NEW YORK: A unique new web portal called OurVillageIndia.Org, a knowledge repository for rural India is being developed by a dedicated team of Indians in India and Indian Americans.

The portal aims to serve as a platform where all who are interested in the development and well-being of India’s villages — the villagers themselves as well as people in India and abroad, NGOs and the corporates — can share information on all the 600,000 plus villages of India, by reposting and retrieving information.

It’s a place where PIOs, NRIs and RIs (resident Indians) can find their roots, learn what is going on and adopt villages/districts for rural development. It’s also a place where one can find subject matter experts on water, education, agriculture, livelihood, training, health, energy, ecology, sanitation and waste management.

The portal will also serve to find role model villages and districts; new technologies and methods (solar energy, vermicompost, etc.); NGOs, which are doing work in villages; success stories; and information on how to replicate sustainable development in villages.Fundamentally, OurVillageIndia.

Org’s mission is to help accelerate sustainable development in rural India by building up a network of social entrepreneurs, donors, volunteers, role models among individuals, NGOs, projects and village folks. The portal has 2001 census data on all the villages (plus cities and towns) in India. “All of us, I am sure, wish to see rural India well developed by 2020,” says Ram Narayanan of US-India Friendship, who is involved with the project.

“A total transformation to take place, in a sustainable manner, requires addressing the needs at the bottom of the pyramid. This calls for effort by many to pool resources: money, people and knowledge. OurVillageIndia.orgis a platform to facilitate this transformation.”

The site will have four main entities: Villages, NGOs, People and Projects. It will list all the villages in India in an easy to use format. “Once you locate a village of special interest, you will be able to read information on the following: census data, geographic location, infrastructure, local government, history, prominent people, interested volunteers, changemakers and NGOs. Also, you will learn about past and current projects,” explains Narayanan. “You will be able, if you wish, to associate yourself with that village as a volunteer or as a friend.

If you are interested in publishing more information about that village, you will be able to request publishing rights for that village. If you are interested in a particular project, you will be able to send a request to the project owner to be included.”

Any NGO starting a project in a village can provide details about the project and solicit help from other people and other NGOs associated with that village. Each project will showcase its goals, timelines, status, estimated budget, current funds and expenses incurred. When a project is completed, the project-initiator will be able to report on its impact and the lessons to be learned for the future.

With the site still being developed, the organizers of the portal are looking for dedicated IT qualified volunteers, who are willing to commit time on the project. The task of the IT volunteers is to develop tools to help other volunteers at the village level to prepare and upload content to the OurVillageIndia.Org site.