NEW DELHI. Facebook will help the government develop a mobile application 'Clean India' and provide expertise in the areas of health and sanitation, founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Communications and Technology information Ravi Shankar Prasad.
"Zuckerberg is excited about India digital initiative. I asked to identify certain areas where Facebook can help us in that. Mr. Zuckerberg I also asked to identify how Facebook can help promote the rich tourism potential of India in all the world, "Modi wrote on his Facebook page. Modi had brought up the subject of Facebook to help promote tourism earlier this year, Facebook COO Sheryl and when Sandberg joined him in visiting India.
Modi has relied on social media to spread the word and the tool is used to improve governance in various sectors.
Prasad published several photos of her encounter on Twitter and Facebook, talking about possible uses of Facebook in the sanitation and health. "He has shown keen interest to involve Facebook in the digital program in India and broadband distribution, e-health, e-education, etc. In fact, there is great scope for working together. Their idea of promoting indigenous entrepreneurship in the field was truly remarkable. fact is my vision and mission to India in the future can produce a lot bigger as #MarkZuckerberg. Good luck Mark, "the minister wrote on his page Facebook.
However, before he kept his appointment with Modi and Prasad, Zuckerberg had another appointment - that the inhabitants of the village in Alwar district of Rajasthan Chandauli. The visit, which had been kept secret, took many by surprise.
Zuckerberg was visiting a "digi center" run by a non-profit body called Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), which is intended to be a central point in the village to access the internet and other technical services. "The school and college youth in particular were very excited to see it," said Osama Manzar, founder of DEF which operates 65 such centers in the country. The Chandauli center is supported by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
Not everyone recognized him. "When asked if they knew who he was, a young boy said - '! Leg Mujhe hai, Yeh hai to Jookerberg (! Know, it's Zuckerberg)'" Manzar, who later shared photos of the visit on Facebook said and Twitter. "He talked about the importance of being connected. He said that India is a beautiful country and the world can only know about it once you are connected," Manzar, who has worked with Facebook in various local campaigns said.
Zuckerberg was in India to promote backed by Facebook 'Internet dot org campaign "to expand the reach of the Internet." Elaborating on the success achieved in Zambia in the provision of free basic services to people, requested the Government of India for Facebook support this initiative in India. The Minister welcomed this idea and spread all the support from the government to move forward, to "a government statement said.
