Google Donates $500,000 to Further Child Safety Through Technology in India

Internet giant Google on Monday threw its weight behind three NGOs in India, announcing support in the form of $500,000 in grants, to promote child safety in India.

With the grant, Google aims to further the cause with smart applications of technology and help scale up initiatives aimed at child safety programmes and campaigns.

Grants have been made through Google.Org to Childline India Foundation that provides a free phone service, 1098, for children in need of help or protection, Bachpan Bachao Andolan that protects and rescues children from slavery, trafficking, and forced labour, and Tulir which works to prevent and heal child sexual abuse across India.

"Technology can play a significant role in transforming lives, and we are delighted to provide support to three of India's non-profit organisations (NGOs) such as Childline India Foundation, Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Tulir which have been doing a phenomenal work," Google India and South-East Asia Managing Director Rajan Anandan said in a statement.

Globally, Google has donated over $100 million in grants, $1 billion on technology resources, and 80,000 hours of Googler volunteering to NGOs in 2014 around the world.

Recently, Disney, along with Google and Nasa, announced it is working on a new TV show that will inspire young girls to pursue a career in science and technology. The new science series is called Miles From Tomorrowland. It is about a space adventure-seeking boy named Miles Callisto, his smart sister Loretta who codes and mother Phoebe who drives the family spaceship. Loretta uses computer code to solve problems that the family encounters during their adventures in space.

According to a 2014 study by Google, media can play a huge factor in girls' decisions to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. "We want to really inspire young kids to think about being makers of technology and not just consumers of technology," noted Julie Ann Crommett who leads Google's effort to educate the media on computer science.

Written with agency inputs.