As former ministers of the erstwhile UPA regime prepare for a life outside government, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has landed a plum role in the form of Chief Engineer of Google’s so called social networking platform, Google +.
In his new avatar, Dr Singh will, among other things, drive the design and features of Google + to make its experience of solitude and tranquility even more outstanding and attract more people of his ilk to flock to the site. The search engine giant refused to divulge Dr Singh’s compensation package, saying company policy precluded them from disclosing such details, but Silicon Valley insiders say that Dr Singh’s compensation after including stock options could run into millions of dollars.
Welcoming Dr Singh into the Google fold, Larry Page said, “Dr Singh has been one of the most heavy duty users of Google +, especially in the run up to the 2014 General Elections. The trends that Google plus streamed onto his screen thoroughly cocooned him from the noise of our competitors and helped him maintain his balance. We greatly look forward to working with Dr Singh and making Google + the premier asocial networking site in the world.” The search giant also released a special Google Doodle ‘theek hai’ on the company intranet to welcome their latest star recruit.
Dr Singh said he greatly looked forward to working under Larry Page, and collaborating with Google engineers as long as it did not involve face to face talk time. He has also offered, as a pro bono gesture, to compute the GDP of Google and author a five year plan to make it more inclusive. “If we all work hard, we can achieve 10% growth,” he reportedly wrote in his acceptance email to Larry Page.
In related news, the Congress lambasted PM Modi for urging his ministers to get on Facebook and Twitter but omitting to mention Orkut and Google +, claiming this showed severe disdain for minorities.
(With inputs from Ashwin Kumar)