Preamble
The 'Sankalp Livelihood Center' (SLC) will primarily address the socio-economic needs of a rural community that is based on agriculture, but one which will inevitably need to be information savvy in order to become globally competitive. The goals of SLC are to:
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Develop and disseminate appropriate technologies for (a) information systems, (b)integrated energy management and (c) shelter products;
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Improve and refine the existing designs and develop new machines for agricultural needs;
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Upgrade and adopt foreign designs to suit local requirements;
§ Develop educational products and services that will meet the above needs.
In addition to the main 'Sankalp Livelihood Center', each outlying village will ultimately have their own IT-enabled 'Community Center', which is modeled below:
Click on image to enlarge
As the SLC programs are established, primary education programs for children - based on computer-based training (CBT) and computer mediated com-munications (CMC) systems - will be gradually introduced.
Education & Training Center
Why do we need an Education & Training Center?
Our scientists and engineers have developed a wide variety of techniques & agricultural equipment operated by human, animal and mechanical power for the modernization of small and large farms. However, these will remain on the drawing boards and at best replicated in model farms, unless the rural people are empowered through training and education to use these techniques and technologies effectively - in order to solve their problems, mitigate their sufferings and break the crippling barriers of caste, creed and religion.
Training and skills development in employment opportunities shall be linked with the 'Building Center', 'Renewable Energy Center' and the 'Information Technology Center'.
New applications and highly localized content will be collaboratively developed. Internet ready telekiosks will provide villagers with applications and services in local languages (such as Bengali and Hindi) that are geared towards entertainment, health, education, and economic development.
Livelihoods Projects
We provide a platform for rural entrepreneurs and anybody else to develop their ideas and translate
their projects into reality. At present, we have developed linkages with external bodies in the following areas:
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VSBK: Partner Development Alternatives in the
dissemination of VSBK technology
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Pot-in-Pot Project: Disseminate our proprietary
‘Pot-in-pot’ pottery project for rural refrigeration technologies, that do not
consume electricity or conventional fuels for refrigeration of food products
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MCR Tiles: Partner Development Alternatives in
the dissemination of MCR technology
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Solar Energy: Partner TATA BP Solar for the
dissemination of a wide range of Solar Photovoltaics and solar thermal products
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Handmade Paper Products: Disseminate our
proprietary handmade paper products manufacturing technology
Primary education for children
Each Community Center, under the leadership provided by SLC, will spearhead the programs to introduce computer-mediated and computer-based primary education programs in our targeted areas.
Eventually, these primary education programs shall be linked with the hub at SLC through Internet connectivity.
As in the 'Pilot Phase' of the SARI Project (initiated by Dr Ashok Jhunjhunwalla of IIT Chennai, in collaboration with Harvard University), we will initially provide Internet and voice services to the surrounding areas.
Sankalp Livelihoods Center
