New Delhi (The Hawk): According to Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, India's G20 presidency will be a fantastic opportunity to forge an agreement on creating an open, connected, safe, and useful internet for all people.
Pichai said it is tremendously meaningful to be honoured in this way "by the country that shaped me" after receiving the Padma Bhushan, India's highest civilian honour, from Taranjit Singh Sandhu, India's ambassador to the US, in San Francisco.
"I am a product of India. It travels with me everywhere. I was lucky to have parents who made significant sacrifices so that I could have opportunities to pursue my interests and to grow up in a family that valued education and information "Late on Friday, Pichai stated in a blog entry.
He said that the "Digital India" initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has undoubtedly accelerated progress, and added, "I'm glad that Google continues to invest in India, working in partnership with governments, businesses, and communities across two transformative decades."
Google recently announced that it would invest $10 billion in India's digital future, working to make internet access more accessible and affordable, developing products for the country's particular needs, assisting businesses of all sizes with their digital transformation, and using artificial intelligence to address significant societal issues.
According to Pichai, "We're also investing heavily in digital skilling and have taught over 55,000 teachers in conjunction with the government and local organisations, as well as over 1 million women through our WomenWill Entrepreneurship Program."
Along with this, the tech giant funded over 100,000 Google Career Certificates in association with Tata Strive and the Nasscom Foundation.
"Using a recent development in machine learning, we added 24 new languages to Google Translate earlier this year. There are eight of them that are indigenous to India "Pichai remarked.
(Inputs from Agencies)