
An IT company, BT, today announced the launch of Lifelines8212;a phone-based information service8212;for farmers in rural India. The service is a collaboration between BT, Cisco Systems Incorporation and a charity organisation, OneWorld.
8220;Lifelines is one of the most creative ways I have seen of using IT to bring expertise to remote communities in a way that they can readily access,8221; BT India chairman Arun Seth said.
The project would focus on veterinary and agricultural information. The service works through data base collected by One World employees to queries left by farmers and the answers would be through recorded messages that can be received after 24 hours of placing the question. Peter Armstrong, director OneWorld International Foundation, said: 8220;By bringing information-based technology, Lifelines is empowering people by bringing a new dimension to information exchange.8221;
BT would provide executive leadership, funds, commercial and technical expertise, while Cisco8217;s contribution would be staff, equipment and donations for the project.