"Horizon" visits the Indian village of Manikonda, where Bombay movies, educational programmes, glossy adverts and re-runs of British TV comedy series like "To the Manor Born" have become a new part of rural life.

Satellite television has arrived in village India, through a satellite built by Indian scientists, INSAT 1B. Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, who first conceived the idea of the communications satellites, supports the late Mrs Gandhi's belief that space technology can play a vital role in development.

But can new communication technologies like INSAT be used to raise the living standards of the poor, or will they merely reinforce existing inequalities?