In a bid to adequately compensate rural women who roll raw agarbattis (unperfumed) and also to maintain their supply and quality for its vendors, ITC is spearheading a Web-enabled project titled ‘Mangaldeep- ASHA (Assistance in Social Habilitation through Agarbattis).’

The other members of the project are IL&FS’ Education Wing for IT Education under the CSC (Common Services Centres) Scheme in rural areas and Chennai-based n-Logue Communications Pvt Ltd. The Agarbatti SBU of ITC, along with IL&FS and n-Logue, has signed an MoU for implementing Mangaldeep-ASHA project in Mayiladuthurai district of Tamil Nadu, where manufacture of agarbattis has for long been a traditional cottage industry nurturing the rural population in a big way.

CREATING JOBS
The project envisions jobs to 200 rural women in the area (number will increase, according to ITC of?cials, once the project is scaled up) and also provide a sustainable source of income to around 15 IT kiosks at village locations. These kiosks are part of the Government of India’s new initiative through a PPP (Public- Private Partnership) model to extend the reach of digital services and create economic opportunities in rural and remote areas of the country.

Talking to Business Line, Mr M.V. Rajsekharan, CEO of ITC’s Agarbatti SBU, said all three partners in the project have their respective roles cutout and responsibilities to be discharged, with the “overall objective of creating a socio-economic impact in the space of sustainable employment creation, health, e-Governance, education etc.” He said while ITC will be providing the training inputs and start-up costs, besides giving a buyback guarantee for raw battis produced up to a certain quantity, IL&FS will provide the MIS support and facilitate ?eld operations. The operations of the model will be managed by n-Logue. IL&FS is the national level service agency to oversee the implementation of e–enabled information centers across the country.

Mr Dinesh Tyagi, CEO of Common Services Centres (CSC), IL&FS, said the ITC tieup project, now on a pilot basis, should enthuse many more corporates to come forward and outsource products from rural India while spreading the digital revolution in rural India. Asked if there would be a ramp-up of the project scale, he said it would depend on how ITC would take the call. “We are in dialogue with other corporates like Bosch for similar tie-ups which generate income for the rural folks while spreading the Internet message.”

Mr Rajsekharan said n- Logue, incubated by a group of technocrats of IIT Chennai, has a network of nearly 1,200 active Internet kiosks across six States, with some 450 active kiosks in rural Tamil Nadu alone. He said the revenue model was dependent on renewal fees paid by the kiosks run by enterprising rural youth.