With
Facebook interested in expanding its network of users in India, the
government is expected to take up issues like education, female
foeticide and 'Clean Ganga' campaign for promotion through the social
networking site.
NEW
DELHI: The government is expected to get social networking site
Facebook to promote issues like health and education besides good
governance. This is likely to be the focus when Facebook CEO and
co-founcder Mark Zuckerberg meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi and IT
minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Friday.
The other proposal will be to promote growth of Facebook in other regional languages. Prasad, it is learnt, had suggested the same to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg when she was here earlier.
With Facebook interested in expanding its network of users in India, the government is expected to take up issues like education, empowerment of the girl child, female foeticide and 'Clean Ganga' campaign for promotion through the social networking site, sources said.
They said Facebook is keen for promotion of e-commerce and e-health in India, besides taking up issues relating to expanding in the education sector during its chief's interaction with the government.
Zuckerbuck, on his part, is looking at deeper engagement with the government in expanding internet penetration to villages and promoting creation of regional content.
Zuckerberg is the third high profile CEO of a US-based firm, after Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Microsoft's Satya Nadella, to visit India in last few days.
He announced that Facebook is creating a USD 1 million fund to help develop apps for farmers, migrants and women. There 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.
The government is banking on a mutually effective partnership with Facebook based on the fact that after the US, Facebook has the greatest number of users in India and if it runs in regional languages, the number of users are expected to grow in leaps and bounds.
The other proposal will be to promote growth of Facebook in other regional languages. Prasad, it is learnt, had suggested the same to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg when she was here earlier.
With Facebook interested in expanding its network of users in India, the government is expected to take up issues like education, empowerment of the girl child, female foeticide and 'Clean Ganga' campaign for promotion through the social networking site, sources said.
They said Facebook is keen for promotion of e-commerce and e-health in India, besides taking up issues relating to expanding in the education sector during its chief's interaction with the government.
Zuckerbuck, on his part, is looking at deeper engagement with the government in expanding internet penetration to villages and promoting creation of regional content.
Zuckerberg is the third high profile CEO of a US-based firm, after Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Microsoft's Satya Nadella, to visit India in last few days.
He announced that Facebook is creating a USD 1 million fund to help develop apps for farmers, migrants and women. There 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.
The government is banking on a mutually effective partnership with Facebook based on the fact that after the US, Facebook has the greatest number of users in India and if it runs in regional languages, the number of users are expected to grow in leaps and bounds.
