A chatbot called Jugalbandi is bringing information about government programs to people in Indian villages through WhatsApp. Built with Microsoft, the open-source initiative OpenNyAI and AI4Bharat, it aims to make those services easier to learn about across language and literacy barriers.
Finding information in local languages
Jugalbandi provides information on more than 170 government programs in 10 indigenous languages. People can ask questions in their local language and get answers as text or voice messages, using WhatsApp as the point of access.
The service combines language models from AI4Bharat with reasoning models from Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. In practice, that means the chatbot is designed to understand a question and return relevant information through a familiar messaging platform.
That approach matters because information can be difficult to reach when it is presented in a language someone does not know well or through media they cannot regularly access. A voice option may also make it easier for people facing literacy challenges to ask for help.
Addressing gaps beyond India’s cities
India is the world’s second-largest wireless market, but the source describes a sharp divide between technology progress in cities and access in smaller towns and villages. It says only 11% of the country’s population is proficient in English, while 57% are comfortable with Hindi.
Those figures point to a challenge for public information: a service may exist, but people still need a practical way to discover whether it applies to them and understand how it works. Language choice, literacy and access to conventional media all shape whether information reaches the people it is meant to serve.
Microsoft said language barriers leave large numbers of people unable to access government programs. Jugalbandi addresses that problem by letting users ask questions in local languages through a widely recognized platform, rather than requiring them to find and navigate information in English.
A broader ambition for the chatbot
Microsoft sees Jugalbandi eventually helping villagers with a broader range of needs. The project is presented as an early step toward expanding access to information, with India serving as a place to develop and apply the technology.
At Microsoft’s Build conference, chief executive Satya Nadella said the technology could make a difference to 8 billion people and spread in days and weeks rather than years and centuries. He connected that ambition to equitable growth and trust in technology that protects fundamental rights.
That vision describes a larger goal than answering questions about programs. If the service expands as Microsoft hopes, the same conversational route could help people get information about more parts of daily life. The source, however, describes that broader assistance as a future ambition rather than a current capability.
Part of a wider effort to widen access
Microsoft is also working with Indian companies on efforts to make information more widely available. One example is Gram Vaani, a Delhi-based firm that operates an interactive voice-responsive platform.
Gram Vaani’s system lets volunteers provide personalized assistance and advice to farmers. The firm says it has amassed 3 million users across northern and central India, illustrating another way voice technology can connect people with human support.
Jugalbandi and Gram Vaani take different approaches, but both use familiar communication channels to help people find information and assistance. For Jugalbandi, the immediate focus is answering questions about government programs in local languages. Its usefulness will depend on whether people can access clear, relevant responses when they need them.