Author: Namrata Joshi
Publication: Outlook
Date: August 22, 2011
URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?277989
Peora is a tiny picturesque hamlet, almost
hidden amid the giant pine and oak trees, sitting at above 6,000 feet in the
highlands of Kumaon in Uttarakhand. Kamala Bisht's father is a poor farmer
in Peora who dabbles in the real estate business during the tough months when
his fields lie fallow. Life for Kamala's family has always been about limited
means, uncertainty and an unspoken frugality. Last year, though, things started
to look up when Kamala joined B2R, a rural BPO slowly and silently spreading
its wings over the Kumaon hills. "I would have been sitting at home doing
nothing. But we have found a new means of livelihood in the village,"
says Kamala cheerfully. Pratap Negi had resigned himself to the fact that,
like his elder brother who works in Chandigarh, he too would have had to leave
the hills to look for work. But then, employment landed at his doorstep, literally.
Now, it is a hard task to drag the hyper-energetic 18-year-old, who has just
matriculated from school and joined B2R as a trainee, away from his computer
terminal. "I will spend some money on myself, but most of the salary
will go towards family expenses," he says, visibly excited about the
first paycheque he will bring home to supplement the earnings of his farmer
father.
Youngsters like Kamala and Pratap are a common
sight in Orakhan, a small village in the hills near Nainital. In skinny jeans,
smart T-shirts and floaters, with their B2R identity cards proudly dangling
from lanyards around their necks and the traditional pithiya on their foreheads,
the enthusiasm they have for their jobs is there for all to see. Due, in no
small part, to the paucity of job prospects in the hills. "Non-agricultural
jobs are few and income from agriculture is limited," says B2R CEO Dhiraj
Dolwani. "Our aim has been to fill that gap," he says, "To
provide employment opportunities for the young and, in turn, stem migration
to big cities." B2R's motto is: "Bring work to where people are,
rather than people to where work is." And Nasscom estimates underscore
the soundness of their adage. According to the software industry association,
there are about 5,000 seats or jobs in 50 non-urban BPOs-a figure that is
set to rise to a whopping 1,50,000 by 2015. "Of these, we will have 6,000
seats," says Dolwani. Their modus operandi is to keep it small and far-flung.
"We don't go to places where the infrastructure is already present. Instead,
we take the infrastructure along with us to the remote areas," says Dolwani.
Of course, there are problems; the delays, the permits and the red tape. But
on the plus side, there are some heartening revelations. According to him,
70-75 per cent of Uttarakhand already has a dormant optical fibre network.
"bsnl just needs to wake up and energise it," says Dolwani.
For all the clarity of ideas, B2R's origins
had been more serendipitous than planned. Dolwani, a software engineer with
seven years of experience in BPOs, had quit and was building a house in Ranikhet.
Frequent interactions with the local youth and NGOs opened his eyes to both
the problems and potential of the hills and sparked in him an urge to do something
for the benefit of the community. He joined hands with co-founder R. Venkatesh
Iyer who had worked in NIIT for 22 years. They worked with various NGOs, like
Aarohi and Umang, connected with the local communities and eventually decided
to partner with Chirag, a rural development organisation, to launch their
first BPO centre in Orakhan in September 2009.
B2R is housed in a shabby building smack in
the middle of the small market of Orakhan. The only hint to what lies within
is an obscure board, stating: "Rural ethos, Business ethic". Inside,
one small, badly ventilated room snakes into another. But, even further inside
is another world. Smart computers line the tables, handmade charts and posters
on the mud walls invoke Apple and Panasonic and speak of quality control and
customer satisfaction. Here, groups of twentysomethings are doing business
with around 10 clients, as wide-ranging as Indiamart Online, Eastern Book
Company and Population Services International (PSI). "The idea was to
set up a base in rural India, but to make it world class. The quality targets
are stiff, the same as they would be in a city," says Dolwani, "and
the rural youth are just as good at delivering as any urban competitive youth."
