“Today is National Technology Day and it’s time to celebrate the amazing scale initiatives that the Government of India has done in technology. Nowhere else in the world, we have witnessed the digital transformation of an entire country with more than a billion people. As 1.4 billion people have had access to digital technology thus bridging the digital divide.
The 3 or 4 key initiatives that the government of India has taken in technology are the following:
Digital India – It’s a flagship program in transforming India into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy. This includes initiatives like Digilocker, Aadhar, MyGov, UPI and all the other digital public infrastructures served as free digital public goods.
Make in India – It is also about technology, not digital technology but manufacturing technology which is to promote manufacturing in India, including technology and electronics manufacturing and off late manufacturing of chips and semi-conductors.
Startup India – This supports the growth of startups by providing financial assistance, tax exemptions and potential simplification of regulatory requirements.
Smart Cities Mission – There are around 100 cities that have been earmarked as smart cities and which will use technologies to improve urban infrastructure and governance.
National Super Computing Mission – There is also the national super-computing mission which seeks to establish a vast network of supercomputers across academic and research institutes.
National AI policy – This is a national strategy in Artificial Intelligence to harness AI for societal and economic growth. The Niti Aayog which is the policy think tank is focused on developing AI for Agriculture, Healthcare, Education and Smart Cities and therefore building AI for all.
With all of this riding on the success that India has had on digital public goods and infrastructure at scale, I think, we are poised to take the transformational leap to a developed country leveraging technology.
