India must adopt disruptive tech: Modi
Seeking to position technology as a great leveler, and the enabler of global family, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that technology has enabled the creation of Vasudhaiva
Kutumbakam (the world is one family), a concept which is deeply imbibed in Indian philosophy, as it helps us create a seamless integrated world.
Addressing the gathering at the World Congress of IT (WCIT) in Hyderabad through video conference, he said Digital India has not remained merely a government-initiative but it has become a way of life.
“One of the invited speakers at this event, robot Sophia, shows the potential of new technologies. We need to reflect on the changing nature of jobs, in the emerging age of intelligent automation,” he said.
He also emphasised on the need to adopt disruptive technologies such as Blockchain and IoT in the way we live and work.
Speaking about the Make in India initiative, Mr Modi claimed that from only two mobile manufacturing units in India in 2014, there are 118 units operational in India, including some of the best global brands.
He said India has a tech-friendly population with over one lakh villages linked with optical fibre, 121 crore mobile phones, 120 crore Aadhaar and 50 crore internet users.
“While most government initiatives depend on a government push, Digital India has succeeding because of the people’s pull. The JAM trinity of combining 320 million Jan Dhan bank accounts of poor with Aadhaar and Mobile with direct benefits of welfare measures has saved `57,000 crore.”
On the sidelines, Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said,“The government aspires to make 60 million adults digitally literate in rural India through the Pradhan Mantri Rural Digital Literacy Mission. Under this, 10 million people have already been trained.”
Mr Prasad noted, “We are working towards the development of Indian digital economy into a trillion dollars digital economy in the years to come.”