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Cairn India to power Barmer’s Samvriddhi with rural BPO

Rajasthan’s Barmer, the second largest district of India in terms of geographic spread, constitutes a major part of the hostile terrains of the Thar Desert. The primary occupation of local inhabitants is rain-fed agriculture followed by livestock rearing, and there is a general lack of infrastructure facilities like roads, electricity, good schools and quality
health care.

However, slowly but surely, a transformation is taking place in the socio-economic landscape of Barmer. Cairn India, the fastest growing oil and natural gas exploration and production (E&P) company in the world according to Platts, is working with local communities and other partners on several initiatives which contribute to the development of the region.

As part of its endeavour to make a positive difference to the lives of the local community, Cairn India has launched Samvriddhi, a rural business process outsourcing (BPO) initiative, in collaboration with RuralShores and Barmer Zilla Parishad. Samvriddhi aims to create economic independence among the local youth, especially women, by providing them with customised training in basic computer and spoken English skills to enhance their employability.

Samvriddhi is an extension of Cairn’s ongoing Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives towards creating local employment opportunities for the youth of Barmer. The BPO is a 100-seater facility and will employ 200 people in two shifts during peak operations.

Currently, rural BPOs are a miniscule share of the country’s thriving business process outsourcing industry. However, trends indicate their significant potential for growth in the near future. Opportunities in rural business process outsourcing are tremendous in terms of access to a large market with growing disposable income and an increasingly aspirational lifestyle.

Also, the social impact of a rural BPO is huge, such as industry linkages which can redefine mindsets about rural areas as delivery centres, larger government initiatives leading to faster talent development and revamped state-run schemes, all contributing to significant development in the region.

The rural BPO is the first project of its kind in western Rajasthan and marks the entry of information technology enabled services (ITeS) in the region. The project is a good example of the PPP model, where the Barmer Zila Parishad provides space for the BPO, Cairn India the funding for the infrastructure and RuralShores is responsible for profitable and sustainable operations.

According to Barmer BDO Idan Singh Solanki: ‘Samvriddhi helped us in online data entry for the State-run pension schemes and has proven to be very resourceful. We look forward to working with the BPO for the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) project as well!’

Agreed Baytoo BDO Mahavir Singh: ‘Without the help extended by Samvriddhi, it would have been impossible for us to have the thousands of pension forms digitised on time. We look forward to working with them on other digitisation works such as the Aadhar project and the NREGA project.’

Rural BPO is set up with the sole objective of creating a model which will ensure 100 per cent employability for the candidates undergoing computer training and other vocational courses at the Enterprise Centre, another initiative being run by Cairn India in Barmer district.

NASSCOM Foundation, the social arm of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), is driving the initiative of fostering rural BPOs in the country and working towards bringing social and economic change in rural India to bring about inclusive growth in the years to come.

The Enterprise Centre offers vocational courses and technical skills trainings to help economically empower the youth and women of the region. It conducts a number of initiatives to improve the quality of life and create a positive impact in the important areas of education, health, infrastructure and economic development.

Almost 300 students have already been given training in domains ranging from business process outsourcing training to computer operations, electrical training, masonry, welding, etc. Candidates have also been equipped with spoken English skills and other soft skills. The results have been encouraging and resulted in a rise in local entrepreneurship.
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