O&M initiates plan for rural connectivity

In a path-breaking bid to interconnect the remote areas of the country, leading communications agency Ogilvy and Mather has devised a unique rural connectivity plan. The initiative titled ‘Param’ is focused on communications and providing connections among people at large and uses multiple technologies, some off the shelf and others developed in-house, to reach remote rural areas where otherwise no land line phones or media-based communication is reaching, O&M’s Pankaj Baveja said here. He said the technology developed over the last few years, combines in itself the strengths of technology, software and communications and seeks to connect the remote villages on an electronic platform.

Baveja, who is heading the initiative at O&M, said a pilot project called Beta-I has been undertaken in two remote villages of Basti district in East Uttar Pradesh. He said the initiative was path-breaking because it was being implemented in a deep rural pocket, in villages that were 10-13 km inside the hinterland, away from the highway.

The design of its interfaces was simple and innovative, using audio and video components, connecting the villagers, overcoming barriers of literacy and language, he added.