India’s first BPO facility in jail to be operational soon

Submitted by cdas on Wed, 06/23/2010 - 16:00

The first-ever BPO unit located in a prison will soon be operational in the Cherlapally Central Jail in India's Andhra Pradesh. A news portal reports that the jail BPO unit will finally become a reality with the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosiah giving a nod to the ambitious project during a meeting convened to deliberate on the draft Bill on the issue on Wednesday. The Bill intends to utilize the services of competent prisoners for community activities.

The news portal quotes Andhra Pradesh Minister for Home Affairs, P. Sabita Indra Reddy saying that the Chief Minister has given his approval for setting up India’s, and perhaps even first in the world, maiden BPO center in the Cherlapally Central Jail located in the state capital Hyderabad. The move to set up the BPO unit in the prison is said to be a part of the jail reforms in the state to offer opportunities to generate income to the prisoners.

According to the Andhra Pradesh minister, convicts serving a sentence of minimum six months will be engaged in the project. While the minister informed that the Bill will be tabled during the ensuing session of the state Assembly, the precise date for starting the facility has not been announced.

The BPO facility will be set up in the Cherlapally Central Jail by Radiant Info Systems, Bangalore-based tech firm, under a private-public partnership and will be operated by knowledgeable prisoners. Presently, the Cherlapally Central Jail houses as many as 2,000 prisoners of which the prison authorities will shortlist 250 convicts to work at the BPO center. They will be provided with adequate training before the BPO facility becomes operational.

According to reports, Radiant Info Systems will establish a data processing unit in the jail with an initial workforce of approximately 60 to 70 inmates. As the jail rules in India do not permit the convicts to avail Internet facilities, they will basically deal with data processing, data entry and data transmission work and will receive a monthly payment of INR 4,500 (around $100).