The Government of Andhra Pradesh and Google India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today to support Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s vision of transforming the state of Andhra Pradesh to “Digital AP.” To realise this vision, Google India – in collaboration with the Andhra Pradesh state government – will launch a number of initiatives aimed towards bridging the Digital divide, and enabling skill development, leading to economic growth, the Internet giant said.
Andhra Pradesh has just returned to the rule of the Telugu Desam Party under Naidu. Naidu has a reputation as a tech-friendly minister and was key to putting Hyderabad on the IT map of the world with a focused and prolonged project more than a decade ago. He has promised to boost the state’s economy with the Digital AP project, after coming to power earlier this year.
Under the memorandum, Google India will work with the AP government to get women and small and medium businesses online and help them gain from the internet economy.
The highlights of the MOU also include:
● Helping AP government make their websites mobile-ready and accessible in the local language
● Promoting Internet Safety amongst children and government officials
● Improve and get more local language content online
● Collaborate with AP government to scale initiatives to promote digital literacy amongst women, and helping small medium businesses in AP to gain from the Internet economy and going digital.
“We want to become the first state to embrace the Prime minister’s vision of Digital India and set an example for other states to follow. We are happy to announce a number of initiatives along with Google, that will serve as the foundation in achieving the digital AP vision. I will personally be involved in ensuring the roll out of these initiatives and monitor the impact” said Naidu.
Speaking on the occasion, RajanAnandan, Vice President and Managing Director, Google India said, “Creating awareness about the benefits of Internet and promoting its adoption amongst women, small medium businesses and children can deliver a huge economic impact for the state. Improving accessibility to government websites and scaling the local language web can open up a whole new opportunity for local entrepreneurs and make the Internet more meaningful to non english speaking users.”
The Government of Andhra Pradesh intends to develop AP into a global digital development hub with it’s Digital AP program. The vision laid out under the programme is in in tandem with the Prime Minister’s Digital India plan.