Satya Nadella discusses rural digital programme with IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad
NEW DELHI: The Minister for Communications and Information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday met Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella, and discussed ways that the Indian government can work with the technology giant for better opportunities in areas such as rural health and employment.
Nadella and Minister Prasad had a closed door meeting for over half an hour, which was attended by senior ministry officials including the IT secretary Arun Sundararajan, additional secretary Ajay Kumar and UIDAI CEO AB Pandey.
Nadella emerged from the meeting, dressed in a crisp navy dark suit, and was whisked away by security and Microsoft officials to his next meeting- with the Prime Minister.
Minister Prasad said the meeting was productive. "He (Nadella) particularly appreciated the initiative for digital inclusion in village, and discussed the Harisal pilot project in Maharashtra where they've (Microsoft) brought a lot of technology connectivity for digital health, digital education. It is something which I am considering to replicate it in our larger vision of Digital Village announced as Digi Gaon," Prasad told reporters in a quick press briefing following his meeting with Nadella.
The Digi Gaon project is a government project that seeks to leverage WiFi technology as an alternative to broadband, through a programme that will enable the delivery of services like health and education through with the help of technology in villages, driven initially through free WiFi in gram panchayats.
Prasad said there was no discussion about the H-1B visas, which have an impact on transfer of sklilled technology professionals from India to the US. He also declined to comment on the issues that would be taken up at a meeting with US Congressaman Bob Goodlatte, later on Tuesday.
The minster is expected to take up issues such as movement of skilled manpower and intellectual property rights.
The minster said Nadella also discussed cloud and LinkedIn, which was acquired by Microsoft last year. "We already we have a cloud first policy, we have empaneled Microsoft also. But LinkedIn involvement in skilling professionals, to be exposed to good job opportunities also we talked in detail," Prasad said.
Secretay Sunderarajan told ET that there were discussions around Aadhaar, India Stack, cloud first, mobility first, startups and also around helping Indian companies with the best in class platforms, like the Flipkart partnership that Microsoft announced on Monday.
Nadella and Minister Prasad had a closed door meeting for over half an hour, which was attended by senior ministry officials including the IT secretary Arun Sundararajan, additional secretary Ajay Kumar and UIDAI CEO AB Pandey.
Nadella emerged from the meeting, dressed in a crisp navy dark suit, and was whisked away by security and Microsoft officials to his next meeting- with the Prime Minister.
Minister Prasad said the meeting was productive. "He (Nadella) particularly appreciated the initiative for digital inclusion in village, and discussed the Harisal pilot project in Maharashtra where they've (Microsoft) brought a lot of technology connectivity for digital health, digital education. It is something which I am considering to replicate it in our larger vision of Digital Village announced as Digi Gaon," Prasad told reporters in a quick press briefing following his meeting with Nadella.
The Digi Gaon project is a government project that seeks to leverage WiFi technology as an alternative to broadband, through a programme that will enable the delivery of services like health and education through with the help of technology in villages, driven initially through free WiFi in gram panchayats.
Prasad said there was no discussion about the H-1B visas, which have an impact on transfer of sklilled technology professionals from India to the US. He also declined to comment on the issues that would be taken up at a meeting with US Congressaman Bob Goodlatte, later on Tuesday.
The minster is expected to take up issues such as movement of skilled manpower and intellectual property rights.
The minster said Nadella also discussed cloud and LinkedIn, which was acquired by Microsoft last year. "We already we have a cloud first policy, we have empaneled Microsoft also. But LinkedIn involvement in skilling professionals, to be exposed to good job opportunities also we talked in detail," Prasad said.
Secretay Sunderarajan told ET that there were discussions around Aadhaar, India Stack, cloud first, mobility first, startups and also around helping Indian companies with the best in class platforms, like the Flipkart partnership that Microsoft announced on Monday.
