A statement issued by the public relations arm of the Government of Punjab said the MoU was signed at the Arfa Software Technology Park on Monday where by the information technology (IT) giant would provide access to historical and tourist sites of Punjab on the internet.
The agreement was signed between Secretary Tourism Dr Allah Bakhsh Malik and William Fitzgerald of Google Asia, in the presence of Punjab Chief Minister Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif, Provincial Finance Minister Kamran Michael, Chairman Planning & Development, Secretary Irrigation, Chairman Information Technology Board and representatives of Google.
Speaking on the occasion, Shahbaz Sharif lauded the agreement with Google for cooperation in the IT sector, adding that access to Punjab’s historical and tourist sites via Google services will create awareness about the modern as well ancient parts of Lahore, highlighting historical and cultural heritage.
Shahbaz added that Punjab was a very important province with regard to tourism and hoped that the collaboration with Google would be meaningful in highlighting the heritage of the province as well as promoting a positive image of Pakistan in the world. He directed Chairman Planning & Development and Project Director Land Record Computerization to give a briefing to the Google team regarding steps taken by Punjab government during the last four years so that their assistance in these projects could also be sought.
Talking about how Google could help the Daanish School project, Shahbaz said that there were a number of government projects wherein Google could provide information to the people of the world, including the state-of-the-art Daanish schools, which were equipped with modern facilities for underprivileged students in the province and setting up of IT labs in more than 4000 schools of Punjab.
He also spoke about his recent laptop distribution project and that Google could collaborate with the government in this project too. Through this project, 110,000 laptops were being distributed on merit among deserving students, along with a WiFi network being installed in various campuses for these laptops.
Speaking on the occasion, Fitzgerald said that interaction between the Punjab government and Google in the IT sector was a good beginning and that the agreement was the beginning of further cooperation in thid sector.
He said that access to historical and tourist sites of Punjab on the website will promote awareness in the world about the cultural traditions and civilisation of Punjab.
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@Muhammad Arif: I think that there should be one curriculum across the board and students should have optional courses to opt to in their curriculum. That would include regional languages (make sure it's across the board so some one is Sindh can actually opt to learn Punjabi or Pushtoo) and variety of different courses as well. My point is don't make it compulsory. That would make sense if you actually talk to our Urdu brothers who some how don't want to learn Sindhi (some do) and remember a part of resentment in East Pakistan was because they were also made to know some Urdu. I have friends from TamilNadu, once the Indian government tried to enforce Hindi there and there was an uprising against the government. My point - the point of being free in a democratic free country is to have choice and no compulsion over issues such as language and religion.
peace, -Sarfaraz
Bring it on, baby! After months I am reading something very valuable, and appreciable, and something that is bringing a positive smile on my face. I am not a Punjab, am neither from Punjab, but that is my country! Respect you Shahbaz sahab for this.
@muhammad arif: Oh my. Relax guy, no discrimination please. Celebrate, make the day. No word of prejudice, or the word that breaks federation. It has been years that we are uniting today, no breaks in progress from now on.
Good Job Badar Khushnood!!! Keep it up!
Good initiative.
Would it cost more to also highlight the historical sites of Pakistan?
@pakistani: What cultural segregation are you talking about. If anything ignoring the rich culture and languages of Pakistan will cause more problems. We need to support Punjabi and all rgional languages as well as English and Urdu on the national level. I think Shahbaz Sharif has not spent enough time and effort in promoting Punjabi despite the good work he has done for the province. As for tourism, Punjab remains the best managed and stable province so it makes sense for the provincial CM to develop the tourism industry there. Many people in the world know about Lahore and its historical beauty but they need to bring back Jashn i Baharan or Basant which did wonders to promote the soft image of Pakistan.
@muhammad arif: sindhi im sorry to say is a dying culture, as culture is usually propagated through language, it needs to be saved! punjabi on the other hand is even more famous than URDU! and probably because of east punjab (sikhs) and some attributable to us too, but dont compare punjabi n sindhi, its like comparing apples to oranges! :/
and a very good initiative by the punjab govt :) we should have it in the rest of pakistan also!
Brilliant. Struggle of Badar Khushnood paying well. We need maximum of country mapped before we can dream for a street view through all streets. Join hands with hundreds of existing cartographers at www.google.com/mapmaker and lets make it happen with quality maps and making public information available for public in available resources.
This will promote tourism in Punjab, provide the law and order situation remain in control.
Good Initiative.
Google street view after bistofied in almost 11 countries due to privacy and security issues comes to Punjab.. lets see !
the punjab govt. in power for 4 years should have introduced punjabi as a subject to be taught in punjab's schools as sindhi is taught in sindh's schools and a board level exam for sindhi held for all students in matric.why no punjabi pagri day as there is a sindhi topi day every year?