Development Alternatives, B-32, Tara Crescent, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi, 110016, India. E-mail: tara@sdalt.ernet.in. Tel: 91-11-685 1158. Fax: 91-11-686 6031
*Based on special Lecture presented under the auspices of the Ranganathan Centre for Information Studies, Chennai, on 8th August 2000.
The rationale and justification for the TARAhaat.com designed by the Development Alternatives (DA) Group is the present rural marketplace in India. The scenario is briefly described in the succeeding sections. Activating higher levels of production and consumption in rural markets is urgently needed to build fast growing, globally competitive and resilient economies in developing nations. Despite the explosive growth of the Internet world-wide, the benefits of information technology (IT) have yet to reach the Third World village. The slow penetration of IT into the rural economy underlies the greatest threat today to global sustainable development; accelerating it may well be the most effective means for overcoming this threat. Transforming the rural economy needs a whole new approach to delivery of information, goods and services based on environmentally sound technology, local enterprise and effective communication. TARAhaat is, for the family, a window to the world connecting to local and national resources, access to worldwide information, to health services, matrimonial and mailing services; for the farmer, it will offer a weather forecast service for planting, land ownership certificate, facility to order seeds or machinery parts, monitor food grain prices and negotiate sales with buyers; and for the youth it will offer career counseling, admission forms, educational opportunities, distance learning courses, job options, entertainment, etc.
