India-born Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday took to YouTube to back Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi’s “Digital India” campaign focused on connecting 1.2 billion people in the country and said his company would play its part in supporting the initiative. They also accused Modi’s government of cracking down on advocacy groups and harassing scholars and critics. He’ll be meeting with a variety of tech entrepreneurs and CEOs, seeing how we can further develop partnerships that will benefit both the Unites States’ and India’s economy.
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Modi is set to address a huge gathering of more than 20,000 Indian Americans at the SAP Center in San Jose, California on September 27.
“Silicon Valley illustrates the stark difference between what Indians can accomplish outside India versus inside”, enterprise messaging app startup Teamchat CEO Beerud Sheth told Quartz. Here the Prime Minister will have a look at some of the inventions that Google is making in the field of healthcare, in the area of smart grid. “Explained to media CEOs why India is a great opportunity for them & how many regional languages makes India even more special to invest in”, Modi tweeted. The officials said US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz is also coming in personally for a high-profile round table with the prime minister on renewable energy, that is being coordinated by the US Department of Commerce and Stanford University. Early Indian immigrants were agricultural workers in Santa Clara Valley and they are now becoming leaders and innovators in Silicon Valley, Kalra said.
He said, “It is not just about fulfilling the needs of the poor and upholding their dignity, nor about assuming moral responsibility for this, but realising that the very goal of a sustainable future cannot be accomplished without addressing the problem of poverty”.
Apart from that, he is also meeting with Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook, and Adobe Systems’ CEO Shantanu Narayen. “Education and skill development are priorities for us”, he said, adding that India has launched several schemes to empower people.
The Indian American community is working relentlessly to throw a “rock star” welcome reception for the prime minister, something better than what he received at the Madison Square Garden in New York previous year.
During the “Roundtable with American Inc”, the Prime Minister listened to each one of the CEOs present in the room about their concerns and plans for India and how these issues can be resolved, he said. India Today travels to a tech incubator, where more than 50 start ups thrive in close proximity before one of these either shuts down or goes on to become the next Google or Facebook.
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Modi would drive down straight to the airport to be in New York the next morning for his all-important meeting with President Barack Obama.
