ICT and Rural Development: a Study of Warana Wired Village Project in India

In the present century, the advancements in information and communication technologies (ICTs) are changing the various components of human life. The changes in the ICTs have brought a positive impact in the process of public service delivery and socio-economic structure of communities. In India, e-Governance applications in the recent past have demonstrated their positive impact in minimizing the processing costs, increase transparency and support economic development by income generating ventures, increase in agricultural production, and improvements in health and education sectors, all of which promote the overall quality of life of rural people. This paper reviews the e-Governance initiative called the Warana Wired Village Project in the rural areas of Maharashtra, India. It evaluates the contribution of Warana Project in providing the transactional services for the rural people with the benefit of time and cost savings in obtaining the public services with efficiency and effectiveness and it also examines changes in agricultural productivity and improved quality of life due to the ICT services.