चल संवेदना शिविर

संवेदना का तिलक लगाकर
आगे बढ़ते जाना है।
नहीं रुकेगा यह पथ अपना
जीवन ज्योति जगाना है।

मंदर से निकली है ज्योति
जीवन अलख जगाने को
पगडंडी के कांटे कह गए
अब तो मुझे हटाना है।
नहीं रुकेगा.......जीवन ज्योति जगाना है।

धुप घनेरी छाँव घनेरी
रस्ते पर हर गाँव घनेरी
चेतना का संचार करते
पग-पग बढ़ते जाना है।
नहीं रुकेगा.......जीवन ज्योति जगाना है।

राष्ट्र प्रेम का सपना लेकर
निकल पढ़ा है देश हमारा
पथ्रीलें है रस्ते फिर भी
अविरल बहते जाना है।
नहीं रुकेगा .......जीवन ज्योति जगाना है।

संवेदना का तिलक लगाकर, आगे बढ़ते जाना है।
नहीं रुकेगा यह पथ अपना, जीवन ज्योति जगाना है।।

What is going wrong in implementation of ICT related schemes in remote Tribal areas ?

ICT is becoming an integral part of our urban life these days. There is hardly anything in our day to day life where we do not have the intervention of the ICT. It has captured not only our physical space but our mental space as well. It is hard to visualize our normal life specially in the urban areas when do not have any accesses to ICT. Mobile phones, tablets, computers, television, internet are the prominent words which find enormous space in our vocabulary. The entire focus of our lives has been shifted to communication and connectivity.

If we drag our memory to few years back we would see a lot many things happening around us without the help of any gadget or technology. The machines entered in our lives to support and assist our day to day functioning. Industrial revolution as it has been quoted in the “Third wave” by Alvin Toflar was to make our life lot more easier Despite that still there were things and that too in a large number where we were using our own manual skills and potential.

Now those days are over. The blue chip has occupied very large space in our mind. The man developed the technology but it has over shadowed the human life with its ever increasing reach and speed.

The Third wave in Toflar’s word is of information alisation. Resultantly ICT can not be separated in any manner from our urban life.

But is it the same in the rural areas, that too backword rural areas which has a large number of tribal populations. We have been so preoccupied with our speed and advancements that we completely neglected the situation of our villages in the era of ICT.

As we all know Tribal world over have their own customs, traditions, myths and culture. India is no exception where a large number of different Tribal groups reside in different parts of the country. There are some states in the country where Tribal population percentage is substantial and they are treated as Tribal Dominated State. Newly crafted Chhattisgah is one of them where the tribal population percentage is 32 as per the 2011 census. When people living in urban areas have left their culture and tradition behind due to various reasons the tribal have retained them to a large extent and they are meticulously following them. It would be a matter of surprise for many that despite all the best efforts of the Govt. to pull the Tribal population out of their “Backwardness”, very little could be achieved in India since independence. Govt. has been providing special privileges to these areas but as it happens with most up the schemes, the implementation at the grassroot level exposes the reality.

It is also a point of consideration that very few among the Tribal have serious complaints about the lack of facilities being extended and are happy with their age old customs and traditions. If we compare the present phenomenon of ICT we would find these tribal are still using their own traditional communication system quite effectively.

This paper is aimed at dealing with the cultural impact of ICT over these tribal and their adaptability towards it. This paper would also try to analyze the reach of ICT to these areas and acquaintances of the tribal population to the ICT.

As a case study we have taken Ambagarh chowki block, which is in the Rajnandgaon District of Chhattisgarh state in India. It is a remote Tribal block, which also touches the border of Maharashtra. Left wing extremism is also quite evident in the remote areas of the block. The total population of this block as per the 2011 census is 94,883 with a 14.91% growth in ten years. The remarkable features of this block are the male female ratio where we have 1067 female over 1000 male. It is a rare sight specially in India and slap on the so called developed urban in blocks. The total tribal population of the block is 46,782 which is 49.31% (majority of the Tribal belong to the Gond, Halba  and Kanwar tribes). There are 09.90% scheduled castle population too in the block. Literacy rate is higher here and reaches up to 79.84%.

All these tact do not show the real picture of the block. This block does not have any technical education institutions. It has a very few centers providing the facility of Internet. Mobile users are not acquainted with other applications of the mobile phone.

What is going wrong in implementation of ICT related schemes in remote Tribal areas ?

ICT is becoming an integral part of our urban life these days. There is hardly anything in our day to day life where we do not have the intervention of the ICT. It has captured not only our physical space but our mental space as well. It is hard to visualize our normal life specially in the urban areas when do not have any accesses to ICT. Mobile phones, tablets, computers, television, internet are the prominent words which find enormous space in our vocabulary. The entire focus of our lives has been shifted to communication and connectivity.

If we drag our memory to few years back we would see a lot many things happening around us without the help of any gadget or technology. The machines entered in our lives to support and assist our day to day functioning. Industrial revolution as it has been quoted in the “Third wave” by Alvin Toflar was to make our life lot more easier Despite that still there were things and that too in a large number where we were using our own manual skills and potential.

Now those days are over. The blue chip has occupied very large space in our mind. The man developed the technology but it has over shadowed the human life with its ever increasing reach and speed.

The Third wave in Toflar’s word is of information alisation. Resultantly ICT can not be separated in any manner from our urban life.

But is it the same in the rural areas, that too backword rural areas which has a large number of tribal populations. We have been so preoccupied with our speed and advancements that we completely neglected the situation of our villages in the era of ICT.

As we all know Tribal world over have their own customs, traditions, myths and culture. India is no exception where a large number of different Tribal groups reside in different parts of the country. There are some states in the country where Tribal population percentage is substantial and they are treated as Tribal Dominated State. Newly crafted Chhattisgah is one of them where the tribal population percentage is 32 as per the 2011 census. When people living in urban areas have left their culture and tradition behind due to various reasons the tribal have retained them to a large extent and they are meticulously following them. It would be a matter of surprise for many that despite all the best efforts of the Govt. to pull the Tribal population out of their “Backwardness”, very little could be achieved in India since independence. Govt. has been providing special privileges to these areas but as it happens with most up the schemes, the implementation at the grassroot level exposes the reality.

It is also a point of consideration that very few among the Tribal have serious complaints about the lack of facilities being extended and are happy with their age old customs and traditions. If we compare the present phenomenon of ICT we would find these tribal are still using their own traditional communication system quite effectively.

This paper is aimed at dealing with the cultural impact of ICT over these tribal and their adaptability towards it. This paper would also try to analyze the reach of ICT to these areas and acquaintances of the tribal population to the ICT.

As a case study we have taken Ambagarh chowki block, which is in the Rajnandgaon District of Chhattisgarh state in India. It is a remote Tribal block, which also touches the border of Maharashtra. Left wing extremism is also quite evident in the remote areas of the block. The total population of this block as per the 2011 census is 94,883 with a 14.91% growth in ten years. The remarkable features of this block are the male female ratio where we have 1067 female over 1000 male. It is a rare sight specially in India and slap on the so called developed urban in blocks. The total tribal population of the block is 46,782 which is 49.31% (majority of the Tribal belong to the Gond, Halba  and Kanwar tribes). There are 09.90% scheduled castle population too in the block. Literacy rate is higher here and reaches up to 79.84%.

All these tact do not show the real picture of the block. This block does not have any technical education institutions. It has a very few centers providing the facility of Internet. Mobile users are not acquainted with other applications of the mobile phone.