Internet changing life in Bihar villages

Saurath (Bihar): A five-hour drive from Patna is one of the India's first BPOs being run out of a village, by the village, and for a large part, for the village.

The people who live in Saurath village in Bihar had never heard of a computer, let alone use one just few years ago.But now, they are busily tapping away on their keyboards and an entire area, cut off from urban centres, is connected.Just a year ago, Saurath was like any other village that had come to terms with it's geography - that they could never easily get what they wanted - be it a top-up card for their mobile phones or a life insurance policy.

It was a two to three hour drive to the nearest district town.That's when a tech company stepped in and offered them the chance to help themselves.And Saurath agreed. At the cost of Rs 7,000 per head for six months to learn how to use computers that they had earlier seen only in Hindi films.

"Earlier I would feel scared. Now I feel proud that being a village boy, I can work on the computer," Bauajee Paswan, a BPO worker, says.Today the people of Saurath, who put in their hard earned money, are part of a revolution. The confidence levels are so palpable that one can almost see the kind of respect they have earned for themselves.

Thirty-eight year old Asha Jha was just a housewife who spent the entire day in the kitchen with her pallu (part of saree) draped over her head looking after her family.But when she found out about the training course that empowered people like her, she didn't have to work too hard convincing her in-laws to lend her the money for her classes.Now Asha earns about Rs 17 an hour, which come to a little more than Rs 4,000 a month. That has brought smiles on the faces of her in-laws.And like any other woman balancing the work place with a family life - Asha seems to be pulling it off brilliantly.

"Even I wanted to do some thing. Now I manage my house and office," says Asha.The process is simple. If a man, for example, wants to buy a mobile phone in the next village, he goes to a kiosk in his village, chooses the phone he wants and places an order.The kiosk owner then calls up the BPO and tells the person on the other side about the order. They, in turn inform the tech company that runs the BPO who then send over the product, which is then delivered to the man who placed the order."Earlier we had to travel really far away to order for the things we needed.