'Long live the farmer! Welcome, my name is Kishore, how may I assist you today?' says Kishore Yadav, answering his first call in a new Indian call centre.
The call centre caters not to the problems of foreigners in distant countries, but Indian farmers seeking advice on their battle against failing crops, cattle diseases and the weather.
If Kishore sounds cheerful, it is because he loves his job. 'They're so pleased when I give them the information they need,' he says of his role in answering some of the 2,500 calls a day to each of the eight farmers' call centres the government set up this month.
Part of the reason for its immediate popularity is that farmers, who comprise 70 per cent of India's population, can speak to someone who understands their dialect and treats them with respect.
The eagerness of Kishore, a science graduate like his colleagues, stems from a desire to move India on from the Green Revolution 30 years ago - which made the country self-sufficient in food and benefited large farms - to a new movement to help smaller farmers take advantage of the latest technology.
Farm workers' unions have dismissed the helpline as a political gimmick, arising from the fact that general elections are due in April. Farmers make up the single largest voting bloc in the country.