Soochna Shakti: A Women empowerment mobile VAS of Uninor launched

Indian government has for long been exploring the ways of harnessing ubiquitous mobile phones for propelling growth by disseminating information, financial inclusion and delivering health care services. The government telecom arms like DOT and TRAI have mooted many proposals and project schemes to harness the potential of mobile phones. One such initiative of DOT- USOF (Universal service obligation fund) is ” Sanchar Shakti” . This is a pilot project scheme for Mobile VAS and ICT related livelihood skills for women’s self help groups (SHGs).

As a part of this Sanchaar Shakti scheme, Uninor has today launched a revolutionary Value Added service(VAS) christened as  ” Soochna Shakti ” . This VAS aims at empowering rural women by making useful and important information available to them through mobile phones. The service was launched by Smt. Pratibha Patil, Hon. President of India at an event organised at Vigyan Bhawan earlier today. This service will not only help in empowerment of rural women but they will also benefit from other aspects of the service including English learning.

This innovative VAS by Uninor ‘Soochna Shakti’ will deliver information, expert advice and news alerts on health, education, self employment and finance on an IVR portal which can be accessed by dialing a short code from anywhere at any time. Uninor’s ‘Soochna Shakti’ can be deployed across multiple models of handsets which require customers to simply dial into a voice portal which will be in their local languages. ‘Soochna Shakti’ is being launched as a pilot project on a group of selected Self Help Group (SHG) women in the Uninor Hand in Hand Citizen Centre initiative.

“Even today in remote areas of India people especially women may not be fully aware of various government schemes and initiatives being run for their welfare. This is a major area of concern and what better way than using mobile connectivity to help deal with this developmental challenge. Mobility can be an effective tool to truly empower lives of millions in these regions by spreading knowledge and skills to enhance livelihoods. The launch of ‘Soochna Shakti’ is a program in this direction. Uninor has always looked at avenues to reach out to similar sections of society across the socio-economic landscape and has tried its best to make a difference, big or small”, said Mr. Rajiv Bawa, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Uninorspeaking about the initiative. “We are extremely excited to partner with the Government of India through DoT and USOF to make this initiative a reality”, he further added.

The content for this service is developed in association with various Government bodies, NGOs, universities and private organizations in order to ensure relevance, credibility and accuracy of the information. The service will be truly path-breaking in its intent and will continue to provide updated and relevant information to the target audience 24X7, 365 days a year.