Sahaj awarded at the Gujarat Cooperative Summit 2015
Sahaj has been declared winner in the Best Kiosk Implementation Category at the Gujarat Cooperative Summit 2015, organized by the Agriculture and Co-operation Department, Government of Gujarat, along with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Sahaj’s project “Sahaj Centres” was declared winner for creating technologically innovative and sustainable informative kiosks for the people of Rural India. Sahaj established technologically innovative and sustainable information kiosks in Assam, Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu & West Bengal. The Sahaj Centres are points from where essential utility and citizen centric services are provided, and is a fixed location in the midst of the village, managed by an entrepreneur from the same village, thus boosting local entrepreneurship.
In rural India, almost 28% rural citizens are still deprived even of mobile connectivity, let alone Internet access. This lack of information and communication infrastructure often deprives rural citizens of important Government service related information as well as other vital information’s. Shortcomings in market information often leads to loss of income and exploitation of rural entrepreneurs. Realizing these shortcomings in information distribution in rural India Sahaj played a vital role in making information available to the citizens of rural India through innovative, easy to understand and informative kiosks to simplify the lives of the villagers.
Today, the Sahaj Centres are envisioned as the front-end delivery points for Government, private and social sector services to the rural citizens of India.The Sahaj centres are envisaged to be a model for delivery of content, services, information and knowledge, that can allow like-minded public and private enterprises to integrate their goals of profit as well as social objectives, into a sustainable business model for achieving rapid socio-economic change in rural India. The Centres provide direct access to modern state-of-art technological facilities to the rural consumers of 6 states in India. Acknowledging that rural India is mired with challenges, Sahaj started with around half a dozen services and today have an impressive array of over fifty different kinds of services. Thus, heralding a silent revolution across the length and breadth of the states.
Speaking on receipt of the award Mr. Sanjay Panigrahi, CEO, Sahaj e-Village Ltd. said, “We are humbled at being recognized in yet another major platform. For over seven years now, Sahaj has been changing the way of living in Rural India by delivering convenience at the doorsteps of consumers. What began as a project implementation vehicle is today the largest network of tech-enabled kiosks in Rural areas. We have created livelihood, provided education, and brought services to hitherto ignored markets. A recognition reaffirms our faith in the model. We are thankful for this award and look forward to more in the future.”