The true empowerment process of rural India
cannot jump the ladder of Information and communication.
What Open Forum is doing would help create a
platform for the economic and intellectual growth
of the Indian villages. Various ICT initiatives
aimed at improving access of information communication
to the grassroots communities are more inclined
towards pushing external information. But the
fact is not all the external information provided
through such initiatives is much of use to them.
They are more tuned to their own information
and knowledge, which is local and is more relevant
to their needs. It is not just the global knowledge
but also a balance of global and local information
that helps in improving quality of life at the
grassroots.
“Having
been imbibed with social commitments from
the childhood, I have always cherished
the memories of rural India where I was
brought up. The sense of commitment extended
beyond the memories and translated into
an action plan. Trained in the field of
mass Communications and Information Technology,
I had set for my self a target of using
IT as an enabler for the delivery of Information
& Knowledge to the rural Indians.
I have always felt that rural India is
more deprived of Information than Prosperity.
The true empowerment process of rural
India cannot jump the ladder of Information
and communication."
Mr.
Vishwendra N. Thakur
Sr. Journalist & President,
Governing Board, Open Forum |
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To harness the power of ICT in the knowledge,
skill, economic and social empowerment of rural
communities, based on the principle of reaching
the unreached and voicing the voiceless, Open
Forum believes in Multi-Stakeholder Partnership
and look forward to working closely with its
partners. To build and streamline the content
coordination mechanism, Open Forum is dependent
on its valuable partners to help strengthen
the mechanism, so that the commitment to work
towards common cause of connecting communities
and empowering people could be achieved.
Antatah will share its expertise in understanding
various dimensions of building this partnership,
which would result in strengthening the content
coordination mechanism. Antatah will make Grassroots
Communities understand the importance of ICTs
in harnessing the local knowledge and building
a relationship to conceptualize the global knowledge
for community needs.”
Vishwendra N. Thakur
President, Governing Board
E-mail: vnthakur@openforum.in
