Hello World, Says A Haryana Village

In an effort to reach out to the world, a village in Haryana has uploaded itself onto the Internet, giving the outside world a glimpse of life in rural India. Although the village is still not connected to the Internet, villagers hope their website would help them get in touch with the world.

Visitors to Hansdehar village’s Web site (www.smartvillages.org) can see the names, jobs and other details of its 1,753 residents, browse photographs of their shops and read detailed specifications about their drainage and electricity facilities.

This website is the brainchild of one Kanwal Singh, who long ago left to work as a Web site developer for the local government in Chandigarh but decided to come back and convince the village council of the benefits a Web site and an Internet connection would bring.

Neglected by the local government, the villagers finally hope that life would change post internet. Hansdehar farmers hope they will be able to get better prices for their crops by trading online through the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Ltd., cutting out middlemen.

Young villagers, most of whom have yet to send their first e-mail have plans to use the Internet to help hasten their exit by searching online for college places and jobs in big cities.

 Taking a leaf out of Hansdehar village's success story, most of the nearby villages are impressed and plan websites of their own. But the grand aim is to encourage more of India’s 640,000 villages to upload themselves and unite in online networks to advance the cause of rural India.