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V. Rishi Kumar

HYDERABAD, Jan. 14

CYBERGRAMEEN is an IT initiative with a difference. It seeks to empower people in the rural heartland of the country leveraging the benefits of convergence technologies and thereby bridging the digital divide.

In one such effort, the Swarna Bharat Trust promoted by the Tripuraneni family, which is a promoter of the Rs 120-crore Spartek group, has sought to empower people at the grassroots by bundling entertainment, edutainment and host of services including healthcare through these centres of convergence named CyberGrameen.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Spartek group and the promoter of this project through the trust, Mr Krishna Prasad Tripuraneni, told Business Line that pilot initiative, will be tested for some time before replication in about 100 villages.

"We have initiated the pilot at Venkatachalam village in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh located on the national highway. Once this is tested and all necessary loose ends tightened, we plan to broaden its scope and cover other areas with the participation of non-governmental organisations and Government support," Mr Prasad explained.

"We had conceptualised this about a year ago to develop such a project where we contribute to society in a small way and see how we can make it financially viable and self sustaining. We have created a 2,500 sq ft facility where all community services, entertainment in the form of television and a mini theatre are provided. While the entertainment will provide some funds, this corpus will help support other general social activities," he said.

This centre will have a facility where a farmer with a small agricultural farm can know the latest in terms of what crop is ideally suited for cultivation depending upon the demand and market conditions.

"We plan to link these centres to various government agencies. This initiative is to be inaugurated later this week," he said.

Supported by a broadband network, villages can access information on primary, secondary and college education, have latest updates on weather, technology and credit facilities and also have the latest information on insurance and banking services, Mr Prasad said.

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