In order for a newsgroup to be of use to all people irrespective of their literacy levels, a Voice Based News Group (VOBA) has been developed. This paper presents VOBA, an online discussion group designed for use in rural communities. Recognizing the fact that large segments of the population in developing countries have low literacy levels, VOBA provides voice based inputs and outputs. The user while navigating through the web pages is assisted by voice messages. The voice interfaces have been provided for various Indian vernacular languages. © Springer-Verlag 2004.