For us the mobile might be a device to just talk, text or whatsapp. But for many in rural India, the various apps on the mobile have actually changed the way they live. Recently Vodafone had its ‘Mobile for Good’ awards, 2014. It was an initiative by Vodafone Foundation to recognise mobile applications bringing a positive change in the lives of millions of people across India across various categories like health, governance, education, agriculture and more.
And its very important for us to know at least a few of these apps which are doing so much good in rural India. First there is Self-Reliant Initiatives through Joint Action (SRIJAN), which is an app to monitor soya crops giving harvest forecast, prices and all such relevant data, helping women farmers to increase profits and productivity.
There is Swayam ShikshanPrayog (SSP) and its app is known as ArogyaSakhi, which helps rural women entrepreneurs delivere preventive health care at rural doorsteps. These Arogya Sakhis have tablets and mobile healthcare devices like glucometers, blood pressure checking machine, etc. for visiting door-to-door, conducting tests,collecting data from the village women, and finally feeding it in the cloud server through the tablet. A doctor at any location (presently at Pune) can access that data and provide relevant solutions and advice according to the uploaded data. Persons who need further medical intervention are referred to their local network of hospitals and doctors in the rural areas.
Then we have Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Medical Trust’s Eye Connect, an app which helps eye care challenges in remote areas. The field workers from the institution use mobile phone to identify people in the villages who need eye care. The identified patients are referred to the medical camps organized at a nearby location using a Decision Support System. This smart app also provides information about eye-donation.
Tomorrow we will look at the award winning apps introduced for urban India.