One billion Indians not connected to Internet

Facebook CEO to meet Modi today

New Delhi: More than a billion Indians are not connected to the Internet, which means that they do not have equal opportunity, said Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, adding, "We believe connectivity is a human right."

Zuckerberg, 30, is in India on a two-day visit and was speaking at the first summit for Internet.org, an organization led by Facebook which, Mr Zuckerberg said, "wants to connect the whole word."

He will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

Technology, the Facebook CEO said, had to serve the entire society, not just the rich and the powerful and talked about how his company had started work to bring basic internet to Zambia in Africa.

Zuckerberg pointed out that only about a third of people in the world had access to the Internet - 243 million in India - and said, "Key to the next big opportunity of technology is to embrace the Internet."

The biggest barrier, he said, was that "lots of people who have never experienced the internet don't know why they need it." A recent survey, he said, showed that 69 percent of people in India said they didn't know why it would be useful for them. He talked about who the internet was useful for, listing expectant mothers and students as examples among others.

"India has shown the ability to make these leaps," he said, adding, "The Green Revolution helped hundreds and millions out of poverty, and the computer revolution made India one of the only countries in the world to send a probe to Mars." In July this year, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg had visited India, which is the second biggest market for Facebook.