Rural India gets future-ready with these apps

India celebrates National Technology Day every year on 11 May to commemorate the historic nuclear test carried out by India at Pokhran in 1998. In over two decades that have passed since, India has developed several new technologies, some of which have seamlessly integrated into our daily lives in the form of mobile applications. Here’s a list of five such applications which have facilitated day-to-day life, education and business for rural citizens through a range of modern technologies.

Read Along by Google

Released in 2019, Read Along is an Android application that helps young readers learn languages and speak them fluently. It has an easy-to-use user interface, featuring several stories and a character called Diya who helps the user to read through. The app employs text-to-speech technology and voice recognition to improve reading efficiency in children by providing feedback as they read along. According to reports by Google, several children from small towns and rural areas have benefitted by using the app which also helps to learn Indian languages like Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Urdu among others. 

Bharat Krushi Seva

With 4.8/5 reviews on the Google Play Store, Bharat Krushi Seva is a smart farming application developed by Pune-based IT professionals Sharayu Lande and Hemant Dhole Patil and their team. It integrates IOT into agriculture to offer solutions to several problems faced by farmers like unpredictable climate and low productivity. The application employs data analytics and remote sensing technology to provide a range of services like personalised crop consultancy, weather monitoring and alerting system, soil testing and more. The application has positively impacted several Maharashtra-based farmers. 

Meri Sadak 

A helpful app launched under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), the Meri Sadak app helps people across India to provide feedback and lodge complaints about the condition of roads in their localities by uploading a picture of it. It allows citizens to report the quality and pace of work related to a road constructed under the PMGSY or other non-PMGSY roads. Launched in 2015, the mobile app employs GPS technology to empower citizens by providing services like registering complaints, displaying progress on connectivity works near them and also displaying the contact details of concerned officials responsible for resolving a particular issue. 

MeraBills App

Developed for use by small and micro business owners, MeraBills is a free and easy-to-use Android application. It enables a business owner to record all their transactions and maintain track of their balance, payables, orders, inventory and more. It’s available to use in 10 Indian languages like Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada and Bengal to name a few. The app employs strong data encryption and cloud storage so that no financial information is lost even in case of one’s phone being damaged. MeraBills reports that through its application, it has helped several micro-entrepreneurs, especially women in rural and semi-rural areas. 

GraamHaat

GraamHaat enables agri-entrepreneurs,  especially rural women, to buy and sell livestock without involving middlemen. It comes in handy for cattle farmers with its simple user interface and a range of useful services. With a dedicated section for health-related queries, it helps cattle farmers connect with experts to seek treatment for their animals. It also provides an option to order good quality fodder at reasonable prices. The application developed by Manjari Foundation, is available on Google Play Store. 

The list doesn’t end here! Did you know, there are several applications developed to help with snake bites? SnakeHub, SARPA, Snakepedia are among several dedicated digital platforms designed to raise awareness and combat the terror of snakes that kills 64,000 Indians annually. 

The lead image depicts a user of futuristic apps in rural India. (Image courtesy Pexels)