Dr Ram Sewak Sharma has contributed to shaping India's policies in information and communication technologies (ICTs) in varied roles in the state and Central governments. He is the distinguished visiting professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. In his long administrative career spanning 45 years, he has worked as founding director general of UIDAI, Chief Secretary to the government of Jharkhand, Secretary to the government of India, chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), and CEO, National Health Authority (NHA). With his wealth of experience in his earlier roles and in an exclusive conversation with Moneycontrol, he decodes his vision.
What is your vision for 'Digital India' - something that is achievable by 2047?
Every individual will have access to all digital means and people will be able to transact among themselves digitally for payment and other communications. All the critical sectors of the economy, especially health, education, agriculture, irrigation, etc., will fully leverage technology. I can visualize artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain and 6G technologies will be fully leveraged by that time. Obviously, I cannot predict the way the digital world is going to move, but I can say with confidence that India will be ahead of the curve.
What needs to happen to realize this vision?
Firstly, we must ensure digital connectivity and infrastructure availability to everyone. Unless digital platforms like payment, identity, health, and education are available, the country cannot become fully digital. Secondly, we should have a slew of software and services, which people should be able to access. Thirdly, a complete digital empowerment of citizens, which basically means that everybody will be literate and everybody will be able to use the available digital means. So, citizen empowerment, software, and infrastructure are extremely important aspects.
Can you list what specific steps are required to achieve this vision?
In the connectivity space, the government must ensure that the spectrum, which is a natural resource, should be utilized fully. We must have the latest connectivity technologies available which will ensure that every citizen has access to that infrastructure. Appropriate policies for enhancing digital connectivity are one requirement and the implementation of that policy is another very important requirement as policy sometimes may remain on paper but we must have mechanisms to convert them into actions.
Secondly, India is already a powerhouse of software and by 2047, all software will become natural language based, and very easy to program the machines. AI’s application will become ubiquitous.
Thirdly, there will have to be massive awareness programs so that all citizens are able to effectively use those tools as I am hoping India will have 100 percent literacy and basic numeracy in the next 25 years.
India has pioneered the concept of digital public infrastructure (DPI), which means that it has created frameworks so that people can just hook into those frameworks and create innovative solutions. Examples of DPI are Aadhaar (DPI in identity space), UPI (DPI for payments) and now the Open Network for Digital Commerce and Ayushman Bharat digital mission. The concept and philosophy of these is essentially to create authenticated registries, frameworks, and protocols. One of the effective ways of digitizing the entire value chain of all kinds of domains is to essentially create the digital public infrastructures, which are free to be used by all stakeholders and this will accelerate the digitization of the economy in the least possible time without creating monopolies.
What are the potential challenges in achieving this vision?
We should not allow monopolies to develop in the digital space. Winner takes all happens in the digital space due to network effects. So, today, there is only one Facebook, Twitter and Amazon and few operating systems like iOS, Android, and Windows. In future, we must avoid this trend of monopolization, especially of players belonging to other countries.
Secondly, digital literacy must spread which the current New Education Policy will accelerate. Adoption is another challenge. Aadhar and UPI adoption was quick as benefits were obvious. But with health and related domains, it is difficult to create adoption. Special efforts will have to be made for adoption of digital technologies in peoples’ lives.
What are your suggestions to mitigate these challenges?
The monopoly challenge can be mitigated by creating network-based systems as they are all interoperable and are very democratic with least entry barriers. India needs to achieve good functional literacy in and leverage technology to mitigate the digital literacy challenge. Using virtual classes and online technology can accelerate the learning process in remote areas also. A massive campaign of awareness of various systems and communicating their value proposition is required.
What kind of participation is required from the public to make this vision a reality by 2047?
All the three stakeholders - society, government, and markets (Samaaj, Sarkaar and Bazaar), will have to work together to make this vision a reality. It must be an effective public-private partnership. Fortunately, in the new programs, the government is emphasizing on public-private partnership and this partnership must increase and there should be a mutual sense of confidence and respect among all the stakeholders.
How do you think this will benefit the people?
Once you have technology as an enabler, it will become easier to solve many problems. Multilingual technology, using AI, ChatGPT are already making inroads. If you reduce the transaction cost, eliminate friction, and create digitally traceable systems, people will have better health care, education, and ease of living.
Anything else you would like to add?
I am very positive that the direction in which we are proceeding, driven by Prime Minister's Digital India program, has accelerated the adoption of all digital technologies, and has made India become a leader in the digital public infrastructure space. I believe India will emerge as one of the leading countries in digital space. In 2047, India will become the world's largest economy and a digitally empowered country.
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