Virender Mahto, Principal of Ram Tahal Choudhary High School in Phed (Kh Tola) Booti, Ranchi district, Jharkhand is now a very happy man. Ever since he started providing internet in his school, student enrolments increased greatly. The teachers too are enthused as it has become easier to teach subjects like biology on projectors using videos from YouTube. Apart from improved efficiency, the workload of teachers also decreased significantly as they were able to calculate marks and publish examination results online.

All of this was made possible by a private rural broadband service called Airjaldi, run by a group of social entrepreneurs who want to bridge the digital divide in rural India, especially in the underserved regions. They aim to provide quality rural broadband connections at reasonable rates across Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

In the process, they want to disprove the notion that rural India is not profitable and provide employment locally. This they do by training entrepreneurs in small and big hamlets to develop and implement affordable rural broadband infrastructure and offer internet facilities at easy rates.

Dhondup Namgyal, Chief of Operations says, “We at Airjaldi believe that in this age, connectivity is a basic necessity. People in rural India do not know the power of Internet; many consider it an unnecessary expense. And those who are aware of its benefits cannot afford the existing rates. To see a developed India, we need to start from the rural.”

Familiarity breeds concern

Namgyal is familiar with the rural scenario as he schooled in Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh. A commerce degree from Delhi University and courses in computers and ICT networks have equipped him to set up networks across the country.

Airjaldi says it will not allow the absence of grid supply to impede its mission. Its strategy includes setting up solar panels on the relays and critical end-points to ensure uninterrupted power supply. Launched in 2007 from Dharamshala, the organisation today has 50 employees, over 2,000 customers and around 20,000 users, which include schools, colleges, monasteries, and private and government institutions.

Tsering Paljor, IT manager of the Tibetan Medical and Astrology Institute in Kangra district, says, “Even though we are not entirely dependent on the internet, it has helped us provide online consultation to patients and facilitate the commerce of herbal products. Before Airjaldi, we had subscribed to BSNL but discontinued due to trouble with landline connectivity. We often suffered network downtime for several days, and even weeks.” He feels that affordability and quality of service are vital for running the institution’s website smoothly.

While putting together networks is Airjaldi’s primary job, it also helps local consumers embrace the internet. They are trained to build and maintain networks and handle breakdowns. As a result, internet penetration is on the rise here.

“We plan to do more than what we already do. We want to reach at least 25 per cent of the country’s remaining 600 underserved districts. Our existing, experienced on-ground team is a great asset which helps us provide assistance in a meaningful and economical manner. We are also planning to expand our work to rural areas in other countries,” says Michael Ginguld, Founder and Head of Operations.

The writer is a student of media studies

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