E-Halli centres to be launched in the State
http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/21/stories/2007092154950500.htm
Nagesh Prabhu

The facility is a one-stop shop for providing useful information to
rural people
----------------------------------------------------------
----------

In the first phase, the centres will be established in 10 districts

5,628 gram panchayats in the State will have E-Halli centres

BANGALORE: The State Government will soon launch E-Halli, an e-
governance initiative, for disseminating all kinds of information to
the people residing in villages.

The E-Halli centres will be established on the premises of all 5,628
gram panchayats in the State and they will be evolved into a one-stop
shop for disseminating a wide array of information to village
residents. The estimated cost of the project is about Rs. 100 crore.

The programme, which is piloted by the Department for Women and Child
Welfare and Karnataka State Women Development Corporation, will be
launched in November. Such initiatives have so far been restricted
only to cities. The government plans to extend this to the villages
to bring them on a par with cities, sources in the Government told
The Hindu.

Bridging the gap

E-Halli, conceptualised on the basis of former President A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam's `Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA)', aims at
bridging the information gap between villages and cities. The E-Halli
centres would provide services and information about various schemes
of Government departments, both Central and State, gram panchayats,
banks, hospitals, blood banks, diagnostic centres, veterinary
centres, market prices, agricultural farming, business, educational
institutions, timings and fare of busses, trains, flights, the place
of reservation and goods transport system.

In the first phase, the centres would be implemented in 10 districts -
Davangere, Chitradurga, Shimoga, Chikmagalur, Haveri, Gadag,
Dharwad, Belgaum, Koppal and Bellary districts. The Yashaswini Nagara
Hagu Grameena Abhivruddhi Parishat (YNGAP), a NGO of Davangere, is
the nodal agency for establishing these centres. The NGO had already
established five centres in Davangere district on a pilot basis and
they are said to be highly successful.

Membership fees

The Karnataka State Women Development Corporation will provide a
margin of Rs. 35,000 under the "Asare" scheme for self-help group
(SHG) members to establish the centres. The corporation will help
selected candidates to obtain loans from nationalised banks. The
centres would offer 16,884 unemployed youth across the State.

Shivakumar M.D. of YNGAP said the centres would collect membership
fees of Rs. 90 a year from village residents. A study conducted by
the YNGAP states that villagers have to commute to cities to seek
information about schemes and the average annual expenditure incurred
by a farmer to get the information is Rs. 3,600.

Twice a month a farmer visits the city for gathering information and
wastes a lot of time, it said.

E-Halli will be operated by a person having basic computer knowledge.