GUIDED BY

CHAITANYA K. ROY SIR

 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Ma. Mahafuj
Dudhaknoj, Ma. Pranay Bagade, Ma.
Vansh Pashine, Ma. Utpanna Yelane and
Ma. Prajwal Thakare students of class
10th ‘A’, JNV Gondia have successfully
completed ‘Art Integrated Project’ on
‘Information and Communications
Technology’ under the guidance of Mr.
Chaitanya Kumar Roy Sir

___________ ___________________
Signature External Invigilator
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our, special thanks of gratitude to our teacher C. K. Roy as
well as Principal Sir who gave us the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project
o the topic ‘Information and Communications Technology’.
We would also like to thanks aren’t who helped as a lot in finishing this project
within prescribed time.
We aren’t making this project for Computer Science only, but also to increase
our knowledge and skills.
We would like to thanks once again to all who helped us directly and indirectly.
- Ma. Mahafuj Dudhaknoj
Ma. Pranay Bagade
Ma. Vansh Pashine
Ma. Utpanna Yelane
Ma. Prajwal Thakare
TOPIC :
INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATIONS
TECHNOLOGY
 INTRODUCTION
A concept map on the Use of
Information and Communications
Technology in Education Assessment
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
TECHNOLOGY (ICT) is an extensional term
for Information Technology (IT) that
stresses the role of unified
communications and the integration of
telecommunications and computers, as
well as necessary enterprise software,
middleware, storage and audiovisual, that
enable users to access, store, transmit and
manipulate information.
 The term ICT is also used to refer to the convergence of
audiovisual and telephone networks with computer networks
through a single cabling or link system. There are large economic
incentives to merge the telephone network with the computer
network system using a single unified system of cabling, signal
distribution and management. ICT is an umbrella term that
includes any communication device, cell phones, television,
computers and network hardware, satellite system, encompassing
radio and so on, as well as the various services and appliances
with them such as video conferencing and distance learning.
ICT is a Board subject and the concepts are evolving. It covers
any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit, or
receive information electronically in a digital form.
 Importance of Information and
Communications Technology In
Our Daily Life
Information and Communications Technology has an important role
in world since we are now in the information age era. With ICT, the
company can make the business easier to happen with the client,
supplier and distributor. It is also very important in our daily lives. The
lack of appropriate information at the right time will result in low
productivity, low-quantity research works and waste of time to
pursue information and even to do research which others had done
or in other countries. Nowadays ICT cannot be separated from our
daily life.
 ICT has a great impact on our daily lives. For example, we
can read our local newspaper using the online newspaper.
Another example is we still can get connected with our family,
relatives or colleges even if we are abroad by using electronic
mail, yahoo messenger, call conference or video conference.
Digital computer and networking have changed our
economy concept to an economy with no boundary in the
time and space because of ICT. It brings a lot of advantages for
economic development enabling millions of transactions to
happen in an easy and fast way.
ICT has become an integral part of everyday life for many
people. It increases its importance in people’s lives and it is
expected that this trend will continue, to the extent that ICT
Literacy will become a functional requirement for people’s
work, social and personal lives.
Agriculture occupies the central pace in rural life and it is well known
that rural life revolves around agriculture will usually trigger the rural
development. In India several extension approaches like farmer friend
approach, group approach, mass media approach, farming system
approach, market led extension approach, participatory approach etc.
have been adopted for agriculture development. Sustainability and
productivity of the agricultural sector largely depends on the quality
and effectiveness of extension services. For many years, farmers have
been accessing agricultural information from extension workers
through interpersonal communication. However, the number of
extension workers has been decreasing while farming families have
been increasing. Therefore, it is not possible for extension personnel
to reach out each and every farmer’s doorstep because in reality there
is only one extension worker available for 2879 farmers in India.
Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) are seen as a partial
solution to rapidly disseminating information to the increasing number of
farming families. ICTs have the potential to enable farmers to receive up-
to-date knowledge and information about agricultural technologies, best
practices, markets, price trends, consumer preferences, weather, and soil
moisture conditions. ICTs based information is crucial for the adoption of
different technologies related to different crops for improving yield and
income of small holder farmers. The change in society largely depends
upon change in accessibility and usability of different ICT tools. There are
different ICT tools like radio, TV, mobile phone, Internet, CD player etc.
which are used for disseminating information to farmers within less time.
Farmers also reported that mobile phones proved to be useful during
health emergencies; information services on availability of inputs, quality
of inputs, and pest and disease management of crops were also used by
the farmers through ICTs.
But harnessing advantages of ICT calls for a separate set of knowledge, skill,
ability and higher (if possible fullest) extent of use by the farming
communities. This is more pertinent in case of developing country like India.
How far Indian farming community, especially small and marginal farmers,
which together constitute the major portion of Indian farming community,
are ready to harness the advantages of ICTs, is a big question. There are
physical, economic, logistic, perceptual as well as behavioral problem, having
regional and socio-economic biases. It requires readiness of farmers to use
ICTs. Resultantly, it is observed that all the Indian farmers are not prepared
to access optimum usage of ICT tools for acquiring and utilising knowledge
related to agricultural activities. ICTs, as it is seen in many countries
including India, have the potentiality to change the face of agriculture, in
terms of production and productivity and farmers’ wellbeing. Moreover, how
far the ICTs itself and the information communicated by it is useful, proper
and appropriate- again is a question.
Answer of these questions would definitely provide a basis for policy
makers and planners to dovetail the extension communication
through ICTs for improvement in farming sectors. In this context the
present study has been with the following specific objectives:

