Google, Tata Trusts promote IT adoption among TN rural women

Adding another chapter to its digital literacy initiative to empower women in rural India, Google India and Tata Trusts today expanded their Internet Saathi programme to over 4,000 villages across six districts of Tamil Nadu.
The global IT giant and the Tamil Nadu government also announced their plan to facilitate the provision of Google Cloud credits and access through its affiliate for eligible startups engaged with the Tamil Nadu governments startup initiative, according to a press release.
Google India will also, through its developer relations team, provide technical mentorship and advisory support to various startups, the press note added.
The initiatives were announced by state Information Technology Minister M Manikandan in the presence of T K Ramachandran IAS, Principal Secretary (IT), Anandrao V Patil IAS, Commissioner, Tamil Nadu eGovernance Agency (TNeGA) and R Sudalaikannan IAS, chairman and managing director, Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT).

"Google India is a valuable partner of the state of Tamil Nadu and we are happy to launch the Internet Saathi programme that will benefit rural women, across our state.
"We believe all the initiatives launched today will benefit women, small businesses, youth, and others across our state," said Manikandan.

Other initiatives as part of the announcement include working jointly to make all government sites mobile friendly, introduce joint programs to help local small and medium businesses get online, and Internet safety education for children to stay safe online.
"Our mission is to Digitise Tamil Nadu and Googles efforts in the state will help in the same direction," he added.

Launched as a pilot in Rajasthan in July 2015, Google India, along with Tata Trusts, had announced plans to scale the 'Internet Saathi' programme to cover 3,00,000 villages across India in December 2015.