While access to smart phones is no longer difficult, the content on the internet is still largely in English. To bridge this language gap, two youngsters — Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka — have launched a question and answer platform, “Vokal” in Tamil .

Introducing the app here this afternoon, the duo said that it is aimed at giving the common man unparalleled access by domain specific experts. “It is the first Indian question and answer platform to have audio and video answers,” said Radhakrishna, founder and CEO of the platform.

In other languages soon

The platform will soon be available in 10 other Indian languages such as Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Oriya and Assamese to enable users ask queries and receive responses in their preferred language. Stating that language diversity is unique to India, Radhakrishna said, “we look at this diversity as a reality and an opportunity. Vernacular users can use this platform to learn something new everyday. The users can ask questions in their local language either through voice message or text. An expert, who has been vetted, verified and approved, will respond to the query.”

The platform has over 10 lakh questions and answers and over two million monthly users.

“We are aiming to reach 100 million monthly users within the next 18 months,” said Bidawatka, co-founder, Vokal.

“Our innovation lies in Indianisation of existing solutions and providing the easiest way for people to express themselves. We are on a mission to cater to 500 million vernacular internet users and want to be one of the first few to achieve this milestone via Vokal,” he added.

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