A rural project in India that has made waves globally is the initiative taken by the Jaipur Dairy All-women Cooperative. The very fact that the project was showcased during the visit of US president Bill Clinton to the country, is proof enough of its relevance and credibility.

While the smart card-based system helps the cooperative’s members maintain authentic and accurate individual milk supply records, it also doubles up as a secure payment mode for them. In fact, there were times when spouses or other male relations of the members would collect dues on their behalf, leaving them with barely anything. Not anymore. The payments to these women are now directly loaded on their membership card that acts as an electronic passbook for them.

The card also comes handy as a transparent system of milk testing and pricing. These are determined by accurate volumetric measurement of milk supply, along with on-the-spot computation of fat content based on specific gravity. The testing is done through specially designed milkotesters that have smart card readers integrated into them. The smart card also enables the cooperative to establish correct ID of the milk producer, exact date of transaction, volume of milk, fat content (in %), and prevailing rates as well as the total value of the transaction. The system also enables automatic reconciliation of supplies with payments.

On the other hand, thanks to Unicef, a village-level drinking water management project was taken up in 1998 in four districts—Chittoor and Vizag in Andhra Pradesh, and Rajgarh and Raisinha in Madhya Pradesh. Under the project, smart cards have been provided for maintaining information on bore well and hand pump maintenance as well as on water quality and water levels of these utilities. The project has the potential of providing a sustainable village-level information system to ensure the well-being of about three million rural drinking water sources, which affect the lives and health of nearly 500 million people.

Other projects include smart cards for maintaining data on rural health centers including first referral units, primary health centers and health sub-centers. A project is also being formulated for providing smart cards to women and infants in selected districts as a health card that manages various services provided for reproductive and child health, child survival and safe motherhood as well as immunization.

The common thread among all these projects is usage at the grassroots level, which enables data to be captured electronically, using mobile field terminals, which can then be transmitted to computer networks at district and state headquarters. These projects invariably deal with areas of deep concern, such as the high infant and material mortality rates prevalent in many parts of the country.