Fifteen-year-old Gaurav Singh Rathore comes to the Arain digital knowledge centre, in Ajmer district, once in three days to use the internet. “I am preparing for IIT Entrance examination. I use the internet to download material for my studies.”

However, Rathore among the few in the village population can use internet. Umrao Chaudhary, Sarpanch of Arain says that only 10 per cent of the population is aware.

“The administration has not worked towards creating awareness among people,” he says.

There is also less manpower to run these centres efficiently. N L Meena, Head, BSNL Ajmer, says, “There are not enough computer operators available. People don’t stay there for long. The government needs to take a call on operations and maintenance. In case of snag, there is no one to let us know of the problem?”

Nand Lal, who manages a centre for public services at Tilonia, a village a few kilometres away from Arain, says, “Internet is available only 250 out of 365 days in a year.”

Delays

BSNL, the agency responsible for laying the optical fibres, has its own issues to deal with. M Rawat, AGM, BSNL Ajmer, says, “Timely permissions are not there at times. Coordination with different agencies for permission takes time.”

“The vision is good, but the execution has been poor,” says Sanjiv Maheshwari, the head of tele-medicine at JLN Medical College and Hospital at Ajmer.

“It has been a closed-door vision. It has lacked the focus on the end use by villagers” he adds.

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