The government initially spent up to $1 million to create awareness among entrepreneurs and interested parties. Malappuram received an investment of $15,000, apart from the support of local bodies towards training operators. Further, the Kerala IT Mission has invested up to $1.2 million for software development. Each e-kendra employs up to 4 people, creating about 2,400 jobs. The project promises to attract more entrepreneurs.

The state government has taken active interest to create awareness, says Sadath. "We state the specifications of courseware and arrange IT melas. These are attended by software and hardware vendors; interested parties discuss the details and entrepreneurs buy what they need," he adds.

Computer literacy courses are subsidized by the government, which pays e-kendras $2 per citizen after the training. Apart from this, the trainee pays a fee of $1 to the e-kendra. "For scheduled and backward castes and tribes, the government undertakes the entire fee," says Sadath. The remaining infrastructure costs are borne by entrepreneurs. The course modules are provided by the Kerala IT Mission, which also oversees software development.

From the revenue generated, 10 cents per BSNL bill goes to the state government, which is passed on to the entrepreneur. For other utilities too, customers pay a service fee of 10 cents. "The transactions are very transparent. All payments are routed through our banking partner. The entrepreneur has fixed and overdraft accounts there. So, as soon as a payment is made, the amount is credited to the respective account," he adds.

The e-Knowledge Curve

Things appear organized today on the Akshaya front. But a politically-sensitive state like Kerala has the tendency to generate opposition against such ambitious e-government projects. Sadath agrees, "The challenges had more to do with changes in attitude. Initially, we faced a lot of opposition because the state is still fighting to provide clean drinking water and other basic amenities. So, there was a feeling that spending on computer education isn't justified." Public reluctance to attend the literacy program became a challenge. "Their question was: why should we learn computers?" he recalls.

The Akshaya team began to tackle these apprehensions after a series of meetings with stakeholders. Sadath attributes the success in convincing the public to the local bodies. "Governments at the local level took up the cause. Their members started campaigning, and we were able to carry out target-specific implementations," he explains. For instance, the IT Mission team made customized ICT programs for fishermen and farmers. Another barrier to change was language, for which the State IT Mission developed multimedia course formats in Malayalam.

In 2004, an Internet connection was something to dream about as there were 200,000 people on the waiting list for a BSNL landline connection. "So, we installed a robust IT infrastructure in Malappuram, The government spent $700,000, and it's now among the world's largest rural broadband networks," says Sadath. Without that, Akshaya may not have been so well-accepted today.