Telecentres in Rural India: Emergence and a Typology

The term telecentre is a generic one for all kinds of arrangements – Rural Knowledge Centre, Information Kiosks, Village Knowledge Centres, etc – that seek to provide shared and mediated access to information and services by using new technologies especially computers and Internet. The paper traces the emergence of telecentres as developmental intervention in rural India and puts forth a typology of telecentres in rural India. The typology categorises the existing telecentre initiatives into groups thus making an attempt to delineate their main characteristics, strengths and shortcomings. The typology would serve as a starting point for further in‐depth studies to answer questions with regards to models and related issues like ownership, sustainability, and socio‐economic impact.