Pichai explained navigational, safety and other uses of Street View as well as Google Earth to Modi. The PM was also briefed about four critical projects and their value for the government’s ‘Digital India’ campaign. Another project that was shown to Modi was Project Iris, a smart lens that measure glucose levels.
“It is a visit to Google Guru,” Modi said as he reached its campus after he visited the Facebook headquarters.
“I hope your work helps the poor of India, and that even I get to learn something from it,” Modi told Google employees, urging them to help him meet the challenges being faced by India.
He encouraged Google to develop apps that would benefit the common man as he participated in a “Hackathon” under which the company’s employees sat for 15 hours straight to devise such apps for use in India. Many youngsters in their 20s had come from India to participate in it.