India’s Jugalbandi AI bot steps into the light at MS Build

Eighteen-year-old Vandana from Biwan teaches part-time at a local elementary school to pay for college. Her mother is a community health worker and her father is unwell and unable to work.

When exploring further education options, community volunteers directed her to Jugalbandi, an AI chatbot that can be accessed through WhatsApp. She typed her question in Hindi, asking “What kind of scholarships are available for me in Political Science, Hindi and History.” The chatbot replied with a list of central and state government programmes. She picked one and asked about eligibility criteria. Jugalbandi provided those and also told her what documents she needed to support the application. A traditional web search would have given her a long list of links to plow through.