0:00:30 > 0:00:35Driving in India is an experience.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40The roads are crammed and the horn is omnipresent and the rules are...
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Well, they're there somewhere, I'm sure.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47And that's why we will not be doing a story about self driving cars
0:00:47 > 0:00:49in India any time soon.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53And despite the fact that it seems like everybody here owns a car,
0:00:53 > 0:00:55that's not true.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59Many people choose to travel by train instead.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02But if you think that is any less intense...
0:01:02 > 0:01:08Think again.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Yeah, about those rules...
0:01:11 > 0:01:15Mumbai Central Station is a massive, heaving hub connecting the city
0:01:15 > 0:01:18to the north and east of India.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21But if you look closely, you will see something else
0:01:21 > 0:01:24connecting the commuters to the rest of the world.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28116 wireless access points provide free Wi-Fi to anybody
0:01:28 > 0:01:31with an Indian phone number.
0:01:31 > 0:01:35It is provided by Google which says that about 2.5 TB
0:01:36 > 0:01:41are being downloaded here every day.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44And here is the interesting part, this is not just about this station.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48Along India's railway tracks lie 45,000 kilometres of optical fibre
0:01:48 > 0:01:54and Google is piping Internet access down those cables to feed Wi-Fi
0:01:54 > 0:01:59access to 114 other train stations as well.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02The man overseeing the project is Gulzar Azad, who I caught up
0:02:02 > 0:02:06with while he was waiting for a train.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11If you had to take one place in the country where you wanted
0:02:11 > 0:02:17tremendous fibre and you had to have reliable power,
0:02:17 > 0:02:19relatively speaking, power is a challenge
0:02:19 > 0:02:22across the country, and you had to have the entire country walking
0:02:22 > 0:02:27through it there is only one place, that is a railway station.
0:02:27 > 0:02:29Can you guarantee that all services on Google's Wi-Fi
0:02:29 > 0:02:32will be treated equally?
0:02:32 > 0:02:36Absolutely.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40I think the whole motivation for us, if you look at the reason why we did
0:02:40 > 0:02:44this was to see if we could provide an open Internet, completely open
0:02:44 > 0:02:52with access to the entire web.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55The way the web was designed.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59So, there is a fibre optic network rolling out from train stations
0:02:59 > 0:03:03like this to the vast rural areas of this enormous country.
0:03:03 > 0:03:09And David hopped on a train to find out what effect that's having
0:03:09 > 0:03:14elsewhere in India.
0:03:14 > 0:03:24It is hard not to be romantic about the railways of India.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27British colonial rulers laid track for control,
0:03:27 > 0:03:37shifting resources - mostly out - and prising open markets.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Now it is about moving people, millions a day.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43And thanks to optic fibre, data.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47I took the train to Jaipur station to investigate.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50It has proper broadband and it is free.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54People are filling their booths.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Apart from some controversy, at another station where commuters
0:03:57 > 0:04:02were using free Wi-Fi to download hard-core pornography,
0:04:02 > 0:04:11the provision of high-speed Wi-Fi has been almost universally praised.
0:04:11 > 0:04:1890,000 people pass through Jaipur station every day.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21I use the Internet for news and entertainment.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26Mainly for office work.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30For this student journalist it means she can keep tabs
0:04:31 > 0:04:33on breaking stories.
0:04:36 > 0:04:38Early in the morning, the world changes like...
0:04:38 > 0:04:39So many things change.
0:04:39 > 0:04:46I have to come and check.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Indian stations are full of thriving businesses,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50feeding off or simply feeding the thousands streaming
0:04:50 > 0:04:52through them every day.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Free Wi-Fi has been a boon to local businesses here.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Ashok runs a tea stall on the platform.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01He makes more money now that his customers can make online
0:05:01 > 0:05:04payments to him.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07I use the Wi-Fi when my 4G signal does not catch.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10When that does not work, I use Wi-Fi, especially
0:05:10 > 0:05:13when a customer pays digitally.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16I need it to confirm I have received the payment.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20Digital payments are worth about 30%-50% of my takings.
0:05:20 > 0:05:27This is music to the years of people managing the railways of India.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32A nationalised industry that runs at a loss.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35They think that high-speed Wi-Fi could be a good pull
0:05:35 > 0:05:40for a station like Jaipur.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43They plan to build a huge concourse and attract retail
0:05:43 > 0:05:44and services business.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46It might just be an earner.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50As Wi-Fi expands and it becomes taken for granted then I think
0:05:50 > 0:05:52people will transfer more and more of their business.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54Jaipur is a domestic and international tourist hub
0:05:54 > 0:05:58of high repute.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01People come out here from all parts of the world.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05And when you have a huge concourse it becomes an area where you can
0:06:05 > 0:06:06have shops and entertainment spots.
