Facebook founder announces $1 million fund to help developers develop apps for farmers, migrants and women
The Modi government would like to see Facebook with an "Indian" touch. While Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg wants to take internet to the grassroots, the government is likely to propose that the social media site be available in Indian languages and seek collaboration in India-specific social issues.
When Zuckerberg meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday, he is set to discuss low-cost internet services.
"India is an amazing country with unlimited potential. It is a place of big ambitions and Facebook is deeply committed to the country. We see lot of growth for us here. Tomorrow I'm meeting the prime minister. He is committed to connecting villages online and we are excited to see how Facebook can help," Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is creating a $1 million fund to help developers develop apps for farmers, migrants and women. This will be a contest to drive new apps and services in local languages.
"Since 2007, Facebook has been working on new apps and services in local languages. About 65 per cent use Facebook in a language other than English, including 10 Indian languages," he said at an interaction.
Zuckerberg, who was of the view that access to internet is a human right, said the whole world was being robbed of creativity and ideas because so many people in India were not online. "243 million people in India are on the net. A huge area is unconnected. India has embraced the internet, but has a long way to go," he said.
Facebook also announced Internet.org – an innovation challenge in India – to recognise those who are working to make internet more relevant to those who are still not covered. Founding members of the project include Facebook, Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung. They will be coming together for lower-cost and superior quality smartphones for use by people who currently do not have access to internet.
Meanwhile, the government is likely to take up collaboration on social issues like the girl child, female foeticide, education and cleaning Ganga, sources said.
When Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg had met information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in July, she had evinced interest in sectors like health and education.
After the US, Facebook's biggest user base is in India. Sources said once the national optical fibre network is launched, then e-commerce, e-health and e-education services would become popular.
Both Modi and Prasad are on Facebook. While Modi has 22,891,235 likes on Facebook, Prasad has 1.40 lakh.
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