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The Indian state of Kerala is well known as a model for people-centred development. Anand Parthasarathy reports how one of the state's district, Malappuram, has used a bottom-up approach to planning to produce India's first district with a computer literate member in every family.
On the day when Pushparaj, a 28-year-old manual worker, sat in front of a personal computer for the first time, Shantakumari - 32, homemaker, little daughter on her lap - took the last of ten self-paced computer tests.
The monitor flashed the message: "Congratulations you have now attained computer literacy!" It was accompanied by a triumphant clap of music from the PC's twin speakers, so all the other students in the crowded classroom stopped what they were doing and joined in a round of applause.
It's a little ritual at the Akshaya e-Kendra (Inexhaustible e-Centre) in Mannupadam, a village nestling on the slopes of hill forests in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Shantakumari's place on the roster will be given to the next student in the waiting list.
The Mannupadam centre is part of a dynamic self-financing experiment encompassing Kerala's Malappuram district. With five PCs, a printer, a scanner and a webcam all linked to a Pentium 4 server, the centre hosts 12 classes every day - one of 600 centres across the district.
Time is short and space is limited in the one-room centre run by the local village council. Sometimes during rush hour, a couple of students will cheerfully share a PC. Though that can cause problems when it comes to taking online tests, no one complains: there's a real learning zeal among Mannupadam's 1,200 families, who are eager to bootstrap themselves into a 'connected' future.
The scheme, which was created by locals, allows one member of each family to undergo training in e-literacy at his or her own pace - for a fee of just Rs 20 rupees ($0.40). The course includes basic computer skills, letter-writing, Internet and email training, creating pictures with an imaging software and making international calls using the Voice over Internet Protocol.
Every time a student completes the course - it typically takes six to eight weeks - the e-centre operator,...