5 Tarahaat

Transcript

Introduction

Hello Friends. In our previous discussion we talked about the concept of social media and how the potentials of social media can be harnessed for the purpose of delivering extension services. In this discussion we will be taking up the issue of Tarahaat.com, which is an unique experiment started by the organization known as the Development Alternatives in the year 1983. The Development Alternative is basically a non-profit, research, development and action organization. We can say that it is a Nongovernmental Organization, which started this Tarahaat.com.

Basically Tarahaat created an e-Business platform to bring the benefits to the rural population. The target group is the rural areas and the farmers. How can we provide them the electronically mediated marketing platforms was the basic concept. The business model combines the mother portal, which was created as a Tarahaat.com with a network of franchised villages with the Internet centers or the TARA kendras. The main center was attached with the village centers, so that they can get the centralized information at a single point of time.

Then Tarahaat delivers basically the education, information services, then online marketing opportunities to the rural consumers. So this is where the areas on which the TaraHaat group is working. Then the first ICT based solution delivering high quality affordable and relevant products and services to the people on a sustainable basis, that we can say. This is first ever ICT based experiment, specially for the rural population.

So if you look into the organizational framework. The organization which is at the top, that is the Development Alternatives. Research & Development group is there. So it has different divisions,

1. People First – advocacy
2. Then, Dialnet – online information services
3. Then, the local environment quality services
4. And, TARA—commercialization, wherein the TaraHaat is one of the component.

So the TARA commercialization includes 4 programs,

1. The first one is the DESI Power—rural power generation systems
2. Then, TBRT— that is the franchisee technology driven micro-enterprises, promoting the concept of entrepreneurship amongst the rural population.
3. Then, TARA Nirman Kendra for construction purposes,
4. And, TaraHaat for the purpose of farmers.

The Development Alternative (DA) and its associate organizations are working in different parts of the country as it is shown. It is the States like Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand; like that it is working in the Central as well as the Northern parts of the country, with the associate organizations like,

1. The Technology Action for Rural Advancement. This is what is the full form of TARA.
2. Then, TARAhaat Information & Marketing Services Ltd – specially for the purpose of farmers.
3. Then, TARA Nirman Kendra and Decentralized Energy Systems India Ltd and,
4. TARA Environmental Products & Services Pvt Ltd.

So these are the associate organizations of TARA.

Sponsors

The sponsors of this organization are the Government of India as well as some foreign donors are also there from Switzerland, Canada, United States, Norway, Sweden. There are a number of sponsors are there.

The partners of this Tarahaat includes the Microsoft as well as the Microsoft partnered with this Tarahaat to bridge the IT gap. Because as a development organization they were lacking the technological support. Microsoft filled in that particular gap.

As a part of the Microsoft corporate social responsibility(CSR) they started the empowerment of the people with information technology skills, aimed at providing high quality learning through community technology and learning centers (CTLC). So Microsoft created these learning centers. Then Tarahaat provided the local support for them.

Goals and Objectives

The goals and objectives of this organization include,
1. Will pursue a mix of business as well as the social objectives. So business for the purpose of providing maximum benefits for the rural people. And the social cause, because they are interested in uplifting the rural communities.
2. The Development Alternative group is firmly committed to the nation that “development has to be a good business”. The moment we take development from the point of business, so obviously there are many things that are going to happen.
3. So they are also providing agri-advisory services.

A farmer with the help of volunteer calls up to a telephone number mentioned here and puts up a query, that is recorded and the appropriate solution is given to them. So this is how the Tarahaat works.

Products & Services

The Products and services offered by this Tarahaat includes

1. the government services,
2. the farmer’s issues
3. the water and women related issues.
4. Youth and learning
5. Chaupal
6. Literacy.

There are number of issues that it is working on. Our focus is on this agri-advisory system.

Business Objectives

The business objectives of this Tarahaat includes. It intends to be the leading supplier of online information, way back in the earlier days. Then the services and the market opportunities for the rural people, as well as the computer enabled education by establishing a network of online outposts in the rural market and providing the needed services are some of the business objectives of this.

Social Objectives

The social objectives include the women’s health, education, good governance. Then the resource conservation by providing relevant and easily accessible information through its website.

Objectives

Then coming to the objectives of this Tarahaat.

• So sustainable development
• And, sustainable business.

So we can visualize sustainable development only when we have sustainable business also.

The Strategy

The strategy adopted for them is,

• To evolve commercially viable ICT-based enterprises
• Then, to deliver public benefits by satisfying the private needs.

So until and unless the farmer or any individual satisfies his private needs, he cannot deliver any public good or the public benefit. So that’s what is the philosophy with which they are working.

Vision

The vision with which Tarahaat is working is

Is to empower the people to achieve their aspirations by using information-communication technologies.

So now coming to some success stories of the Tarahaat.com. Because they are providing the marketing related information, marketing opportunities, online business as well as trading opportunities for the farmers. So when they started working with these people. A resident of Niwari block of Tikamgarh, which is in the State of Madhya Pradesh, Sheila Shrivastava. So she has achieved what for other girls it might be dreams today. The life of Shaila changed because she came into contact with Tarahaat.com, with the centers what they opened for the basic information technology course, they opened in that particular village. And she became a part of that. And being a quick learner, with her own learning abilities, she started acquiring good number of things. And looking into her leadership as well as acumen and learning ability, Tarahaat offered her the position of Instructor in this Tarahaat efforts, and she was also selected for the challenging job of soochak. Because now she should train the people. So that’s what was the responsibility that was given to them. So that was the Tarahaat’s e-governance project in the Tikamgarh district. So this is how she had accepted that particular challenge.

The Parmar sisters Pinky, Rajmani and Priti. So these were the three sisters, so they never imagined that they are going to be part of one of the leading business world magazine. And they never imagined that their photo will be printed on this particular magazine, which is the global magazine that we can say. It is because of the efforts of these institutions and their capacity building processes, and they acquired these skills and they became a part of these things. Pinky, actually she had these leadership abilities and she is basically a social worker. She spearheaded this Swajal project of World Bank, aimed at providing safe drinking water in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the poorest areas of the country.

When she started organizing the people with the help of these Tarahaat.com efforts. So she became the leader. She inspired her sister Rajamani to open Tara Kendra in those villages, and she is gifted with these entrepreneurial skills and Rajmani now handles the administrative functions of Tara Kendra in those areas, with a basic IT course they are also teaching, as well as empowering the other women in the region.

The youngest sister Priti was apprehensive in the beginning, but she also joined her sisters in these development initiatives. So this is how the women empowerment is also being achieved. And they are providing them the leadership skills, entrepreneurial skills, so that they can stand on their own and they can motivate the entire community as well as society to be part of this development initiatives.

Conclusion

To conclude we can say that

• the Tarahaat.com is a platform for ensuring development, which is working not only in the State of Uttar Pradesh, but in the adjoining States. The Northern as well as the Eastern parts of the country.
• The NGO’s are also partners of development in addition to the government efforts, because equally they are also rendering their services in the development initiatives.
• Then a planned intervention with participation can change the situation. And Tarahaat.com is one of the best examples that we can quote.
• Then electronic mediation is the means of achieving these ends.

So this is what we can learn from the outcomes of the Tarahaat.com. With this we will be concluding today’s discussion.

Thank You.