0:06:06 > 0:06:12For Google, more people online is more people to sell to.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15India's railway is the country's backbone.
0:06:15 > 0:06:21Its public Wi-Fi is poised to be at least as far reaching.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44This is the Andumen Irdu Primary School in Calcutta.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47There are 155 kids here from Grade 1 through to 7,
0:06:47 > 0:06:49and a whole bunch of dedicated teachers.
0:06:49 > 0:07:15And this is how they start their day.
0:07:15 > 0:07:16Over in Virjaya Nijak's classroom, things are
0:07:16 > 0:07:17a little more serious...
0:07:17 > 0:07:21So, at the back of the projector, there's a device which is plugged
0:07:21 > 0:07:24in and is running videos on English, maths and science.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26The videos are made for the entire region.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28But then they're dubbed in different dialects,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30different languages, depending on where they're sent to.
0:07:30 > 0:07:31Today, we're learning about fractions.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35It is great teaching tool - as long as there is electricity...
0:07:35 > 0:07:46But there are plenty of times when there isn't.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50This is a village school.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53Earlier, it would be difficult to teach because of power cuts.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56As the day passed by in the afternoon, we would have power
0:07:56 > 0:07:57cuts for more than two hours.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01That's why the projector and tablet are hooked up to this box,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04which is itself attached to a solar panel on the roof.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07Together, they can provide up to five hours of electricity a day,
0:08:07 > 0:08:10meaning that classes don't have to be interrupted or cancelled
0:08:10 > 0:08:12if the power cuts out.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Then, we started using solar power, as it is an easy and natural source
0:08:15 > 0:08:19of generating electricity.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22We have introduced a study of generating power through solar
0:08:22 > 0:08:24energy to our students, and are teaching them the importance
0:08:24 > 0:08:25and working of it.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29We also explain to our students that this process will help us
0:08:29 > 0:08:32in the future to generate electricity.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35This whole system has been provided by the Selco Foundation,
0:08:35 > 0:08:38an Indian charity with the aim of hoping to alleviate poverty
0:08:39 > 0:08:41by improving access to energy.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46With this, they will get a better education through audiovisual
0:08:46 > 0:08:51teaching, and there is no problem of electricity.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54So any time teachers can take their students
0:08:54 > 0:08:58to the classroom, they can teach through this medium.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01Selco and other NGOs they work with pay for half of the cost
0:09:01 > 0:09:05of installing the projector and solar system -
0:09:05 > 0:09:07the other half comes from local schools or local governments.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12How important is the projector?
0:09:12 > 0:09:14TRANSLATION: Before this project came in to use it,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16we had very few students.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18But since, we have started using the solar power,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22our number of students has increased in a good way.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25We have students coming to us from different villages to learn,
0:09:25 > 0:09:28and not only students - we have other schools coming down
0:09:28 > 0:09:31to our institute for smart classes.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34The smart class is a good way of teaching kids these days.
0:09:34 > 0:09:41They seem to enjoy and learn more than usual.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44After we introduced smart class, our school stands proudly
0:09:44 > 0:09:45in the educational sector.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47We plan to grow larger as the years pass by.
0:09:48 > 0:09:48Cool.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50Whoa!
0:09:51 > 0:09:53The same system is already in hundreds of rural schools,
0:09:53 > 0:10:00and they're aiming to add hundreds more this year.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04And it's not just key for schools - across rural India, businesses can
0:10:04 > 0:10:08be helped massively by having a reliable power supply.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13Somana is a seamstress who lives a short drive from Kindapur.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16She became the breadwinner for her family after her father
0:10:16 > 0:10:17was taken ill.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20The more clothing she can prepare, the more she gets paid.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22With her old method, she could fix a couple
0:10:22 > 0:10:31of items per day.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36But thanks to the solar panel on her roof, she can whiz
0:10:36 > 0:10:38through five or six per day.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Plus, she has a fan, a TV and a light, so she can work
0:10:42 > 0:10:44earlier and later.
0:10:44 > 0:10:50One-quarter of India's rural population lives below the official
0:10:50 > 0:10:53poverty line - that's 260 million people whose livelihoods could be
0:10:53 > 0:10:56improved by the addition of basic facilities like electricity.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58And of course, one key way of helping people out
0:10:58 > 0:11:00of poverty is...
0:11:01 > 0:11:05..education.
0:11:05 > 0:11:10It's always such a privilege to come to a place like this and see how
0:11:10 > 0:11:14the simplest technology can make a world of difference.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16That's it from India for the moment.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20You can see plenty of photos and more backstage
0:11:20 > 0:11:24gossip on Twitter.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26Thanks for watching.
0:11:26 > 0:11:39See you soon.