The Andhra Pradesh Government signed a historic MoU with Google here at CEOs’ conclave on Monday to develop Telugu internet and launch a series of initiatives to transform the State into digital AP in a record time.

Complimenting Google for its association, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said digitalisation and internet literacy should be achieved in tune with the speed with which Google functions.

Google India Vice-President and Managing Director Rajan Anandan and Principal Secretary, IT Sanjay Jaju signed the agreement in the presence of Mr. Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister China Rajappa, Ministers Palle Raghunatha Reddy, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Ch. Ayyanna Patrudu and P. Sujatha.

“We want to become first State to embrace Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Digital India and set an example to other States to follow. I will personally monitor the progress,” Mr. Naidu said.

Google, a top web property specialising innovative search technologies, which was launched by Stanford PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998, will also connect all women self-help groups through the internet in three years.

The initiatives will include developing Telugu font, keyboards, content and increasing access to government websites and scaling the local language web to throw window of opportunities for entrepreneurship.

As per the MoU, Google will help government make their websites mobile-ready and accessible in Telugu, promote internet safety among children and government officials, improve and get more local language content online and promote digital literacy among women and help small and medium business to gain from the internet economy.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Vijayawada / Santosh Patnaik / Visakhapatnam – September 29th, 2014