Balle-Balle In Balia: Shining Stars Of Bihar’s Hinterland

Two districts in Jharkhand that share a border have come under the limelight for a number of reasons. There’s Jamtara, gaining notoriety as a hub for cyber fraudsters. And then there’s Baliapur block in Dhanbad that has emerged as a centre where youngsters are building a future using social media as a tool to attain smashing success and reverse their legacy of extreme poverty.

Almost every house in the villages in Baliapur, around 180 km from Jharkhand’s capital, Ranchi, has an aspiring YouTuber. Over the last five years, these areas have witnessed many social media suc­cess stories. Topmost among them is Manoj Dey, whom all YouTube stars in Baliapur look up to in reverence, as he helped many of them to bec­ome famous. The 26-year-old has two YouTube channels: Manoj Dey, a technical channel with 2.6 million followers, and Manoj Dey Vlogs, with 7,14,000 subscribers. Apart from this, he has 3.5 lakh followers on Instagram, 1.5 lakh on Facebook (Meta) and 50k on Twitter.

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Speaking to Outlook, Manoj says, “Earlier, I was a viewer, and today I am a creator. Nobody in Bal­i­apur knew about YouTube or that it could bec­ome a source of income. I was the first one to fig­ure out how to earn money from the platform. While working for a cyber cafe in 2016, I started making YouTube channels. For a year, I uploaded videos of singing or comedy, but did not get any response. Since I was employed by the cafe, I had a working knowledge of computers, smartphones, internet and applications. So, I est­ablished a tech channel and started uploading videos to explain the technical aspects of YouTube: how to register a channel, what is copyright, how can you earn money, etc. This gave my channel a massive boost in 2018. I soon had 1,00,000 subscribers, and later, a million.”

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Dey’s father used to run a bicycle repair shop in Baliapur market, and would spend the whole day repairing tyre punctures. The burden of marrying off two daughters and paying for Manoj’s education was overwhelming. A kachha (makeshift) house also meant rep­air costs every year. These were major concerns for the family till 2017. The following year, the house was renovated into a two-storey one, and by 2022, the family met with success beyond their wildest imagination.

Manoj earns around Rs 2 lakh per month. Starting with just one smartphone, now he has gad­gets worth lakhs and a new Rs 25 lakh car, and a plot in Dha­nbad on which he is bui­l­ding a house. “My family’s economic condition was quite bad. Since matriculation, I had to start earning my own pocket money. Papa put me through an ITI (industrial training) course so I could compete for Group D government jobs. This society only respects those with a government job. I want to change this attitude. A government job is not the only road to success.”

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The vlogger was inspired by Dharmendra Kum­ar of channel My Smart Support to become a YouTuber. He observes that over 100 locals now earn through YouTube and over a 1,000 have launched their own channel. “Every coin has two sides. A smartphone can help you do both good and bad deeds. My message to the people of Jamtara is, ‘please use your smartph­one to earn money by doing good things. Also, please give up cyber-crime’.”

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Coming across Manoj’s videos proved lifecha­n­ging for YouTube star Sanatan Mahto, who with his sister Savitri Kumari, runs three channels—Dancer San­a­tan with 13.9 lakh subscribers, Sanatan Mahto with 1.76 lakh, and Savitri Kumari with 1.18 lakh. The brother-sister duo from Nipania village in Baliapur have garnered over 135 lakh views alone on YouTube. Sanatan, 26, recalls old times when his family went to bed on empty stomachs. His father was a labourer. His mother would walk miles to a colliery, collect leftover coal and sell it. Sanatan is their only son, born after four daughters. Despite completing his MA, he didn’t find any job and had to work as a construction labourer. Till he got introduced to Manoj’s YouTube videos.

“My nephew had told me about the success story of Manoj Dey, the oldest YouTube personality in this area. I got inspired seeing his videos, to the extent that I sold a family goat and borrowed mon­­ey from my sister to buy a smartphone. I told my parents that even though I didn’t have money to learn dancing, I would learn how to from the phone, and then change our lives with the same gadget. This was late 2018. In 2019, I started uploading videos of my solo dance performances. Within five months, I got four lakh followers.”

The subscriber count got a boost after Sanatan’s sister Savitri, a graduate and home tutor, became his dance partner. “I used to give tuitions till the pandemic hit in 2020. Everything shut down and everyone was confined to their homes. My mother was also without work. I had a lot of time on my hands, and so when my brother suggested we make videos together, I didn’t hesitate. We started making videos together, and immediately recei­ved a very good response.”

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On social media platforms, the duo is recognised as dancers, comedians and lifestyle bloggers. How­­­ever, when asked about their income, Savitri says, “I can’t disclose what we earn from YouTube, but I can say this much that it is more than eno­ugh for me and my family.” They mostly dance to old songs, incorporating contemporary moves, lifestyle and comedy. The siblings still live in their family’s mud house, but purchased a studio with their earnings.

