Google will soon allow users to book COVID-19 vaccination slots using voice in 8 Indian languages

Google for India 2021: Google held the Google for India 2021 event on Thursday, and before we delve into more details about the event, here is (what we think to be) the most important announcement from the digital inclusion aspect at the moment. Google has made it easy for new internet users and for those not very well-versed with apps and such technologies to book their vaccination appointments on their own. Google Assistant will now be able to act as a step-by-step guide for those who might need it and help them book their vaccination slots using the CoWIN app.

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This feature is a very important one, because if you remember, at the beginning of the vaccination drives, human resources had to be deployed to help senior citizens book their vaccination slots using the CoWIN app. The smart assistant can now take care of that aspect, however. “We have worked closely with COWIN to enable this integration, where people everywhere will be able to easily book a vaccine appointment in a more guided manner. It will empower them with access to information and healthcare that would otherwise have been out of reach,” the tech giant said in a statement.

The feature will be rolled out early next year, and it will be available in nine languages, including English, Hindi, Kannada, Gujarati, Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu, Marathi and Tamil. “We look forward to scaling this technology to other services on the web, to help make it simpler for people to get this done on the internet,” Google added.

The event focused on the digitisation in India and how the search engine giant is playing its part in it. Among the many things that it spoke of, the biggest focal point of Google remained on the digital divide among the vast population, be it due to language barriers, illiteracy or any other reason. Some might remember that last year, Google had pledged $10 billion for Google for India Digitisation Fund, and it was as part of the fund that it collaborated with Jio to launch JioNext so that numerous Indians could get affordable smartphones. Whether that actually happens or not is a different issue, but Google does need to be lauded for its efforts.

The efforts are now being ramped up so that the internet can be safer and more accessible, the company said.

The search engine giant will be aiming to make the digital economy in India more inclusive for small businesses and job seekers so that they can learn more skills and harness the power of digitisation to become successful in Digital India.

Accordingly, Google announced Google Career Certificates programme in collaboration with upskilling platform Coursera. The courses are available on the Coursera platform and they would help job seekers upskill themselves in areas like IT Support, IT Automation, Project Management, Data Analytic and UX Design. The search engine giant has also announced a whopping 1 lakh scholarships in collaboration with the NASSCOM Foundation, Safeducate and Tata STRIVE.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz