan and four other places in and around Unnao. This has really encouraged communication between the villagers, especially women and their family members working in other districts or states. In addition, it has helped villagers access information about employment opportunities in other parts of the state and the country."
Dr. Bhaskaran Raman, the 30-year-old IIT graduate who has led the Digital Gangetic Plains project since March 2003, explained, "From its inception, this was always viewed as technology development for the rural community. When we began, Wi-Fi technology existed for indoor or in-campus wireless usage. It was not clear if it could be used for long-distances of 20 or 30 kilometers to connect villages. So the project set out to explore this possibility."
The first Wi-Fi tower was set up on the IIT campus as part of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab project in 2001. Later, after the Media Lab pulled out, Indian engineers continued running the project.
They found that although the 802.11b protocol was originally designed for indoor applications within an area of 500 meters, modifications extended its range. So off-the-shelf equipment could provide low-cost infrastructure. In in actually deploying this equipment, they discovered that only one intermediate base-station was needed between Kanpur and Lucknow, for instance.
In India, Wi-Fi hotspots had previously been limited to international airports, large hotels, and scientific institutions. However, delicensing of Wi-Fi radio frequencies has now enabled community development deployments like the Digital Gangetic Plains project.
Apart from technological challenges, success of the project also depends upon finding the right manpower (paid with IITK salaries).
However, perhaps the biggest challenge is making the network economically viable. "With the average earning of $3 a day for a village hotspot, it will take more than 10 years for the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur to achieve the
break-even-point on the project," explained Dr. Bhaskaran. "It is possible, however, that the financial break-even point can be achieved sooner by combining a range of services and technologies around Wi-Fi network."
So far, the Wi-Fi tower in Sarauhan is one of the farthest link so far established in the network -- 38 kilometers from IIT Kanpur. Communications reach it through a series of other village hotspots in Mohanpur, Mandana and Bithoor that Bhaskaran Raman's team has set up.
In India, setting up a Wi-Fi link costs $50-100, while additional equipment (excluding a tower) costs $20-50 apiece. This is less than one-fifth of the cost of setting up basic telephony or mobile telephony links. However, Dr. Bhaskaran Raman warns, "Wi-Fi is certainly an alternative way of extending connectivity to rural areas, especially those that are prohibitive to other solutions because of cost considerations. But it must not be seen as the complete solution to the problem of rural connectivity in India."
In describing the community's response to the project, cost effectiveness and its technological limitations, Dr. Bhaskaran emphasizes, "Today we are not really focused on services for the community. We do have a voice-over-IP service running for the villages that not have any other telephone facility. There is quite a demand for this service, something I recognized two or three years ago. However, there are definite technological limitations as of now. Using the current technology we have, it is not clear how a deployment can scale to several dozen villages."
This is a problem that confronts his and other projects in India. For example, Byrraju Foundation has undertaken a similar effort through their Ashwini project, which designed to provide remote villages virtual education, health, and agricultural services through a Wi-Fi network. Their deployment is already running in eight villages and these communities reportedly have received it very positively.
"Cost effectiveness also needs some improvement, especially with respect to operating under unreliable power," added Dr. Bhaskaran. "Some technology improvements are needed in this area and so we are currently addressing these technical issues."
Nevertheless, Dr. Bhaskaran believes that wireless technology can offer multiple benefits to the rural areas -- benefits such as better education, health, agricultural advice related services and e-governance. Cheap voice-over-IP is definitely something that other villages could use immediately. He points out, however, that much of this potential still needs to be proven. "At this point a lot of this only conjectured," he said. "There are only a few prototype success examples so far."
His belief is that as the cost of equipment drops, the Digital Gangetic Plains project can be scaled up to a larger number of villages. To facilitate this, Dr. Bhaskaran believes the Indian government should make the necessary policy changes to facilitate the process. "For instance, some issues with respect to licensing of the band and the use of Voice-over-IP need to be addressed," he said. "However, actually developing the network should really be left to private entrepreneurs and network operators."
At the moment, Sarauhan stands a lonely point of connectivity within a community of dozens of poor, isolated villages in the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh.
Dr. Bhaskaran and his team are concentrating on solving some of the pressing technical issues related to performance, cost, and power consumption. "The Byrraju foundation's Ashwini project is currently focused on providing a range of community services," he said. "So rather than duplicate that effort, we are now working with them to take the technology forward."
Civil society organisations over the years have proven their capability to deliver services to rural poor through various ways. The decision of IIT Kanpur to now distance itself from non-technical issues and collaborate with NGOs for delivery of services seems to be a smart move -- a positive step in the direction of building multi-stakeholder partnerships involving community, NGOs, academia, private sector, and government bodies. The complex nature of development problems in India demands these kinds of partnerships. They offer the best hope for achieving long-term sustainability for development projects. And this ultimately is what is most needed to bring new and lasting opportunities to far-flung areas of the country.
Manish Kumar is a freelance journalist who does voluntary work with Sankalp, a community based organisation in Uttaranchal, India as well as Digital Communities correspondent covering that country.
