Indian village uploads itself onto Internet

(Reuters) - An Indian village has uploaded itself onto the Internet, giving the outside world a glimpse of life in rural India.

Visitors to
Hansdehar village's Web site (www.smartvillages.org) can see the names,
jobs and other details of its 1,753 residents, browse photographs of
their shops and read detailed specifications about their drainage and
electricity facilities.

Most of the residents can't yet surf the Hansdehar Web site as the village is not yet connected to the Internet.

But the villagers hope the site -- and their imminent first Internet
connection -- will put them in touch with the world beyond the flooded
rice fields surrounding Hansdehar, located in a rich agricultural belt
in the northern state of Haryana.