Yahoo! to find solutions for India’s major problems through ‘Ask the Planet’
Yahoo! India announced the launch of ‘Ask the Planet 2007’ series in India with a question from President APJ Abdul Kalam on terrorism. This forum will showcase various luminaries across the country and feature questions posed by them, the answers of which they feel are critical for the country’s development.
Yahoo! India Answers, launched in April 2006, has now been taken to the next level featuring well-known personalities from different walks of life who pose questions on the various problems facing the world. Some of the personalities include U2’s Bono and Dr Stephen Hawking in a special forum called ‘Ask the Planet’. For India, the portal has selected none other than President, APJ Abdul Kalam for the first question – “What should we do to free our planet from terrorism?”
Announcing the launch, George Zacharias, MD, Yahoo! India, said, “We are delighted to bring ‘Ask the Planet’ series to the country and we are sure that it will provide an innovative platform for the millions of Indians based on their real life experiences to answer some of the biggest questions that touch our lives today.”
Users from across the country can log onto the site and answer their question based on their convictions and even be rewarded for the same. There is a special program running parallel to it, where school students from around 20 cities across the country will be asked the responses to the question and a select few will be given an opportunity to interact with the President in February 2007. At the end of six weeks, all the answers would be scrutinised by the President, who will select the best answers.
Many well-known personalities, including Kiran Bedi, Leander Paes, and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar have already posted their replies to the President’s question. Users can view the answers and post new answers to the various questions on the Yahoo! India Answers website.
