Page 12 - The Indian EYE 031221

EYE on INDIA MARCH 12, 2021 | The Indian Eye 12

Union Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman in a group photo
during an event to honor

womanhood on the occasion
of International Women Day, at
Maharashtra Sadan, in New
Delhi on Monday. (ANI)

new delhi ayodhya (uttar Pradesh)

Google unveils $25 million in Ram Temple to be ready in 3

grants for women years, says trust

undar Pichai, CEO of Google, on Monday announced a he General-Secretary of Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra
range of programs and a grant of USD 25 million to non- Trust, Champat Rai on Sunday said that the Ram Temple in
Sprofits and social enterprises working on empowering girls TAyodhya is likely to be ready in three-years time.
and women. “We are today launching a global http://Google.org “The Ram Temple will be built in about two and a half acres
Impact Challenge for women and girls. We will provide USD 25 and a wall will be built around it, which is called Parkota. Retaining
million in grants to non-profits and social enterprises doing im- walls will be built inside the ground to prevent the effects of floods.
portant work to help women address systemic barriers, economic This work will be completed in three years and with this prepara-
equality and more,” said Sundar Pichai. tion we are doing all the work,” Rai said. Earlier in the day while
Google.org’s new Impact Challenge, a philanthropic initiative addressing a press conference, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
was unveiled on International Women’s Day by Pichai. national vice-president Rai said that Rajasthan has participated
Google.org -- the philanthropic arm of the technology giant, is the most in the Samarpan (donation) drive for the construction of
aimed at addressing systemic barriers and inequities so that wom- Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
en have access to economic equality, the opportunity to build fi- “The collective contribution of Jodhpur, Jaipur, and Chittor for
nancial independence, and pursue entrepreneurism, said Google the construction of Ram Mandir is Rs 500 crores, which in itself is
chief executive Sundar Pichai at a virtual event. quite a big deal,” Rai said while addressing a press conference.
“We are announcing a new commitment to allow 1 million “We connected to 36,000 villages in Rajasthan where 9 lakh
women in the rural villages to become entrepreneurs, through workers were contacted. 38,125 workers were given the responsi-
business tutorials, tools, and mentorship,” he added. bility to deposit the money in the bank. The campaign was moni-
“Whatever these teams need, we are going to be alongside tored from 49 centers in India,” he added.
them and help carry out their vision,” said Jacquelline Fuller, He went on to say that the figures for each state will be revealed
President of Google.org, at the event. The company said it will soon. A lot of paperwork in connection with the construction of
accept applications from teams worldwide until April 9. the temple in Ayodhya has been done.
Fuller also announced that Google.org is going to invest an Earlier on Saturday, Rai, had said the door-to-door collection
additional USD 1 million to help underserved women in India. drive for Ram temple construction in Ayodhya has stopped, but
Even as India is the world’s second-largest internet market, wom- devotees who missed the contribution drive can still make their
en make up a small percentage of online users in the country. contributions through the trust website.
Four of 10 internet users in rural India are now women, said Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has been entrust-
Google, up from one in 10 in 2015. ed with the task of Ram temple construction in Ayodhya.

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