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However, Savitri also got trolled for her dance moves. “When the videos went viral, our neighbours started complaining to my parents about my dancing. They said our caste does not allow girls to dance because we have to be married off into another family. But my parents supported us despite the opposition. We have received much more support from far away, from other states. After we became famous, locals started proudly acknowledging that we belong to their caste. We only regret that our mother could not enjoy our success and passed away in an accident (in August 2020).

YouTuber Bikas Mishra, 26, from Sitalpur vill­age, Baliapur, who views Manoj Dey as his inspiration, uses technology to explain Mathematics and Science in simple language. Bikas completed a diploma in mechanical engineering in 2017 and joined a job in September 2018. In less than a year, he left the job, as he was working the whole day but got only Rs 16,000 per month. Today, he works for just four hours and makes around Rs 50,000 every month. Sitting between a smartphone fixed to a 1.5 ft-long tripod and a whiteboard inside his 10x12 ft room at his home, he shoots tutorial videos and uploads them after some editing, on a channel called Basic Knowledge by Bikas Sir.

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Bikas tells Outlook: “I like teaching and have been doing it since I was a Class XII student. Chi­­ldren would tell me that I teach very well. I taught at the same school from which I comple­ted my matriculation. But I often felt like doing something different, and finally left my job. When I made my YouTube channel in 2019, the first two-three videos did not elicit any major response. After a gap, I came back in 2020 and made videos on preparing for polytechnic ent­r­a­nce exams and board exams. Slowly, my subscr­i­bers increased.”

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The channel follows the syllabus for Classes IX-XII, taught by the Jharkhand Academic Council board. At present, Bikas has 96.4k subscribers, over 3k followers on Instagram, and around 7.4k on Telegram. “Some videos have over 2 lakh views. On an average, I get 15k views. This lets me earn Rs 40-50k per month, going up to even a lakh.” Bikas adds that his family’s once dire econ­omic status has improved now.

Just three weeks ago, another Sitalpur resident Rekha Mishra, launched her dance cha­­n­nel on YouTube channel, One Leg Dan­cer. In this short span, she has already attr­a­cted over 3,000 subscribers; and a couple of her videos have even crossed 4 lakh views. The 19-year-old, who mostly dances freest­yle on Hindi and Bangla songs, lost her right leg in a car accident in 2014. How­ever, she has not let this setback affect her.

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Rekha’s father is a labourer and mother, a housewife. Her you­n­g­er brother and sister help her to make these videos. In an interview with Outlook, the third-year B.Sc student says she is hopeful to soon start earning from YouTube. “I want to become a big YouTuber and improve my family’s economic status with what I earn from it.”

Rekha believes due to her increasing popul­arity, one day she can bag a spot on the popular TV show India’s Got Talent. “Since chi­­l­d­hood, I have loved dancing. Then the accident happened, and the doctors had to amputate my leg. I was told I could never dance again. But I was adamant. I didn’t want to just dance, I wanted to become a successful dancer.” In time, Rekha reached her goal by overcoming one hurdle after the other. “After my leg healed, I first learnt to ride a bicycle. Then I managed to stand up for long durations. Finally, I started to practice dancing. Since I could not pay the fee for a dance class, I used the mobile phone and TV to learn, and even started participating in school competitions.”

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Rekha considered the idea of YouTubing as a career option after watching videos by Sanatan. “I was inspired to make my own videos after wat­ching TikTok videos. Initially, I didn’t know much about YouTube. Then I discovered even I can make my talent go viral.” In fact, the instant outpouring of love and adulation she has recei­ved on this platform, Rekha says, has compens­ated for the years of suffering she was subjected to after the accident.

Likewise, Jyoti Shree Mahato did not expect her YouTube channel, Jyoti Shree Mahato, to win so many subscribers—1.34 lakh subscribers on YouTube, and 1.21 lakh subscribers on Insta­g­ram. The 26-year-old from Baliapur’s Kusma­t­a­nd village, who calls herself a lifestyle vlogger, says, “Earlier I was on TikTok. But after the government banned it, I shifted to YouTube, and did not expect it to become so successful. I have rec­eived a lot of support, which helped me earn well.”

Even for Mahato, Manoj Dey is the reason why she got into vlogging. “I established my channel in 2019, but stopped after making a few videos. Then the lockdown happened and I went back to making videos. At first, I made cooking vlogs. After a couple of the­­se videos received a good response, I exp­anded my work. Now I have establis­hed a studio with my earnings from You­Tube.” Mahato, who recently completed her M.Com, says her monthly earnings usually hover around Rs 50k. Her next step: become a social media influencer.

(This appeared in the print edition as "Rags to Riches")

(Translated by Iqbal Abhimanyu)

Md Asghar Khan Is a freelance journalist based in jharkhand