SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 3: Indian-American CEO of Google and Alphabet, Sundar Pichai
was presented Padma Bhushan award, India’s third-highest civilian honour, by
Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu in San Francisco on Friday.
“India is a part of me and I carry it with me wherever I go”, said Pichai,
receiving the Padma award in the presence of his family.
Pichai said he was deeply grateful to the Indian Government and the people
of India for that immense honour. It is incredibly meaningful to be honoured
in this way by the country that shaped me, he added.
Pichai in his blog said, "I want to thank Ambassador Mr 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."
The Google CEO said that he is fortunate to grow up in a family that cherished
learning and knowledge, with parents who sacrificed a lot to make sure that
he had opportunities to explore his interests. "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 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."
The Indian envoy tweeted, he was delighted to hand over the award Sundar Pichai.
He said Sundar Pichai’s inspirational journey from Madurai to Mountain View,
strengthening Indo-US economic & tech. ties, reaffirms Indian talent’s contribution
to global innovation. India’s Consul General in San Francisco, TV Nagendra Prasad,
was also present. The award is of the year 2022 in the Trade and Industry category.
