New Delhi: Taking forward his Digital India initiative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited Google and Facebook headquarters. At Facebook, Modi took part in a Townhall Q&A, where he became emotional while recalling the hardships his mother had to undergo, including washing utensils in neighbours' homes, to bring up her children.
After attending the town hall interaction at Facebook, he headed to the Google headquarters. He was given a tour of four critical projects at Google and was also told about their value for Digital India. Later, Modi attended in a hackathon at Google. Many youngsters in their 20s had come from India to participate in it.
Modi at Facebook
Projecting India as a "heaven" for investors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government is working on deregulation and ensuring 'ease of doing business' as he aims to convert the country's economy from 8 trillion dollars to 20 trillion dollars.
In a Townhall Q&A at the Facebook Headquarters along with its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Modi spoke about efforts to revive faith among foreign investors, saying reforms are taking place speedily and the government had managed to "restore the lost confidence" during the last 15 months as he appeared to take a dig at the previous UPA government.
He said his government was laying thrust on three sectors particularly - agriculture, services and manufacturing - along with building the physical and digital infrastructure simultaneously. During the 45-minute session, he also spoke in detail about the benefits of social media, particularly how it has been useful to him to connect with the people within the country and abroad, and how it can help take corrective steps if some government steps go wrong.
He became emotional while answering a question from Zuckerberg on his over 90-year-old mother as he highlighted how she had raised him by going through difficulties like washing utensils of others and working as a labourer.
"It is my dream to convert Indian economy into $20 trillion from the present $8 trillion," Modi said in presence of the audience, which mostly constituted of Indians. Noting that India is a "heaven" for investors, he said, "I do not believe that there is dearth of money. Countries have money but do not know where to invest. I am giving them the address. Here is the place (India).
"We are bringing technology, transparency, efficiency, ease and effectiveness in governance," Modi said.
The Prime Minister asserted that during his 15-month tenure, the "scale and speed" of reforms has improved significantly and even the global bodies like World Bank and IMF have forecast a high growth for India. At the same time, he said India is a huge country and it will take time for the changes to become visible, as he answered a question about the slow pace of reforms. "It is not a scooter whose direction you can see changing easily. A 40-compartment train takes time... India is such a huge country," he said.
While talking about the speed of reforms, Modi appeared to take a dig at the previous governments as he said that nationalisation of banks was undertaken 40 years back but 60 per cent of the population was without a bank account till his dispensation introduced the Jandhan scheme last year.
"180 million accounts were opened within 100 days of our government. This is the speed and scale of change," he said. The nationalisation of banks was undertaken by Indira Gandhi. For the Townhall Q&A, 40,000 questions and comments had been received but Modi answered only six, of which two were from Zuckerberg, during the 45-minute session.
The Facebook chief said he was personally impressed at how Modi used social media to connect with people directly. The Prime Minister said he was aspiring to connect 6 lakh villages of the country with optical fibre network in five years as he understands the importance.
"Earlier, humans used to settle along the rivers. Later habitations used to take place along the highways. In future, people will settle down along the places having optical fibre lines," he said. Modi said, "In the last 15 month, the perception about India has changed. We have regained the lost confidence. This I believe will bring change."
He said when he adopted social media, he never thought that he would one day become the Chief Minister or Prime Minister but was just curious to know the world. "Social media helped me gain information about the world. This brought a big change in my thought process. This connected me with the world and the world accepted me as I am," said Modi while noting that he was not much educated and came from a poor background.
While explaining the benefits of social media, he said, "Government has a problem, there is usually a gulf between government and the people. By the time, you realise that, the five years (term) is over. "But the power of social media is such that you know about reactions instantly. There is instant voting on decisions because of social media. If some decisions are wrong, they can be corrected. Earlier, it could happen only after five years.
"This is why I tell leaders all around the world, don't run away from social media...Get connected. Good governments run on feedback. For realtime feedback, social media is great help and if a government is alert, it can take corrective measures and speed up work."
Modi at Google
Prime Minister also visited the Google campus where he was given a tour of some of the latest products and forward-looking researches being done by the technology giant.
He interacted with CEO Sundar Pichai, and Google co-founder Larry Page and former CEO Eric Schmidt.
Modi asked that Khagaul to be pinpointed on Google Earth when he was given a glimpse of the unique tool. Khagaul near Patna is where the great ancient astronomer Aryabhatta had an observatory.
"Projects for progress," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said of the various projects which were shown to Modi by Google CEO Sunder Pichai.
Pichai explained navigational, safety and other uses of Street View and Google Earth to Prime Minister Modi.
"It is a visit to Google Guru," Modi said as he reached its campus from nearby Facebook headquarters.
Modi was given a tour of four critical projects and their value for the 'Digiatal India' campaign.
Another project that was shown to Modi was Project Iris, smart lens that measure glucose levels.
Later, the PM attended a hackathon at Google.
Before leaving Google, Modi had a group photo with its top officials.
In his brief remarks, Modi stressed the need to "encourage the hackathon culture" in India so that the youth are inspired to find solutions to the country's problems.
With social media becoming a part of today's lifestyle, Modi said people spend a significant amount of time on it. "This is just the beginning," Modi said, adding that in the years to come he expects this to bring qualitative change in life of people.
Sundar Pichai, Google CEO announced that Google would provide high-speed Internet services at 100 Indian railway stations and would expand this to another 400 by next year. Social media, he said, has become a strong and new power of democracy.
He urged Google employees to help him meet the challenges being faced by India including poverty.
(With inputs from agencies)
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