Guwahati: India’s ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu handed over one of the nation’s highest civilian Awards Padma Bhushan, to Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai in San Fransisco.
Taking to Twitter, Sandhu said, “Delighted to hand over Padma Bhushan to CEO @Google & Alphabet @sundarpichai in San Francisco. Sundar’s inspirational journey from #Madurai to Mountain View, strengthening India-US economic and technology ties, reaffirms Indian talent’s contribution to global innovation.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs announced that Sundar Pichai would receive the Padma Bhushan on the eve of the 73rd Republic Day.
After receiving the Padma Bhushan award from Sandhu, Pichai in his blog said, “I want to thank Ambassador Sandhu and Consul General Prasad for hosting me to receive the Padma Bhushan. I am deeply grateful to the Indian government and the people of India for this immense honour. It is incredibly meaningful to be honoured in this way by the country that shaped me.”
“India is a part of me. I carry it with me wherever I go. (Unlike this beautiful award which I will keep somewhere safe),” he added.
The Google CEO reportedly stated in the blog that he was lucky to grow up in a home that valued education and information with parents who made significant sacrifices to ensure that he had opportunity to pursue his interests.
“Every new piece of technology that came our way improved our quality of life. And that experience led me to Google and the opportunity to contribute to the creation of technology that enhances the lives of people everywhere”, Pichai continued.
Pichai praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambition for a “Digital India,” noting that it had undoubtedly accelerated progress. He added that he was proud to keep making investments in India and to have worked with people, businesses and governments for two revolutionary decades.
“We recently announced that we’ll be investing USD 10 billion in India’s digital future, working to enable more affordable internet access, building products for India’s unique needs, helping businesses of all sizes in their digital transformation, and using AI to tackle big societal challenges,” Google CEO said.
He further stated, “We’re also investing deeply in digital skilling, and have trained over 1 million women through our WomenWill Entrepreneurship Program and over 55,000 teachers in partnership with the government and local organizations. We’ve also sponsored over 100,000 Google Career Certificate sponsorships in collaboration with the NASSCOM Foundation and Tata Strive.”
Pichai stated that 8 of the 24 new languages added to Google Translate are indigenous to India. It means so lot to see how people may access knowledge and information in their own tongue and how their perspectives on the world are expanded.
“That’s why I continue to be so optimistic about technology, and why I believe India can and must continue to lead,” he added.
Pichai added that he was eager to build on Google and India’s successful cooperation as we cooperate to spread the advantages of technology to more people.