Information Literacy of Rural farmer on Government Sponsored Welfare Programs : A Case Study of Bargarh District . ( Odisha )

Introduction Information Literacy is a vital skill to survive in the information era. Today’s age is full of ICT enabled services in every field of human life. Information is growing rapidly day by day and being coded in the digital form. Government is also keen to make the citizens information literate about its welfare policies and programmes for various sections of the Society in Bargarh District, Odisha. Agricultural production in the state has increased significantly keeping pace with the population growth of the state. Utilization of improved agricultural technology by the farmers to large extent depends upon the effective source of information channel and channel to which they are generally exposed directly or indirectly. One of the major problems of agriculture development in Odisha is not the availability of improved agriculture technologies but the technology does not reach the rural farmers of Bargarh district in adopted form in time. Adoption of improved techniques and methods in of rural farmers depends upon their socio-economical situation and Information literacy creates awareness of rural farmers in the various fields in electronic environment. Society has been transformed by the rapid development and diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) into fields such as education, business, health, agriculture, and so on. Information users may be bewildered by a variety of digitalized information. The process of identifying and selecting information has become complex. It is critical to promote information literacy (IL) in the digital age. Computers have become a necessary part of this digital society, and skills for computer use are a common prerequisite on many job applications. (Maharana, 2007) Definitions of Information Literacy Information literacy has been defined by different author, scholar, association and organization in different times. Some of the definitions are discussed in the following, though more or less these are similar to each other:  Information Literacy is defined as the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use that information for the issue or problem at hand. (www.infolit.org)  "To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. " (American Library Association, 1998) US National Commission on Library and Information Science in the UNESCO-sponsored Meeting of Experts on Information Literacy in Prague describes information literacy as  "Information literacy is an understanding and set of abilities enabling individuals to 'recognise when information is needed and have the capacity to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information'. " (CAUL, 2004) Agriculture of Bargarh District  Bargarh district comprises of two Sub–Divisions, Bargarh is the headquarters of the District. For this Agricultural District are 12 Tahasils & 12 Blocks. The district is comes under Agro– Climatic zoneWestern Central Table Land and divided into five Agro Ecological Situation (AES). The District experiences extreme type of climate with hot & dry summer followed by humid monsoon and severe cold. The temperature varies between 100C to 480C. The district receives rainfall from South–West monsoon. The average annual rainfall in the district is 1367mm. But the rainfall is not well distributed. The erratic distribution of rainfall very often hampers the Kharif crop production particularly in Padmapur Sub–division & Bhatli, Ambabhona Blocks of Bargarh Sub–division.  Oriya is the main language spoken in the district. It is generally known as Sambalpuri Oriya and is spoken in western parts of Orissa. Among this District depends only sources of Cultivation of Rice. ( http://www.ordistricts.nic.in) Bargarh Distric The Bargarh district lies between 20° 43' to 21° 41' North latitude and 82° 39' to 83° 58' East longitude. It is one of the western most districts of the State of Orissa and came in to existence as a district from 1st April 1993. It is bounded on the north by the State of Chhatisgarh and on the east by the district of Sambalpur, on the south lies the district of Balangir and Subarnapur and on the west the district of Nuapara. Tele: E-mail addresses: karan4u358@gmail.com © 2015 Elixir All rights reserved ARTICLE INFO