20 Technology

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2011, DELHI

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mint

MANTHAN AWARDS

Digital innovations for the larger good

RAMESH PATHANIA/MINT

geetika.r@livemint.com

B Y G EETIKA R USTAGI

W
NEW DELHI

inners of the Manthan Award, South Asia, which seeks to encourage start-ups using information and communication technology (ICT) for social development, were announced on Friday. This year, the competition received 510 nominations from India and neighbours such as Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Of these, 110 projects were selected to compete in categories such as governance, health, education and learning, inclusion, infrastructure, travel and tourism, environment, community broadcasting, entertainment, agriculture and livelihood, localization, news and media, science and business and enterprise. Mint is the strategic partner of the award. Successful projects ranged from television stations educating students in war zones to websites aiding rural entrepreneurs gain access to funds, applications that help farmers get crucial and timely information to initiatives that encourage men to end domestic violence. Some of the prominent winners were:

Beyond classrooms: Members of the team that built Pashto TV, a free-to-air educational channel in Afghanistan that won the award in the e-news and media category at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.

Category: einclusion

Product: Rang De Promoter: Ram N.K., RangeDe.Org, Bangalore

Rang De is a web-based microcredit platform that helps rural entrepreneurs from low income households gain access to funds. Investors are typically individuals or companies that put up a minimum of `100 to start with. Register on RangDe.org and choose borrowers to invest money, which is disbursed via field partners. We realized that there is a fantastic repayment rate and on the other hand a low interest rate in the microcredit field. We had to bridge the gap and hence, came Rang De,

says Ram N.K., founder and chief executive officer. Any social investment is a non-secured loan and repayment time is generally one to two years. The process is transparent as investors can go online and track investments and borrowers. It is not a charity; the investor will get returns on his investment at 2% flat per annum if the loan is not defaulted. Either you can choose the option of auto invest or confirm a withdrawal, N.K. says. The organization has disbursed `6 crore to 11,000 borrowers invested by 3,100 indi-

viduals and 20 companies. Available in 13 states, the organization has seen fewer than 1% withdrawals.

Product: Pashto TV Promoter: Liwal Ltd, Kabul, Afghanistan Category: enews & media

Pashto TV of war-torn Afghanistan broadcasts study material based on the formal curriculum of Kabul schools. The free-to-air channel is available on satellite television and local cable networks. Students who cant access video broadcasts can just listen to the audio learning series or ac-

cess it on the Internet. With the current condition of Kabul, proper schooling is very difficult and uncertain. So we thought lets bring the school to kids. Hence we started our own free-to-air channel called Pashto TV, says N.R Liwal, president, Liwal Ltd, which runs the channel. Children can watch a 15minute lesson every day broadcast morning and evening for three days. Students are given special books to follow while watching the video. They can take exams at the various test centres spread across the city and move ahead in the curriculum. The medium of instruction is Pashto. It eliminates the need of a real teacher, Liwal says. You can complete a whole standard in less than `1,000 and (there is) also no need of going to a school. Initial investment is about `20,000 and the per capita cost for teaching kids drastically comes down. The project went live in 2010 after six years of research. The company is now working on lessons in Arabic, and plans to provide material in English, Hindi, Urdu and Farsi too. It is also looking for collaborations with schools and community radio stations in India and other countries.

Product: Pirulu Promoter: Sri Nimal Padmakumara, Jayasri Radio, Sri Lanka

Proverbs are an important part of any dialect, reflecting the cultural mores of a society. But Sri Ninal Padmakumara, who has 30 years of experience in journalism and television and radio anchoring, says many proverbs are dying as the younger generation does not know how to use them. He has come up with a unique method of preserving Sinhalese proverbs in the form of audio stories available on the Internet. I felt that as people move to urban areas, the usage of these proverbs and idioms is disappearing slowly and the younger generation doesnt think it is relevant. So, I thought to put them together in the form of small audio stories and use the web to spread the word, Padmakumara says. He has already digitized 1,000 proverbs in this way. I went to villages; spoke to elderly people; visited libraries and academicians, asked about the origins of the proverbs and validate them with written records and books, Padmakumara adds. The website has been created to familiarize children with the tales. According to Padmakumara, its the only one of its kind for Sinhalese proverbs. He is still researching and recording more proverbs to add to his vast collection.
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Category: eculture & heritage