The diffusion of infotech happens at varying speeds at various levels. The speed at which the technology spreads its reach in an industrialised country is 243 times the speed at which it can impact a village in a developing country. R A Mashelkar, director-general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, made this observation in his speech to the Indian Science Congress held in the first week of January 2001. This great difference makes it all the more important for scientists in developing countries to improvise and innovate, to come up with solutions like