(a)To study the socio-economic orientation of the farmers,

(b) To study the extent of knowledge of farmers about different ICTs
and service providers,
(c) To study the nature and extent of use of different ICTs by the
farmers,
(d) To study the farmers’ perception about appropriateness,
usefulness and constraints of different ICTs, and
(e) To ascertain the association between different socio-economic
variables with the extent of use of different ICTs.
METHODOLOGY
The research study was conducted in two blocks, namely,
Balianta and Balipatna of Khurda district of Odisha. From each block
one Gram Panchayat i.e., Puranapradhan from Balianta and Nariso from
Balipatna block were selected for the study. Again, from each Gram
Panchayat three villages i.e., Erakanta, Puranasasan, Puranpradhan
from Puranapradhan GP and Khajuriapada, Nariso, Srirampur from
Nariso GP were selected at random for the study. Twenty farmers from
each village totaling to 120 farmers were selected for the study. Criteria
for selecting respondents were that the respondents must be actively
involved in agriculture and using at least one ICT tools for receiving
agricultural information. Otherwise respondents won’t be able to
answer many aspects of the present research work. The assumptions
were, if they are actively engaged in agriculture, they may need to take
the advantages of ICTS; and if they are not using any ICTs, they
won’t be able to mention their level of knowledge, skill and
perception about different ICTs. The data was collected by a pre-
tested structured interview schedule through personal interview
method.

Socio-economic orientation of the respondents was measured

through different variables like, age, education, family education,
family type, social participation, Cosmo politeness and extension
contact, land holding, ICTs used, frequency of visit outside own
village etc. Percentile distribution of respondents over different
aspects was observed in two major groups i.e. Major 1 with
highest concentration of respondents and Major 2 with second
highest concentration of respondents.
For
For measuring Extent of Social Participation, respondents were
asked to mention their status as Not Member, Member and Office
Bearer of different organizations and institutions with
corresponding score of 0, 2 and 3 respectively. Social Participation
Index (SPI) was calculated for each respondent by following the
formula: SPI = {(Obtained Score / Maximum obtainable Score) X
100}. Further, respondents were classified in four groups, namely,
Low (having SPI value 0-25), Semi-Medium (having SPI Value 26-
50), Medium (SPI= 51-75) and High (SPI = 76-100).
Information and Communication have always played a key role in
agriculture. Ever since farmers have grown crops, they have searched for
ways to improve the crop production. Information plays a vital role in
empowering these farmers to improve their livelihoods. Important
information such as sowing, improving soils, seeking the best price for
their produce and ways to combat pests and diseases all empower the
farmer and their decision making capabilities. Farmers have difficulty in
searching the answers to such issues even if they are very experienced
in the specific cropping regime. Seasonal variability in weather patterns,
deterioration in soil conditions and sporadic climatic events such as
drought, floods, pest and disease outbreaks complicate the decision
making process of the farmers and influences their information
requirements. Up-to-date information allows farmers to survive and
even benefit from these changes. Providing such knowledge can be
challenging as the information must be tailored specifically to distinct
conditions. Given these challenges the arrival of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) is well timed. The benefits of ICT to
contribute for improving agricultural productivity has been previously
proposed (Armstrong et al., 2010, Armstrong et al., 2011, Armstrong
et al., 2012a,b). As a result both public and private sectors have long
been on the search of effective solutions to address both the long and
short term challenges in agriculture including how to answer the
abundant information needs of farmers. ICT is one of these solutions
that have recently unleashed incredible potential to improve
agriculture in developing countries. With the growing mobile, wireless,
and Internet industries, ICT has found a position even in poor
smallholder farms and in their activities.
2. BACKGROUND
The study was conducted in one of the 9 Tehsils (villages) of
Ratnagiri District in state of Maharashtra, India. The district was
considered representative of the state’s agricultural sector
(Konkan.org 2012).

2.1 Study Area

Ratnagiri district is bordered by the Sahyadri Hills on the East
and Arabian Sea on the West. It is located in the southwestern part of
Maharashtra state on the Arabian Sea coast of India. It is situated
between north Latitude 17° and east Longitude 73°19′. It is the
portion of the larger band known as Konkan. The district is 8,208 sq.
km geographically. It has coastline of 237 km. Ratnagiri is the district
headquarters. Ratnagiri district has nine tehsils; Mandan gad, Dapoli,
Khed, Chiplun, Guhagar, Sangameshwar, Ratnagiri, Lanja and Rajanpur.
Shastri, Bor, Muchkundi and Kajali are the main rivers in Ratnagiri. The
principle farming of the region consists of rice, especially in the
talukas of Khed, Chiplul, Sangameshwar, Rajanpur and Ratnagiri. The
eastern parts grow nachani and yari. The Ratnagiri district has coastal
climate with a monsoonal rainfall pattern (Anon, 2012).
2.2 Methodology
Primary data collection was carried out using a structured
questionnaire from a randomly selected group of farmers from one of
the nine tehsils in the Ratnagiri district during the period from July to
September 2011. The number of participants was 100 farmers.
Interviews were used to gather information on a number of aspects
related to use of ICT. Each participant was asked to sign a consent letter
and informed that there responses are treated with anonymity. Two.
 different questionnaires were provided to farmers and key
stakeholders. The farmer based questionnaire sought general
demographic data, education level and information concerning
household income and their agricultural activities. Information
related to the use of ICT tools in the agricultural sector such as
kind of ICT tools, preference of ICT tools, source of getting
information, belief on the sources of information, preferences for
types of information and the frequency and timings of its delivery.
The credibility and applicability of the information that farmers
received, the kind of support that was available and their overall
expectations from the use of ICT tools was recorded.