'We should encourage Hackathon culture in India': PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today called for encouraging Hackathon culture in India so that the youth are inspired to find solutions to the country's problems.

"For 15 hours you all sit in front of the computer and find solutions for problems. I understand that this is the Hackathon culture and we should be encouraging this in India," Prime Minister Modi said while interacting with the Google team at its headquarters here.

"You all are dedicating your whole night to make the lives of the common man better you are giving up on your own comfort. I thank all of you on behalf of the 1.25 million people in India. I congratulate you and also express my gratitude," he added.

Expressing his gratitude to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Prime Minister Modi said, "I am really very very grateful that you gave this opportunity for people to get together to find solutions to problems. And I assure you that my government would try to understand and incorporate this."

The Prime Minister pointed out that technology has made things easier.

"This is just the beginning and I believe that with time the right use will be done and qualitatively this is going to make a change in our lives. This is something I see very clear. I can see this in happening in India. The Indian Railways and Google have partnered to bring Wi-Fi connectivity in 500 stations," said Prime Minister Modi.

"And I can see the benefits of such technology through the Narendra Modi app. I can connect from so many people. I can get feedback all the time. This is the new power of democracy," he added.

Prime Minister Modi also expressed hope that the innovations at Google would help the country's poor.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi visited Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park.