Afsar Bitiya (international title: Krishi) is an Indian soap opera which was broadcast on Zee TV from 19 December 2011 to 28 December 2012. Set in Bhagalpur, Bihar, it is the story of Krishna, who rises from modest beginnings to a successful career. The show was dubbed into English and aired on Zee World for an international audience. Plot summary Krishna Raj dreams of becoming a block development officer (BDO). However, her financial status makes it difficult for her to afford a decent education. Her father, Vidyapati Raj, and family have sacrificed to make sure that Krishna receives the education necessary to achieve her goal. The story opens with Krishna rushing to take her first exam towards becoming a BDO. The Tempo gets into an accident, and she is nearly run over by Pintu Singh, the son of the affluent landlord Tun Tun Singh, for whom her father works. However, she makes it there and passes. Thanks to Babloo Singh, the elder son of Tun Tun Singh, Krishna receives free tuition and training at his Coaching Center. However, her mother and brother do not support her efforts to achieve her education. Moreover, her father's brother, Bihari and his wife Dhahati want their daughter Pinky to become a BDO and have resorted to bribes and other illegal activities to make it possible. The family taunt Vidyapati and his family and the mother and daughter mock Krishna's appearance and call her Koyla Khadaan (Coal Quarry) because of her dark complexion. Pintu Singh admires Krishna's courage and perseverance and becomes her advocate; he makes sure she gets the material she needs to study for her MAINS exam and later in the story assists his brother Babloo Singh and Krishna's father in kidnapping Krishna to take her MAINS exam. Krishna's mother worries about Swati, Krishna's elder sister, who is not getting married. The family were able to marry off the eldest sister, Manisha, but never fully paid off the dowry and have hardly any to give towards Swati's marriage. A proposal is offered and Bihari takes the opportunity to sabotage Krishna's studies of becoming a BDO and arranges for Swati to get married without a dowry with the offer of Krishna's hand in marriage to the elder widowed brother. The mother reluctantly agrees much to the anger of the father who was not present at the proposal as he is called away on business