President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday exhorted Google CEO Sundar Pichai, along with a range of business leaders, which included Kunal Bahl, CEO, Snapdeal; and Sunil Munjal, joint managing director, Hero Motor Corp; to use technology and promote education.
At an event at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday, which came at the fag end of Mr.Pichai’s visit to Delhi, Mr.Mukherjee said that in spite of possessing “brilliant minds” and top technical talent, Indian universities weren’t among the top 100 in global rankings.
Post a media event on Wednesday, where he mentioned plans >to provide Wi-Fi with helium balloon s and bring several railway stations under a reliable internet network, Mr. Pichai’s meeting with Mr.Mukherjee was centred around ways in which education could be made more accessible with technology.
“We can create a new India,” said Mr.Mukherjee, “by harnessing these resources (young minds) and not by mere speeches and some allocations (in the Union Budget).”
Others present at the event included senior technocrats from the telecommunications and information technology ministries, National Association of Software and Service Companies and CEOs of e-commerce companies including Practo, Paytm and InMobi. Some of them gave presentations on the initiatives taken to promote entrepreneurship, bring more women into leading positions in companies and make education more accessible to all.
