Internet Saathi launched in West Bengal

The program is all about to train women in rural areas and in larger strength to learn and explore the various uses and benefits of the internet.

In West Bengal, this program will be initiated in Purulia district, where around 400 villages are to be covered with an objective to reach 100,000 women.

Tata Trust is playing the crucial role of training women master or 'Saathis' trainers identified by Self Help Groups and Women's federations which they oversee and facilitate through their on ground partners.

Google provides the mobile and tablet devices, the training material and also trains the master trainers.

In order to drive broader access and continuity in usage after the training, internet enabled devices like tablets and smartphones are also made available within the school premises, community centres, self-help group meeting places, agriculture centres, PHCs, etc. for optimum exposure and learning amongst the society.

Speaking on the launch of the initiative Sapna Chadha, Head of Marketing, Google India said: "With only 1 out of 10 woman able to access the internet in rural India, Internet Saathi initiative is aimed at creating an environment that empowers rural women and their communities to become change agents in rural India.
The program has been very successful in improving the social and economic situations of communities in rural India and we are very excited to expand the initiative to West Bengal. We hope to reach out to over 100,000 women across the state and help them to learn and understand how they can use the internet in their daily lives. We're kicking off the initiative by training over 120 Internet Saathis who will be reaching out to over 400 villages in Purulia District."

The Internet Saathi initiative is part of Google's Helping Woman Get Online campaign, which is designed to create awareness about the benefits of internet among woman in rural India. The program includes awareness module, coupled with hands-on training modules on how to use the internet, using mobile devices in their local languages. Under Helping Woman Get Online, Google has already trained over 2 million women across the country in total.

Launched on July 3, 2015, the program has successfully trained and benefitted over 200,000 women across villages in states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and yet to work in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.

(Reporting by Suchismita Roy)