AP Govt. Signs MoU With Google

On Tuesday, May 14, the Andhra Pradesh government signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Google India.

The AP Society for Knowledge Networks (APSFKNW), formerly known as Institute For Electronic Governance (IEG), exchanged the MoU with Google India (P) Ltd. at the office of the minister for Information Technology & Communications.

The Memorandum of Understanding was exchanged between Information Technology minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah and the Vice-President of Google (Emerging Markets) Nelson Mattos.

The MoU was exchanged with the intention to train engineering students from various Jawahar Knowledge Center (JKC) colleges, on latest technologies like mobile and cloud computing.

The MoU outlines that Google will also train the trainers / mentors of the AP Society For Knowledge Networks (APSFKNW) and provide required software, services and training material free of cost.

IT&C Department secretary Sanjay Jaju, IT&C Director of Communications T V Parathasaradhi, CEO of APSKN Amarnath Reddy Atmakuri, Director of APSFKNW (IT Projects) K Srinivasa Rao and Google Program Manager Ego Obi were also present.

This is Google's first Memorandum of Understanding in India under its Education Initiative.

Ponnala Lakshmaiah thanked Nelson Mattos for being enthusiastic and encouraging about this initiative, which, he said, would lead to the empowerment of numerous students.

He encouraged Google to build their own office in the area allotted by the state government.

He also extended his advice to all the students to make use of this opportunity and to enhance their employability skills. He promised to bring more such initiatives for the benefit of students in future.

Nelson said that he has visited Hyderabad four times so far, and that he was always overwhelmed by the infrastructural advancement in the city. He disclosed that 70% of their business in India is churned out by employees in Hyderabad. He also invited the minister to visit Google's head office on his next visit to the USA.

Nelson also mentioned that Google would work closely with the Information Technology & Communications Department to bring about new academic initiative programs in the near future for the benefit of high school students in Andhra Pradesh. (INN)