The program will be supported by Intel, HUL and Axis Bank who have committed to drive this initiative through the joint outreach efforts including Internet training in their digital literacy efforts. Intel is also launching a mobile app called “Easy Step” for women which would be available on Android playstore.

Debjani Ghosh, Managing Director- Sales and Marketing group, Intel South Asia says, “As part of our National Digital Literacy Mission, Intel has been working with the government to enhance technology adoption and digital literacy for boosting productivity and impacting livelihoods in a phased manner across the country. We are extremely encouraged by the findings of the first phase of the program where we saw over 52 percent women participants and it was heartening to see them use the newly acquired knowledge and skills to better support their families. Given the size and diversity of our country, we as an industry, need to do a lot more and hence we feel Google’s helping women get online (HWGO) program will help them use technology for a better life.”

Pilot Project Bhilwara Details:

As part of the initiative, Google India successfully concluded a digital literacy pilot program in the villages of Bhilwara in Rajasthan which covered girl students in the age group of 13 to 18, housewives and working women. Basic Internet training content was created in Hindi to help the women understand how they can use the internet in their day to day lives. The activity panned across two and a half months covering over 300 educational institutes, 500 households, 50+ villages and the Bhilwara town. Women were trained on basic Internet applications such as search, videos and email. Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendras which are government run Internet centers across Bhilwara were used for the purpose. The pilot was carried out in close collaboration with Dr. CP Joshi (Member of Parliament from Bhilwara), collector, MLA, Head of co-operative dairy (the largest women employer in the district), Urban Improvement trust, NGOs & educational institutes. The learnings from the pilot and the collateral has helped us to create a template that will now be replicated across other villages, districts and towns in the country to help women in rural areas get online.

Read Also: 10 Gmail Features You Don't Know and Teens Leaving Facebook To Embrace Whatsapp