'Bring down cellphone call charges to facilitate access to information'

They also called for ensuring access for the rural people to information and communication technology (ICT) in order to speed up poverty alleviation and development.

"The rural poor can have access to essential information more easily if the call charge of mobile phone is brought down," said Dr Ananya Raihan, executive director of D.Net, at a press conference on 'Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Information and Communication Technology' in the city.

The D.Net has won the Gender and ICT Award-2005 in the Asia-Pacific region for an ICT initiative, Mobile Telephone Help-Line Programme, for underprivileged rural women.

So far, it has set up four village-based Pallitathya Centres (rural livelihood information network) in Nilphamari, Bagerhat, Netrakona and Noakhali to facilitate access for the rural poor to various information and knowledge and to justice.

These centres, still at research level, aim to provide information services and income-generating ancillary services to rural people who do not have access to information technology.

Information intermediaries at the Pallitathya Help Line Centres respond with information to queries from the villagers on various issues, including livelihood, agriculture, health, education and entrepreneurship.

The rural people can seek information from the centres paying Tk 2 for verbal answer, Tk 5 for a web page printout and Tk 5 for an answer over mobile telephone per minute.

If the information workers fail to answer a question readily, they consult experts over phone and convey the answer to the questioner.

The centres also engage Mobile Phone Ladies who roam around the village and address the problems of women by communicating expert instructions to them through cellphones.

The D.Net has so far launched 11 Bangla web portals, including 'Abolombon', 'Born', 'Gunjan' and 'Bobin, which provide information about legal and human rights issues, eminent personalities, entrepreneurship and research materials on Bangladesh.

It aims to set up Pallitathya centres in 90,000 villages, creating job opportunities for four to five lakh information workers, said Raihan, adding that the installation cost of a centre with computer and internet connection ranges between Tk 1 to 1.5 lakh.

D.Net Programme Director Mahmud Hasan, Ferdousi Akhter and Tapan Bagchi were also present at the press conference.