Indian villagers try 'e-policing'
By Zubair Ahmed
BBC News, Mumbai



Villagers previously had to travel 80km to meet the police chief
India's IT revolution is sometimes thought to benefit only the better off, but developments in Bhanegaon village in Maharashtra state, and 10,000 other Indian villages, suggest that it is slowly taking deeper roots.

Until a few weeks ago the village was on the have-not side of the digital divide.

Now some of its 8,000 inhabitants have used computers, e-mailed scanned documents and above all been part of regular video conferencing between the village and the district police headquarters in Nagpur city.

Ravinder Chikle of Bhanegaon took part in a conference call with the police chief, S Yadav and complained about big lorries creating traffic chaos near the village's two schools and endangering children's lives.

Mr Chikle still cannot pronounce "video conferencing", but surprisingly he was at ease with the technology.

"It saves me time and money. I don't have to go to the city to meet the police chief. I can lodge complaints sitting here at the kiosk," said a delighted Mr Chikle.

Just a few weeks ago, he would have had to cover a distance of 80km (50 miles), spend his hard-earned money and travel more than half a day to meet the district police chief in Nagpur.

'Widening access'

Mr Yadav, who himself has an IT background, sits in his office everyday between 4 and 6pm and talks to the villagers on the video line.

Kiosks have been installed in the district's 22 villages.


District police chief S Yadav gets new sources of information
Says Mr Yadav: "Earlier I used to meet 30 to 40 complainants everyday. Now I receive very few of them."

Those 30 to 40 villagers were the lucky ones.

It's not easy for a villager in India to be able to have an audience with the district police chief.

And to complain about a policeman to his boss was even more difficult.

But IT has changed all that.

Now, Mr Chikle and villagers like him can not only take part in video conferencing with the police chief, they can also get hard copies of their complaints scanned and emailed to the police headquarters with the click of a mouse.

The project, the first of its kind in India, was launched as a test case and it is well appreciated by the villagers.

Fighting crime

Encouraged by the positive response, the state government has formed a committee to look into whether it can be replicated all across rural Maharashtra.

The IT facilities are proving useful in combating crime as well.

Mr Yadav recalled an informer giving him precise information about a gang of drug pushers during one of the video conferencing sessions.

The tip-off led to the seizure of marijuana worth more than $2m.

Mr Yadav fondly calls the new system "e-policing".

He says a large number of women from these 22 villages are coming forward to report domestic violence.

"The men are under pressure to behave themselves," says Inspector Sanjay Purandare.

Mr Yadav was candid enough to say the project is also helping him keep an eye on police atrocities.

"I get to know of policemen who indulge in corruption or torture inmates in police lockups."

'Limits' to empowerment

But some women's rights activists, such as Kalpana Upadhayay from Nagpur, are sceptical about how far-reaching the impact of this technology will be in villages.


Activists say some women will still be scared to complain
She says: "Women in villages are suppressed and they are scared of complaining against their men."

Ms Upadhayay also thinks the villagers, for whom this project has been launched, are largely unaware of its existence.

She doesn't doubt the project's good intentions, but she believes it may not have a proper impact unless the rank and file of the police force accepts the technology too.

Mr Yadav accepts criticism of the lack of awareness about the facilities, but he says his department plans to launch a publicity drive to draw the villagers' attention to the facilities.

On the whole, the police believe the system has helped bridge the digital divide.

The state government's senior minister, RR Patil, praised the project and promised to spread it across rural Maharashtra.

Mr Yadav, who is receiving queries about the project from other district and state police departments in India, believes very soon the video conferencing will be implemented all over rural India.

According to estimates, over 10,000 villages in India have already joined the IT revolution under different schemes.

E-policing may prove a further step towards bridging the digital divide

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6197745.stm