Mobile phone in 21st century: Empowering the Indian Farmers

According to the Indian Census of 2011, 69 percent of the total Indian population lives in rural areas. People in these areas face several developmental challenges, such as low literacy, poor healthcare facilities, low per capita income, a high degree of poverty and poor infrastructure. In recent years, the mobile phone has emerged as an important development tool. It is seen as a device that has the potential to break the rural-urban developmental gap by delivering information on a variety of economic and social issues. Mobile phones can facilitate need-based and user-centric information and services at an affordable cost to India's rural population, which was hitherto unreachable. Mobile phones seem to influence the commercialization of farm products, as a result of easy accessibility of both market and agricultural information by farmers. This book will help us understand mobile phone usage patterns, their socio-economic impact and the challenges faced in rural areas. It will also help policymakers, mobile phone operators, researchers and technology transfer specialists frame developmental strategies in the future.