Vinton Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, on Tuesday, met Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad to discuss the role technology giant can play in supporting the government’s vision for a Digital India.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event here, Mr. Cerf said, “It is a very early stage of discussion. Google is interested in being helpful (to the Digital India project). We have some ideas. We want to share with them those ideas to find out which of them make sense. Maybe they will have better ideas than us.”
“It is clear that the private sector is going to play a major role, but it will not work unless basic infrastructure that the government proposes to bring in is out into place,” he added.
The government’s ambitious Digital India project aims to connect all gram panchayats by broadband Internet, promote e-governance and transform India into a connected knowledge economy.
Besides, the two discussed growing Internet penetration in the country and ways to bring more women online as well as helping small and medium businesses harness the potential of the online medium.
