The SARI (Sustainable Access in Rural India)
Project is dedicated to demonstrating that the creation,
deployment, and delivery
of information and communication services and technologies
in poor rural areas leads to improvements in health,
empowerment, learning, and economic development amongst
the poorest and most disadvantaged communities - and that such services
can be realized in an economically sustainable fashion.
SARI focuses on:
- Inventing and deploying innovative and context-appropriate technologies, applications,
and highly localized content that lead to economic and
social development;
- Conducting social and economic impact assessment research
of these technologies;
- Testing and generating business models that lead to
profit generation and allow the services and technologies
to be self sustaining;
- Benefifiting from the Network Effect that comes from
connecting up a large number of communities and users,
aggregating demand and integrating markets.
The initial pilot phase will provide internet access
and applications through roughly 1000 connections in 350
villages in the Madurai District of the southeastern Indian
State of Tamil Nadu.
SARI is a project of IIT-Madras; MIT Media
Lab; Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University Law School; and
the I-Gyan Foundation. It is carried out jointly with n-Logue Communicaitons Pvt. Ltd.
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