The sugar belt loyalists

His cubbyhole kiosk is meant to e-connect farmers. But bridging the digital divide offers better business on the side. Choosing caste-based ...

His cubbyhole kiosk is meant to e-connect farmers. But bridging the digital divide offers better business on the side. Choosing caste-based brides and grooms on the web. Instant photographs. Online astro consultancy. And a local hangout for election gossip.

‘‘When my farmer’s club meets here every week,’’ says lanky 24-year-old kiosk owner Prakash Gade at Katewadi village, ‘‘Our discussion inevitably leads to elections.’’

NCP.com is saved on his screen, a favourite download farmers hanker for when they visit for crop prices. Current chatline angst—Baramati has 21 rural IT kiosks—is defections from Sharad Pawar’s inner circle. ‘‘Saheb made people big, now they are betraying him,’’ says Gade earnestly. He’s referring to Prithviraj Jachak, once Pawar’s right hand man, now his rival.

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But Gade’s a loyalist like all of sugar belt Baramati. ‘‘Even if Balasaheb Thackeray contested from Baramati, he’d lose,’’ they boast here.

With heroes APJ Abdul Kalam and Dhirubhai Ambani on his wall, Gade uploads profiles of Baramati eligibles on marathamarriage.com for Rs 150. The IT kiosk subsidised by the agriculture department is partly marriage bureau, with Gade handling response e-mails for customers.

Sugarcane cultivation is collapsing, but Internet makes business sense. ‘‘Rs 4000 to 5,000 profit a month,’’ he says happily.