The founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, called on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed ‘Digital India’ among other initiatives.
They discussed a wide range of issues revolving around the innovative use of Facebook as a platform to engage with a large audience in the service of humanity.
The Prime Minister spoke to Zuckerberg about the Swachh Bharat Mission. It may be recalled that that the Prime Minister shared his ‘Why Clean India’ (Before) and ‘My Clean India’ photo along with a video on Facebook on October 3rd, 2014. Mark Zuckerberg said that Facebook wants to work with the Government of India in the fields of healthcare and education, providing a range of services to the people.
Zuckerberg added that Facebook will help in the creation of the Clean India Mobile App and that it would be launched soon. This would give a strong impetus to the Swachh Bharat Mission.
They also talked about the Digital India initiative. Zuckerberg said that he is extremely excited about the Digital India initiative of the Government of India. Prime Minister asked Mr. Zuckerberg to identify some domains of Digital India where Facebook can get involved and help.
During the meeting the Prime Minister pointed that a lot of terrorist elements are using social media platforms to recruit members to join them. This is unfortunate and that we need to think of the role social media can play to stop terror, he added.
Shri Modi recalled how he used social media during campaigns such as tracking the missing children, during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat and how it gave wonderful results. The Prime Minister appealed to Zuckerberg to promote India’s rich tourism potential through Facebook. He asked Facebook to look at how to enhance Internet literacy along with Internet connectivity.
It is important to note that while India’s new Prime Minister is able to generate enthusiasm in the global political circles, the techno-corporates are also showing their increased interest and will to engage with the Indian ecosystem. And as a result, top executives such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and now Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg have come down to Indian sub-continent.
