The main trigger point of this initiative was Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s speech at San Jose SAP center where he said, “Sometimes in my country we used to hear people say that something has to be done to stop this ‘brain drain’- this needs to stop. The land of India produces a lot of gems. We have continued to produce brain after brain, a growth of brains. This ‘brain drain’ can also become a ‘brain gain’. Therefore, I have a different way of looking at this. What people see as a brain drain, I see as a ‘brain deposit’. And this brain that we have put on deposit is looking for opportunities, and the day it finds an opportunity, this brain is going to be used for the benefit of Mother India with interest.”

This speech inspired Mr. Bajpai so much while attending Indian Community Reception at SAP Center and decided to do something for his Motherland (India). During that time there was a lot of discussion on Smart Cities in India. As he was born and raised in Village and Software Engineer by profession so he thought that why not he should do something for Villages via Technology. He studied various research papers and case studies of model villages across the world and prepared technology centric development plan for Rural India. Then Mr. Bajpai discussed this plan with his close friend Yogesh in India and after various brainstorming sessions, they both came up with concept called SmartGaon.

In mid-2017, As part of pilot project, Mr. Bajpai traveled to India and developed his home Village Taudhakpur (Raebareli) into Smart Village based on SmartGaon Model with the help from his elder brother and Sarpanch Mr. Kartikay Shankar Bajpai & local Government administration. As part development, we installed digitized public address systems, CCTV cameras, Dustbins, Wi-Fi Zones, smart farming practices, mobile app facility in the form of SmartGaon App for global connectivity and other modern amenities. Taudhakpur has been deemed as the first “SmartGaon” (Smart village) of India.