Google and MEITY take up new initiatives to empower citizens and create opportunities

In keeping with Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a “New India”, Google India and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) have announced a set of initiatives aimed at empowering citizens and creating abundant opportunities for all.

Some key areas outlined as part of this initiative include enabling a safe and secure digital payments experience, imparting digital skills for artisans and Android skills training for students and developers. The announcements were made at an event in New Delhi by Aruna Sundarajan, MEITY Secretary, and Rajan Anandan, Vice-President, South-East Asia and India, Google.

Aruna Sundarajan, Secretary, MEITY, said, “The Ministry of Electronics and IT intends to give impetus to the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s recent call for a 'New India'. Collaboration with Google will be hugely beneficial in harnessing the capabilities of technology for the ‘India growth’ story.”

Rajan Anandan, Vice-President, South-East Asia and India, Google, said, “We are delighted to support Hon’ble PM Modi’s vision of creating a ‘New india’ where technology unleashes a wave of new opportunities. We are committed to and look forward to working with MEITY across these broad range of initiatives and help every Indian to leverage the power of the Internet.”

Google India and MEITY will support the launch of a “Digital Payments Security Alliance” in collaboration with the Data Security Council of India (DSCI). The alliance will bring together several stakeholders from the ecosystem, including banks, Fintech companies and government. The alliance will enable key initiatives to make security a foundation for India’s twin-pronged Digital and Financial Inclusion Programs. A campaign to create community awareness on safe and secure practices, as users adopt digital/mobile payments, capacity building through appropriate Train the Trainer Programs for CSCs, Financial Inclusion Agencies, will be some of the key priorities.

Google India which had announced Digital Unlocked program to impart training to SMBs earlier this year will extend this training in partnership with MEITY to over 100,000 artisans per year across India. The aim is to enable them to tap into newer markets through improved visibility and discoverability of their products through the internet. The training will be delivered by the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT). Google India will equip the National Institute trainers with training modules and content. And, they will, in turn, do the outreach by leveraging the 10,000 NIELIT centres across the country. Additionally, Google India will also provide mobile training labs to reach artisan clusters across India.

Google had announced the launch of its Android Skilling program with an aim of training two million developers in India. This included developing a specially-designed instructor-led training program course curriculum. Google will extend this course curriculum to the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) who will, in turn, train over 100K developers and students through its network of centres.

Other initiatives that Google India and MEITY will undertake in India include proliferating the Indic web, enhancing government’s online presence, especially on mobile platforms to enable citizen engagement and training and capacity building programs on digital tools.