Technology used by extremists in remote hideouts to maintain contact with others of their group far away, and by the military to communicate to their HQs from tough, difficult terrain, will now play a role in shaping rural India. Over 14,000 inaccessible villages in remote areas of the country will be linked by the end of 2007 through satellite-phones. According to sources in the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, the government has earmarked Rs 105.72 crore to be spent in the next two years for providing satellite-based public telephones to 14,183 villages. The selected villages, which have more than 100 people, are situated in areas yet to have any road and are therefore inaccessible. Secretary, Department of Telecom, Dr J Sridhar Sarma said, ‘‘These villages, which had been in isolation and cut off from the rest of country are being linked using Digital Satellite Phone terminals. The terrain to these villages are tough to negotiate. They cannot be reached using cables or covered by any terrestrial technology, including wireless-in-local loop (WLL).’’ The technology would also cover places where physical connectivity like roads is not commercially viable. ‘‘Sat-phones will be installed in all the 14,183 villages by November 2007,’’ Sarma said. ‘‘They will empower these villages and pave the way for development, both social and economic,’’ said Sarma. In the North-East 1,867 such villages have been identified. In Orissa about 4,899 villages have been selected for the plan. About 1,700 remote villages will be connected in Jharkhand, while about 3,500 sat-phones will be installed in rural areas of Uttaranchal, ministry sources said.
