Meet online entrepreneurs from the gallis and nukkads of India!

Hyderabad, October 3, 2016: It may be a fact that people are moving away from rural areas to urban areas. It is no doubt that people are migrating to big cities.

But, what is not known and also shocking to many of us is that Tier 2 and Tier 3 and 4 cities of India are more tech savvy than their unban counterparts. They are not only ready for technology, but they are much ahead of us said Jasminder Singh Gulati, a Web Master while addressing at the TEDx Hyderabad meet recently.

He revealed this much to the surprise of the 1500 audience, the stunning stories, more than 40 of how Tier 2, 3 and even 4 cities, using technology in their everyday life.

The digital revolution beyond our wildest imagination is taking place in the remote corners of India as we speak. We have the opportunity to transform the lives of people in a way that was hard to imagine a couple of decades ago. We, at Digital Desh, bring to you these awe-inspiring stories of the real entrepreneurs of India. We have unraveled the "Inside of the Internet of India" with Digital Desh announced Jasminder Singh Gulati, Co-founder, NowFloats.

Some of his findings are eye openers to many of us.

Ritik from Orchha town(8,500 population) in Tikamgardh District of Madhya Pradesh story is one such an eye opener.

Ritik, a 15 year old boy from the village of Orchha learnt English and Spanish on his own using his smart phone and Google Translate. His father runs a small retail business. In order to interact better with his clients and boost his father’s sales, Ritik learnt English and Spanish on his smart phone using Google Translate. He also uses a plethora of learning apps to help him at school. He recharges for Rs. 20 every time he runs out of data and uses an App called Mcent to get free data top ups. Ritik wants to join the civil services when he grows up.

Another interesting story is of Pawan, a Safari Organiser at Pushkar in Rajasthan. “Mein tho mobile use nahi kartha tha. Internet bilkul bhi maloom nahi tha. Ek tourist ke vaje se, ab mere pass 400 camels hai”(I don’t use mobile. I don’t know how to use internet. Courtey to a traveler I have 400 camels) My camels grew in numbers after a kind tourist listed me on TripAdvisor says Pawan.

Pawan organizes desert safaris in the heart of Rajasthan--Pushkar. He progressed from working for safari operators to owning 400 camels, because of the internet. Pawan used WhatsApp, Facebook, TripAdvisor and Google Chrome.

"The internet has helped us cut the middleman and has changed our lives forever", inform Deepak & Dhanraj from the Village Guda Bishnoi near Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The duo buys and sells antique jeeps, pups, Marwari horses on the popular online portal OLX. They even promote their antique jeep village safaris themselves on TripAdvisor, an American Travel Website and the Lonley Planet, the largest travel guide book. The other app they use besides the above is Flipkart.

Sandeep Sharma, a 27years old farmer in Mandu Village in Dhar District of Madhya Pradesh inform that he learnt how to farm soya beans on Google. This farmer turned netizen worked at Vodafone and knows how to use his smartphone well. He does online search about different seeds and sowing techniques to apply the same to his farming. He regularly checks YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp.

These stunning stories of unsung tech savvy villagers came into light as a result of an initiative "Digital Desh Drive", taken up by NowFloats, a Hyderabad based technology start-up that powers more than 2,50,000 SME businesses to get discovered online via frictionless technology.

TEDx Hyderabad always looks for these kind of stories and ideas worth spreading informed Viivek Varma, Co-organiser of the TEDx Hyderabad.

The four crew members undertook journey from Amritsar to Kanyakumari in two different occasions and travelled for 18days. Travelling more than 4000 kms n a car through 18 cities, town and villages of Rajasthan, Madhyapradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to get a pulse of the 'real power' of Digital India.

Those who travelled include Jasminder Singh Gulati, Ishaan Gupta, Ryan Dalton and Udit Bahri.

These two journeys were undertaken into the heart of India's small and medium business to know how it is adopting technology

The Initiative was sponsored by Google India, IAMAI, iSPRIT, PayTm and AskMe.

The findings of the Digital Desh –‘Inside the Internet of India’ compiled into a book which was launched by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Communications & IT, Government of India.

IMRB International and Internet and industry body Mobile Association of India (IMAI) which published in 2015 some insights into Social media penetration in rural India revealed that the penetration has doubled in the previous year, compared with urban areas, which witnessed around 35 per cent growth year-on-year. Which is truly reflected on ground by these live stories.

Sunny Sen, a 36years old Mobile store owner in Mandu Village in Madhya Pradesh says he has 70 apps on his phone. And he likes 9 apps better than WhatsApp. Sunny shops extensively on Flipkart and uses mPesa for his recharges. The locals go to him to buy for anything and everything phone related. He makes a killing installing apps and putting songs on customer phones.

Google toh sabhi ka baap hai(Google is the daddy of the Internet), says Mohammed Faazi, a 17 years old Student in Dhobi Ghat in MP. He doesnt own a phone, but his father assured him a phone if he scores more than 60 per cent. He uses his friend's pones to keep updated.

AK Jain, a Principle of Govt Higher Secondary School in MP says "mere school mein 62 teachers hai aur sabke paas Android phones hain(We have 62 teachers in our school and all of them have Android phones)

Market mein aisa koi bhi phone nahi hai, jo maine own hani kya hai(There is no phone in the market that i havent owned at least once) says Pradeep of Udaipur in Rajasthan. When the team met his he owned 88 smart phones.

It is not just a thing of youth, even old are also adapting technology. Age has nothing to do with being Digital. Ask this 80-year-old Doctor Uncles in Pushkar in Rajasthan. He even reads the Bhagavad Gita on his phone! Cool, huh?

So friends rural is advanced. Don't mistake it to be backward.