The Rural Resource Informatics Centre (RRIC) was established under the Tenth Plan period as a knowledge hub for providing integrated information and knowledge services to Rural Institutes. RRIC provides systematic, scientific information services support and solutions with area specificity and, resources to Rural Institutes for the promotion of integrated higher education in rural areas. RRIC’s vision is to equip Rural Institutes with information services and solutions to transform them into knowledge centres. RRIC is conceived as a knowledge platform capable of providing systematic and scientific decision support in the promotion of rural higher education and help the rural institutes to play an active role in the grassroots level development.

Rural Institutions engaged extensively in rural education and development require information services to access a wider world of knowledge with the latest information, to enable them to use that knowledge for different applications. The information thus obtained has to be directly related to the grass-roots situation, symptomatic and should be solution-oriented. The broad spectrum of operations and the complexity of issues connected with the rural milieu necessitate linkages with a wider environment and multiplicity of sources. The more the number of such organisations access RRIC for the requisite information, the greater will be the scope for enhancing the effectiveness of programme implementation.

However, RRIC remains as a concept till date and to operationalise this, a project has been commissioned by NCRI for the preparation of a detailed project report for the design, development and implementation of the RRIC and the project was awarded to Wipro Limited. As part of this study, a number of consultative workshops and brain-storming sessions were conducted to gather inputs and suggestions from various stake-holders like Rural Institutes (RI), Universities, development practitioners, government bodies, etc. A detailed questionnaire was also administered to RIs across the country to assess their information needs and to design suitable value-added information services to be provided through the RRIC.

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Vision
To equip Rural Institutes with systematic, scientific and value-added information services and solutions to transform them as knowledge centres for the promotion of integrated rural higher education in rural areas.

Objectives

• To act as a Decision Support System to rural institutes by providing them with systematic and scientific information to enable them facilitate development of integrated rural higher education
• To identify the information gaps and strengthen institutions to optimise their delivery systems.
• To develop databases of rural people and their needs

Focus
Today the RIs are working in the fields of education, health, natural resource management, appropriate technologies, livelihoods, agriculture, institution building, community mobilisation and awareness etc. They are also providing a number of services to the community, complimenting various government programmes. The figure below shows the focus of the RRIC service delivery design.

Based on the figure above, the focus of the information and knowledge services of RRIC will be based on the thematic areas / sectoral focus identified and a set of information support services will be designed to be accessed by RIs. The assumption is that the information support services when delivered with precision will have a direct impact on the service delivery potential of the Rural Institutes. Finally, the solution portfolio discusses the methods through which these information services will be delivered to the RIs.
The Detailed Project Report (DPR) being prepared for the design, development and implementation of RRIC is based on the inputs and suggestions received from experts, development practitioners as well as the rural institutes through regional consultations from across the country.
Functional areas of support

• Training: Leadership, promotion of livelihoods, and vocational and entrepreneurship skills.
• Education: Curriculum development; design of need-based market-driven vocational / skill development courses.
• Information: Providing information on livelihoods, training and vocational programmes, government schemes, etc.; maintenance of community databases on socio-economic indicators, local and natural resource endowments, maps, etc.
• Technology: Identification and propagation of indigenous/local technologies; technology transfer, improvement of rural products through intermediate technologies etc.
• Processes: Technological aids for decision-making, monitoring and evaluation.

Services
The services required to be undertaken include:

• Advisory / Consultancy services
• Guidance & Referral services
• Need-based information services related to skill development, vocational training, employment, entrepreneurship, marketing of rural products, etc.
• Value-added services like identification of user groups, innovators and entrepreneurs in various functional areas
• Conducting need-based training programmes for stake-holders

Expected Outcome

• Knowledge connectivity to rural areas
• Assistance in curriculum design for rural higher education / skill development / technology          improvement
• Dissemination of need-based information & services to the under-served, un-served and Un-reached areas
• Creating a platform for training of trainers
• Cadres with better skill-orientation
• Impact assessment
• Identification of viable revenue models for sustenance of projects
• Improved decision-making ability
• Link with other knowledge management institutions like Universities, Research organisations, etc.

Sources of Information

Stake-holders
Stake-holders of RRIC primarily include existing and potential Rural Institutes, Nai Talim institutions, other Gandhian institutions such as Ashrams, and Gandhian centres of various academic institutions, non-governmental and voluntary organisations working towards empowering rural people in tune with NCRI objectives. RRIC aims at promoting their extension services, and action-research of relevance to the emerging challenges of rural society; economic and industrial activity on the one hand and promotion of new knowledge, expertise, technologies, inventions and R&D efforts of the industry on the other.

Contact
Project Officer
Landline : 040-23422108
E-mail :porric@ncri.in

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