PM Modi turns around the life of a Coolie with his free Internet access at Railway stations !

The state’s public service examination was cracked by Kerala coolie Sreenath K, who leveraged free internet access and online study materials at a railway station to crack the State’s competitive exam. Over the past five years, Sreenath has been hauling heavy luggage at Ernakulam Junction in Kerala to earn his living.

At the same time, he balances the luggage on his shoulders and listens to his digital coursework – his teachers talking to him through the earphones – unlike his fellow students. The high school graduate uses the free WiFi Internet service at Ernakulam station for learning.

Launched in 2016 as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India initiative, the WiFi service provides free internet access to passengers via Railwire, the retail broadband distribution model of RailTel Corporation of India Limited. There have been WiFi installations at least 685 railway stations across the country as of May 2018, with the Indian Railways targeting to have these facilities in all 8,500 stations by March 2019 at an estimated cost of INR 700 crore.