“India well poised to emerge as world leader in digital technologies”

Dr. Rajendra Kumar

From computerisation of government departments to the paradigm shift in service delivery, India has registered phenomenal progress in digital transformation. Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, highlighted the country’s remarkable journey at the Elets India Transformation Summit.

Delivering the keynote address at the summit, Dr. Rajendra Kumar mentioned that the idea of digital intervention was first mooted in the late 80s and since then, there was no looking back. Kumar, who is the main architect of the Digital India program, gave insights into the enabling features of digital projects and the convenience they had brought to the public.

“Today everyone has a bank account, almost everyone has access to the internet, everyone is provided with a digital ID which helps to authenticate citizens. We have developed digital mechanisms like Aadhaar, UPI, COWIN, GST, GeM etc. which are not only the world’s biggest digital projects but also among the best. The Digital India program has catapulted India into an efficient digital economy. Now is the golden time to accelerate our pace of digital growth,” he said.

He added, “We are the world’s third largest startup ecosystem. We have created over 100 unicorns.”

Highlighting the impeccable role played by the COWIN portal in the COVID vaccination drive, he remarked that it was our robust digital infrastructure that helped the country recover quickly from the crisis.

Showing the way forward for India to fully exploit the power of the digital economy, Kumar listed out major focus areas to further strengthen the digital transformation journey.

“We at MeitY wish to ensure that our digital economy grows to the level of a
$1-trillion digital economy by 2025. We need to use digital as the key transformational initiative in all domains. We want to ensure that every Indian citizen should have the world-class digital infrastructure and reliable high-speed broadband to avail services,” he said.

He further opined that greater focus should be given to emerging technology viz. Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reap the full potential of tech-driven innovations.

“Cybersecurity is another key aspect of the entire digital ecosystem. The need of the hour is to focus on modernisation of our IT laws, taking into consideration new concepts and trends in security and data protection,” Kumar said, adding that the country needs to remain vigilant as cybersecurity is quite vulnerable to various kinds of nefarious attacks nowadays.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has played an exceptional role in the digital space. “The Ministry has taken several steps to ensure safety and security of the users using digital platforms,” he said. Technology has also been playing a crucial role in enhancing last-mile connectivity. “The redressal mechanism has helped in greater participation of marginalised people, who were hitherto restrained from using the technology,” he added.

Kumar concluded with the thought that India has the potential to become a global leader in digital technologies.

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