Indian Space Programme has always placed focus on societal issues and attached priority to rural India, which deserves better technological interventions; more efficient outreach to the community centric services; and leveraging the efforts of intermediary agencies by empowering them with state-of-the-art delivery mechanisms. In this pursuit, India has recently embarked upon a highly innovative programme for disseminating the portfolio of services emanating from the space systems, as well as other Information Technology (IT) tools, directly down-the-line to the rural communities, through a 'single window', - the Village Resource Centres (VRCs). The VRCs, at their minimal, are characterized by: (i) digital connectivity for videoconferencing and information transfer, linking them with knowledge centers and specialty hospitals, enabled through the INSAT satellite; (ii) repository of spatial information on natural resources generated using the IRS data; (iii) host of information pertaining to management of natural resources and socio-economic relevance; and (iv) limited facilities for primary healthcare services and distance learning. With the participation of stakeholders, the VRCs are also catalyzing rural entrepreneurship, and facilitating e-Governance and other services of social relevance. The VRCs, essentially being a 'Community Resource', are being implemented in partnership with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working at the grassroots. The portfolio of services delivered by the VRCs include: tele-education - focusing on vocational training in support of alternate livelihood, supplementary teaching to rural children, non-formal and adult education; tele-healthcare - focusing on preventive and curative healthcare at primary level; information on land and water resources derived from high-resolution IRS images - for better management of the land resources; interactive advisories to villagers - wherein experts at knowledge centers discuss with them on cropping systems, optimization of agricultural inputs (seeds, water, fertilizer, insecticides, pesticides, etc.), producer-oriented marketing opportunities, crop insurance, etc; tele-fishery - providing satellite derived information and advisories on Potential Fishing Zones (PFZ) in those VRCs located in coastal tracts; e-Governance -information and guidance to local people on village-oriented governmental schemes on agriculture, poverty alleviation, rural employment, social safety nets and other basic entitlements, animal husbandry and livestock related, micro-finance related, etc; and local weather and agro-meteorology advisory. Over 200 VRCs set up across different regions of the country are already benefiting over a million people on a day-to-day basis. The VRCs are also being populated across all the rural/ semi-urban tracts in India. The VRCs are found to be a unique means of integrating the Satellite Communication and Earth Observation technologies in reaching out to the grassroots in a timely and cost effective manner. Further, the leanings from this effort would also be useful in refining the space systems themselves and development of newer applications for the benefit of the society. The paper while highlighting the programmatic focus of VRCs also places emphasis on sustainability of such efforts in the long run, their ownerships from intermediary to stakeholders themselves and their increasing roles in globalized world for the access and outreach to community needs and aspirations.
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