 | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  | | BUZZ SESSION: Shivakumar conferencing with people from Sathanur | | When Ramakka Irulupodu, 55, a farmer from Sathanur village, 95 km west of Bangalore, wanted to meet her local legislator, all she had to do was walk into the local office of her legislator Doddahallahalli Kempegowda Shivakumar. Every morning, Shivakumar's office staff switch on the cameras for a face-to-face videoconference with Shivakumar. Sitting in his home office in Sadashivanagar, Bangalore, Shivakumar spoke to Ramakka in Kannada: "Enu samachara?" And the lady asked him about electrification in her village. Immediately poring into his notes, he promised to follow up on the Rs 977-crore Rajiv Gandhi Grameena Vidyuthikaran Yojana (rural electrification scheme) in the state. For Shivakumar, who spent nearly Rs 10 lakh from his own pocket to buy video cameras, plasma screens and other videoconferencing kits, the effort has clearly paid off, with 75-100 people coming up to his Sathanur videoconferencing centre every day, to enquire about issues like electrification and labour migration. Forty-three-year old Shivakumar's experiment in videoconferencing is the first of its kind by an Indian legislator. For the four-time legislator who was also urban development minister, inspiration for bridging the digital divide with technology came from similar facilities used by legislators in the US. "Technology is not just for the sultans of Silicon Valley, it is very much for us to use for the hoi polloi and the rural impoverished," says Shivakumar, who is reading Amartya Sen these days. For him, it is no different from what IBM chief Sam Palmisano did during his India visit-he videoconferenced with Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran in Chennai while he was in Delhi. The cost-effectiveness of this programme is not to be missed either: Shivakumar says he will be able to recover his capital investment within a year. He says, "My people cannot afford to spend Rs 90-100 daily to come to Bangalore." Even at a conservative estimate of a daily saving of Rs 5,000 for 50 people, his constituency can save Rs 18 lakh a year. He wants this example to be replicated by all legislators so they can "serve more people, save ample time and solve a bigger chunk of problems". "I hail from a village-whose name I bear-and my father is named after the founder of Bangalore, so I guess I am able to understand both sides of the social spectrum," says the laptop-toting Shivakumar, who demonstrates a harmonious blend of rural outlook, which he has grown up with, and technology, which he believes has catapulted India into the world's top tech club. Index
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