Indian Journal Of Natural Sciences www.tnsroindia.org. © IJONS Vol.4 / Issue 21/ December 2013 International Bimonthly ISSN: 0976 – 0997 1429 Information and Knowledge System through Village Resource Centre and Village Knowledge Centres in TamilNadu and Puducherry, India. Jegan Karuppiah*and R.Rajakumar M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation, Taramani, Chennai, TamilNadu, India. Received: 23 July 2013 Revised: 2 Sep 2013 Accepted: 27 Nov 2013 *Address for correspondence Jegan Karuppiah Scientist,IEC Division, M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation, Taramani, Chennai,TamilNadu,India. Email: jegan@mssrf.res.in. This is an Open Access Journal / article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.All rights reserved. Information is becoming increasingly important factor in the era of globalization. Access to information is uneven due to rapid development of technologies, poor awareness, social and economic conditions and a range of other factors. Increasing information divide among people, over a period of time, is likely to bring about economic and social divides and hence a potential source of tension in society. The M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) based in Chennai had undertaken pioneering work in this area by addressing the need for bridging the information divide among rural and urban areas and among various sections of rural society through a network of Village Knowledge Centres (VKCs). Each VKC is located in a village and mostly consist of a few computers, electronic display boards and other information and communication equipment strategically housed to enable easy access to large sections of rural society.The model developed by MSSRF has been quite successful and the idea has impressed policy makers in India and several developing countries. The Common Service Centres (CSCs) promoted by the Government of India is a well known example of adoption of the template developed by MSSRF. Several institutions and corporate houses have also made use of these models for pursuing some of their strategic and commercial objectives. Keywords: VRC, VKC, NVA, MSSRF, Common Service Centers, Youth Entrepreneurship, Eco-Jobs, Rural Technology. ABSTRACT SPECIAL ARTICLE