Rural students suffer in lack of Internet network

UPENDRA MANI PRADHAN, SNS, DARJEELING, 30 MAY 21: "Online Classes" was a term added to the popular lexicon after the COVID pandemic forced schools and colleges across the country to shut down. Today, almost everything has gone online-schooling, office work, meetings, and sometimes even wedding ceremonies.

The digital world is a great equalizer, it provides equal opportunities for all, as long as they are connected to the network. Woefully, for a majority of students from Darjeeling Hills, Terai, and Dooars, accessing the network itself is a battle they keep on losing. Other than those lucky few who live in towns, or on the right side of the mountain where network signals are strong, a majority of the people from rural regions do not have access to cellular networks.

Imagine, the plight of a girl child, whose parents hardly earn Rs 6000 per month working in the tea gardens, buying a smartphone so that she can attend school online, and her hating to travel miles every day just to access the cellular network to attend it. A majority of the students in North Bengal are forced to live this reality.

Frustrated at the problems facing their village, Anil Thapa, the President of the Sumripani Gram Sudhar Samitee under Darjeeling district, has shot off a letter to Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Minister for Communications. "Lack of interact services to our kids is nothing lesser than a heinous crime, barring them from the rights of having a better education. We do believe that we too are a part of 'Digital India' that our beloved PM dreams and aspires of ..are we lesser Indians to suffer and live in this grim situation forever?" he questions.

Dipendra Dipzo Khati, the Secretary of the organisation, adds, "We are living in a dark zone, there is no network coverage for a majority of the people in Pokhriabong Valley. How can our children ever hope to become competitive? They are being deprived of their right to education as enshrined in our constitution. We too pay taxes, we too are citizens of the same country, so why has the government failed to provide basic interact facilities for our region?"

In Todey-Tangta, which falls on the India-Bhutan border in Kalimpong district, the situation is grimmer. A majority of the residents there rely on farming for their subsistence. Due to lack of internet and cellular connections of Indian companies, around 1500 students in the region there are forced to rely on whatever little interact they can access through the Bhutanese network.

"But income is low, and not every parent can afford to pay for the Bhutanese network, which costs around Rs 200 per day," a local there says.

Residents there have written to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying "It's been ages that India acquired its independence, but the present day scenario of Todey Tangta still reflects the acrimonious circumstances, which seem unconvincing for the rest of the country. It is extremely disheartening that even being part of this country we have to rely on our neighbouring country Bhutan for modern-day facilities like telecom and interact."

In Milikthung, which falls under Mirik sub-division, around 1200 students are facing the same plight. A letter from the Nava Pravat Sangh, a village-level body there, to the Union Minister of Communications reads, "We don't have any means of communication i.e mobile networking at our place... our villages Kharbani, Chotakothi, Tingling Piplaybotey, Noldara also don't have any network. In this pandemic situation, student is are having their online classes, but our students are lacking or unable to attend their online classes due to network problem."

On March 19, 2021, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had informed the Parliament that over 1.54 lakh gram panchayats are now ready to provide high-speed broadband services under the BharatNet project. "We are targeting 5519 gram panchayats (GP) to provide internet connectivity through satellite media, as on March 1., 2021, 3587 GPs have been connected."

"Could it he possible that all the remaining gram panchayats that are yet to be connected are those from the Darjeeling hills, Terai, and Dooars region? Even if it's not, the reality is, a majority of the villages in North Bengal are deprived of interact connection," a social worker in Darjeeling says.

"A BSNL interact service tower in our village could help a lot. We would like to request you to initiate whatever it takes to reach out to the offices concerned to help us with better internet services in our village," a letter by the Sumripani Gram Sudhar Samittee to Darjeeling Member of Parliament Raju Bista concludes.

All such villages are still pinning their hopes on BSNL, the government owned telecommunications service provider, which villagers and students say can come to rescue them from what they call the Internet dark zone."