Demand assessment for rural infrastructure
Student name: Mr Prasun Pandey
Guide: Dr Umesh Gulla
Year of completion: 2012
Host Organisation: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Jeevan Mohanty
Abstract: The role that technology facilitates in the development is a well known fact; however there is
glaring disparity when it comes to access to technology in India i.e. urban vs rural population.
The economic development of India’s 600 million strong rural population presents formidable
challenges and also great opportunities. A model called INSTEP (Integrating new and
sustainable technology for elimination of poverty) – is presented that has the potential for
achieving the multi-faceted goals of sustainable economic development through more efficient
utilization of available resources by focusing them into a minimum viable economic size. In this
concept various kind of services i.e. agricultural, medical, financial, livelihood, ICT, education,
water and sanitation etc will be provided to rural masses under one roof.
Study was carried out to find the demand for the various services to be provided by the pilot
INSTEP centre at the proposed locations. Both Qualitative and Quantitative research methods
were used to ascertain the demand for various services; survey was conducted in the identified
villages to collect both qualitative and quantitative data.
A demand assessment methodology was formulated to quantify the demand for various services
using the primary data collected from surveys as well as secondary data taken from the
statistical abstracts of the districts. Also the demand for particular service was prioritized using
the qualitative data gathered in the field.
