San Francisco, June 9: Aim to give individuals and companies the tools they need to flourish in an increasingly digital economy, Facebook has vowed to train one million people and small business owners across the US by 2020.

"Our plan is to work side by side with communities to provide more free in-person training, mentorship and online courses," Amy Brooks, Facebook's Business Education Director, said in a statement on Friday.

"We're developing local partnerships across the US so we can create free training for skills like coding, digital marketing, and more," Brooks added.

"By the end of the year we plan to establish new local partnerships which include teaming up with 20 community colleges to offer digital marketing training," said Brooks.

Facebook said it also plans to train more US businesses on how to use Facebook and Instagram to build and grow their businesses using "Blueprint", which includes a free e-learning programme available in 14 different languages.

Facebook launched Blueprint in March 2015.

"So far, more than 160,000 US small businesses have been trained using Blueprint, and by 2020 we plan to train an additional 250,000," Brooks said. 

Facebook also announced it will launch in autumn of this year "Learn with Facebook", a free online training resource to equip people with the skills they need to grow and become drivers of their local economies. 

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Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday took a swipe at Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy, by calling him a "Manuvadi" after his alliance with the BJP, for seeking the inclusion of Bhagavad Gita in curriculum for students.

The CM's dig came in response to Kumaraswamy's recent letter to Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan, requesting the inclusion of the Bhagavad Gita in the curriculum of students.

"After Kumaraswamy joined hands with the BJP for elections, he has become a Manuvadi," Siddaramaiah told reporters here after paying tributes to B R Ambedkar on his 69th death anniversary here.

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Remembering Ambedkar, Siddaramaiah highlighted his contribution to the Constitution and his relentless fight to provide social justice.

The CM noted said fed up with social and caste system in Hinduism, and unable to reform it, Ambedkar accepted Buddhism.

He said, "Ambedkar, towards the end of his life, quit Hinduism and joined Buddhism. He was born in Hinduism, but cannot die in Hinduism, because he could not reform Hinduism, despite several efforts, so he accepted Buddhism."