The Northeastern region has been so far been less developed due to its remoteness and difficult hilly terrain. Since it lacked strong com- munications also, the government is now trying to extend the reach of the IT revolution to this region to give a boost to all-round devel- opment. With this vision, the government embarked on the Community Information Center (CIC) project. The project was targeted at bridging the digital divide, providing connectivity at the grassroots level, establishing IT infrastructure for socio-economic development of the Northeastern region and Sikkim. The CICs were envisaged at the block level to provide Internet access using a VSAT backbone. They would also be used to disseminate government services.

The project is a joint effort by the Department of Information Technology under the ministry of communications and information technology, National Informatics Center (NIC) and the state governments of the respective states. It is managed centrally by DIT/NIC at New Delhi with active participation at the local level by NIC officials at the state and district levels. Each CIC has two locally hired operators and charges a nominal amount from users for its day-to-day expenses.

The Technology Challenge
Taking the project to the block level in harsh terrain was the biggest challenge. Most places had erratic power supply let alone any connectivity. Therefore a VSATbased network was the best solution. Equipment was transported using helicopters, elephants, boats, and porters.

Each CIC is connected via a VSAT with 8 kbps uplinking speed and 32 kbps downloading speed. The hub is located at NIC headquarters in New Delhi. Each center has a LAN network with a server and five clients, a laser printer, dot-matrix printer, Web camera, modem, an air conditioner, generator, and two UPSs each. Some centers even have a telephone. The VSAT deployment was done by HECL and Bharti and the hardware was provided by HCL and Wipro.

The Project
The project started with a pilot in Umsning and Mylliem in Meghalaya on 12 August 2000. Thereafter the pilot was extended to 30 blocks in the Northeastern states and Sikkim on 1 January 2001. The main project was launched on 15 August 2002. There are 487 CICs in the region today. Of this, the larger part is in Assam with 219 centers, most of which are at the block level and 89 are located in schools. The main applications were data entry, word processing, and training for the local populace, browsing, and e-mail. In addition, several citizen-centric or government to citizen (G2C) services were to be delivered from the CICs. Some services which are to be provided later are birth and death registration and prices and other market information of agricultural produce.

The CICs help in the dissemination of information at three levels: forms that can be downloaded, filled manually and submitted conventionally; online submission of forms/applications; and online transactions.

The Response
CICs became an instant hit with the people. In a region deprived of communication links with the world, Internet came as manna. The CIC established at Raha Higher Secondary School in Nagaon, Assam is particularly interesting. Initially, public awareness was lacking but with the efforts of the center's operator, Bharat Kumar Bhuyan, the Raha centre earned great popularity compared to the other CICs of Northeast. About 25 persons access Internet here daily, which includes students, teachers, businessmen, and civil and police personnel. A few students acquired the opportunity to go abroad for higher studies through this center.

With an aim to impart computer education to the local students, Raha CIC in assistance with 'Akonir Kabita Ghar' organized many computer-related workshops, in view of the interest shown by the students. Raha is just one of the centers in the CIC project. Such interesting utilization abounds in the region. In Tripura, people from remote places book appointments with doctors/consultants and for conducting tests like X-ray, ECG and ultrasound at Agartala Medical College. At many CICs in Meghalaya, the locals visit the CICs to access election results on the Web and to watch live telecast of the results on the TV.

Training and Education
The CIC at Yuksam, Sikkim has seen successful completion of basic computer awareness training program for over 10 batches of trainees, who were from different walks of life and age groups ranging from 10–78 years. The center took special care to conduct lessons for the less educated local people.

E-Parichay was launched at CIC, Barjelanga, Assam to spread IT education among the general masses. Free e-mail was provided in the initial phase to attract visitors. Computer literacy week was celebrated at CIC Yupia in Arunachal Pradesh wherein training was imparted to general public and government staff for a nominal fee. The government has rolled out a number of computer literacy programs though the CIC which has increased the popularity of the CICs. IGNOU has rolled out its computer literacy program using the CIC infrastructure at many locations. DOECC has selected 321 CICs as centers for accreditation for "CCC" certificate. Computer Aided Paperless Examination System (CAPES) developed by NIC will be utilized for conducting online tests for awarding the "CCC" certificates.

NGOs have also built many programs around the CICs to generate awareness. In North Karimganj, Assam, NEITA organized an e-session using video chatting and ordinary chatting for poultry and livestock farmers. Enthusiasm of the people is reflected in this feedback from a user in Assam: "I am a regular user of the Internet facilities of the CIC Sissiborgaon in Dhemaji district of Assam. I have been using these facilities to collect information regarding government policies and various developments in the IT sector, which are useful for people living in very remote areas. We expect more development of the service."

Balaka Baruah Aggarwal