t's not everyone who has access to a computer. With epost, the Indian postal service is attempting to bridge the digital divide. In 2004, India Post came up with this facility, in collaboration with NIC (National Informatics Centre) to reach out to the masses who do not have access to the internet.

The service works like this. A customer goes to an epost centre with a handwritten or a printed message. The message is scanned and transmitted as e-mail through the internet. The receiver gets this message through the nearest post office, where it is printed, put in an envelope and delivered by the postman like any normal letter at his postal address. Each A4 size message will cost the sender Rs 10.... more