Today, Google announced that the tech giant is providing $18 million USD (Rs 135 Crore) as a relief fund to combat the deadly virus in India. The funding includes two grants from Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, totalling 20 Crore INR ($2.6 million USD).
The CEO tweeted, “Devastated to see the worsening Covid crisis in India. Google & Googlers are providing Rs 135 Crore in funding to @GiveIndia, @UNICEF for medical supplies, orgs supporting high-risk communities, and grants to help spread critical information.”
Sanjay Gupta, Country Head & VP at Google, India stated in an official blog post, “Today we’re announcing 135 Crore INR ($18 million USD) in new funding for India. This includes two grants from Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, totalling 20 Crore INR ($2.6 million USD). The first is to GiveIndia to provide cash assistance to families hit hardest by the crisis to help with their everyday expenses. The second will go to UNICEF to help get urgent medical supplies, including oxygen and testing equipment, to where it’s needed most in India. It also includes donations from our ongoing employee giving campaign — so far more than 900 Googlers have contributed 3.7 Crore INR ($500,000 USD) for organizations supporting high-risk and marginalized communities.”
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Mentioning the Ad Grant support, Gupta added, “This funding also includes increased Ad Grant support for public health information campaigns. Since last year, we’ve helped MyGov and the World Health Organization reach audiences with messages focused on how to stay safe and facts about vaccines. We’re increasing our support today with an additional 112 Crore INR ($15 million) in Ad Grants to local health authorities and nonprofits for more language coverage options.”
Besides the funding, the tech giant is taking initiatives in every way possible. It is helping through the core information products like Search and Maps, YouTube and Ads. The COVID features on Search are available in India, in English and eight Indian languages, and is continuing to improve the localisation and highlight authoritative information.
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