Tele-Services

Now, to provide the space-based services to the rural areas, Department of Space has initiated a programme to set up Village Resource Centres (VRCs) in association with concerned State, Central Govt Departments/Agencies, Trusts, NGOs, Universities, Institutions etc. for extending the benefits of the space technology directly to the communities at the grass root level through trusted, dedicated, committed associates.

* Concept Of VRC's
* Scope and Objectives

Concept of VRCs

ISRO has initiated the setting up of the VRC with a view to integrate its capabilities in satellite communications and satellite based earth observations, to disseminate a variety of services emanating from the space systems and other IT tools to address the changing and critical needs of the rural community. VRC is a totally interactive VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) based network. VRCs are managed by the associating agency and it is the capability of the associating agency to make value addition on the services provided. They can also dovetail their existing rural development programmes to VRC. The VRC nodes can be further extended using other technologies like WiFi, WiMax, Wireless and optical cable to the nearby villages, if the associating agency is interested to do so. The overall implementation of the project will be jointly by ISRO and the associating agency. The associating agency is expected to set up the required infrastructure and required manpower to manage the VRCs. ISRO will provide the satellite connectivity for communication, tele-education, telemedicine and required equipment. The monitoring of the progress of the project and also the quality of the technical input/output etc will be evaluated time to time and based on this proper corrective measures will be taken up.

Scope and Objectives

VRC programme is meant for reaching the benefits of the space technology directly to the underprivileged population. It aims to promote a single window delivery of need-based services in the areas of education, health, nutrition, weather, environment, agriculture and alternate livelihoods to the rural population.

Major objectives of the project are to provide the following to rural population:

* Tele education: Focusing on building indigenous skill and imparting training and capacity building, including formal, non-formal and adult education.

* Telemedicine/healthcare: Consists of customized medical software integrated with computer hardware, along with medical diagnostic instruments connected to the VSAT at each location. Telemedicine helps patients in rural areas to avail timely consultations of specialist doctors through video conferencing.

* Land & Water Resources Advisories: VRC provides spatial information on various themes such as land use/land cover, soil, groundwater prospects, and will enable the farmers to get query based online decision support.

* Interactive Farmers' Advisory Services/Tele agriculture: VRC will enable online interactions between the local farmers and agriculture scientists working at Scientific Institutions which will cover a wide range of subjects starting from alternate cropping systems, optimization of agricultural inputs , soil and water conversation etc.

* E-governance services: Services such as governmental schemes on agriculture, poverty alleviation, rural employment, social safety nets, animal husbandry and livestock related services, Self Help Group (SHGs) etc.

* Weather Advisories: Short, medium and long-term weather forecasts and agromet advisories from available sources will be provided at VRCsRDI has been identified as the nodal agency for coordinating this program with NGOs in the state and HIHT has been designated as the expert for tele-medicine facilities.