What also helps the fledgling business is that the attrition rate is low as
is the cost of running the show.
It does come as a total surprise to find modern
technology, processes and savvy professionals in a place that does not even
register as a blip on the Indian map. And there are two other villages that
have been witness to such changes-Leti Bunga and Chhimmi. And an entirely
new set-up is coming up by mid-August near Naukuchiyatal. "We plan on
creating 100 more 50-seat centres in the next seven years and aim at providing
employment to 6,000 families," says Dolwani.
Youngsters, who have studied till the 10th
standard or higher, are inducted into these centres after a three-month-long
training period at a starting salary of Rs 4,200 a month. B2R's current workforce
is 152-strong. Seven batches have been employed and we meet the eighth batch
of 18 people who are, as part of their induction, visiting the three existing
centres on a mini bus. B2R is no NGO with any mandate of social reform. It
is very much a corporate house with familiar aims like quality, commitment,
long-term sustainability and profit-making. However, the company ploughs 33
per cent of its profits back into social and community initiatives. "The
idea is to hardwire social commitment with business goals," says Dolwani.
What has helped is the literacy rate in Kumaon,
which at 70 per cent is way above the national average. English is mandatory
after the sixth standard and most youngsters have a good base in the language.
What's lacking are opportunities. A recent NGO survey pegged the average monthly
income of Kumaon farmers at Rs 1,011 and approximately 40 per cent of the
region's households are known to have had at least one male member migrating
for work. B2R's rural BPOs have brought cheer to this despondent landscape.
No wonder 30-year-old Jeevan Singh Jeena quit his job in Rudrapur to join
B2R's Orakhan office. "Earlier, there was no option available. People
used to relocate to Delhi and Bombay," he says. Like Jeevan, Tarun Bisht
and Jagdeesh Sanwal left jobs with established companies in Haldwani for team
leader posts in B2R. Twenty-year-old Neeraj Singh Negi's logic is sound: "Why
should I work for the same salary elsewhere when there are opportunities available
at home?"
The most remarkable change, however, has come
for young women, who make up nearly 60 per cent of B2R's workforce. "Boys
could go out for work. Women did not have the option and used to be confined
to their homes. Now, they are supporting their families," says Jeena.
Rekha Bhatt, a 20-year-old MA student, whose parents stay in Hartola while
she stays in a rented house in the nearby village of Reetha, says: "I
am not very far from home, so I meet the family every weekend. But I have
become independent and more aware of my responsibilities. It feels good."
Hema Devi, 24, works in B2R's Leti Bunga branch, housed in a building owned
by her father Diwan Singh, who also runs a small grocery shop below the office.
"I am no longer a burden on the family," she says. "It completely
changes the fabric of their involvement in running the home and in decision-making,"
says Dolwani. Offering a relatively conflict-free escape from a traditional
set-up typified by low life-opportunities, it's had another sort of effect.
"I used to be very hesitant. But I've grown in confidence from standing
on my own two feet," says 20-year-old Kavita Raikwal, who walks to Orakhan
everyday from her home in nearby Simayal. "I don't need to ask anyone
and can buy what I need," says 19-year-old Deepa Bisht. Others are trying
to build up on their small savings. "I have my own PF account now,"
says Kamala Bisht, with a palpable pride in her voice. There are other more
indirect spin-offs. The PSI's family planning and women's health helpline,
on which some of the girls work, has helped foster an awareness of health
issues. "The information we share with the callers is useful for us too,"
says Kavita Negi.
And when there's work to be had, everyone
and everything seems to perk up. Take Suresh, who owns the small village halwai
shop, Raikwal Sweets, famous for its sinful besan laddoos. He has no idea
what BPOs are or what helplines do, but his shop is now the unofficial B2R
office canteen. Suresh says he is now doing an entire year's worth of business
in a month. He used to operate out of a small rented space. Now, he is building
a shop of his own. Right in the shadow of B2R.
