Mark Zuckerberg on his first trip to India met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the use of social media platform in checking terror activities alongside a lot of other issues. Zuckerberg also met IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and other industry leaders.
Zuckerberg, who called on the Prime Minister, also expressed his interest in working with the government in the healthcare and education sector. They discussed a wide range of issues revolving around the digital expansion in the country, use of Facebook as a platform to engage with a large audience in the service of humanity.
According to PTI, Facebook’s CEO had earlier said that he was looking forward to meeting PM Narendra Modi. “I know that he has launched the Digital India initiative and we’re very excited about it”, he had said at the time.
“India has thousands of villages that don’t have access to a mobile network and Mr Modi is committed to bringing them online. I will spend a lot of time listening and learning about what we can do to help.”
He further added that, he wanted to discuss the role, Facebook can play in connecting villages and understand Modi’s Digital India vision.
On this Modi also mentioned about his experience of using social media platform during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat and the positive result from that. The Prime Minister appealed to Zuckerberg to promote India’s rich tourism potential via Facebook and how to enhance Internet literacy along with Internet connectivity.
Zuckerberg’s said “Connecting more than a billion people with internet is not only going to improve lives of people in India but helping innovation and imagination of Indian people will help turn around the world and we are very excited in opportunities in India.”
Stressing on the importance of connectivity, Zuckerberg had said while India has about 243 million Internet users and have 100 million plus Facebook users, there are over a billion people in the country who do not have access to the internet. “Connectivity cannot just be a privilege of the rich and powerful. It is a human right.”
After the meeting, Modi tweeted, “It was wonderful meeting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. We discussed a wide range of issues.” Interestingly, if we notice then Facebook founder for this important meeting with the Prime Minister wore a dark suit (otherwise he is usually seen in — jeans and t-shirt).
It’s worth mentioning that, Facebook will also extend help in developing the Clean India Mobile App that would give a strong drive to the Swachh Bharat Mission. This app would be launched soon.
