It all began in 2014

In 2014, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was on the cusp of taking India into a new digital era. That’s when Dataquest invited him and asked him about his digital vision.

Pre-2000, India was always looked upon as a Third World country with problems that we would not get out of, or so the Western critics told us. India was a tiger that never roared. After the brief Liberalization brilliance of 1991-92, we had been plagued with minority governments and coalitions that for decades could not go the full distance, thanks to the compulsions of all the parties without whose support the Centre would collapse.

In the run up to the 2014 general elections, the most talked about leader by a mile was the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He had solidified his Gujarat model and at that time was India’s most tech-savvy politician.

I see the IT industry as an engine for making India the knowledge superpower and an agent of change that touches lives of the poorest of the poor, for their empowerment.

It was a no-brainer for Dataquest to call him as the Chief Guest for the ICT Awards show of 2014 and he didn’t disappoint. DQ held an exclusive roundtable at the ICT Awards with over 40 leaders and we did the cover story: What do India’s ICT Leaders want from Modi?

At that time, Modi told Dataquest: I see the IT industry as an engine for making India the knowledge superpower and an agent of change that touches lives of the poorest of the poor, for their empowerment.

He added: If India has to emerge as a global giant in the knowledge economy, we have no choice but to become the hub for all Innovation in ICT and beyond. I am clear in my mind on the importance of this.

While speaking at the awards show, he defined e-governance as effective governance, easy governance, economical governance and something that gave the citizens “suvidha” or convenience. After close to 10 years, it’s been an amazing journey where the government is actually convenient for us citizens and Digital India is the leading digital democracy of the world.

Aadhaar, which was founded in 2009, is the world’s largest democratic identification programme, crossing 1 billion in 2016. That was enhanced by India Stack, the world’s largest open API platform. It was meant not only for governments, but startups and established businesses. While eKYC was one of the earliest applications, the most popular to emerge from its stable is UPI, which is achieving world dominance.

If India has to emerge as a global giant in the knowledge economy, we have no choice but to become the hub for all Innovation in ICT and beyond. I am clear in my mind on the importance of this.

The next big thing is ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), and this will give the likes of Swiggy and Zomato a run for their money. In fact, Amazon wants to be on this platform. It has given Namma Yatri, Bangalore’s auto ride share, that is taking on Ola and Uber. The potential is unlimited.

Overall, India’s digital quotient is quite and high and you could say that we are already a developed digital country. Add the PLI schemes and things like the latest quantum mission and we are taking very seriously our leadership position in the world.

We are on the cusp on another general election in 2024 and Prime Minister Modi will be looking to consolidate his Digital India mission and become the first person since Jawaharlal Nehru to win three consecutive parliamentary elections.

If that happens, you can rest assured that the India2047 mission will go ahead in full steam. We are already the world’s largest population and thanks to our high digital quotient, can actually reap rich demographic dividends. Can we be the largest economy in the world too at that time? At least you can bet your money on it!

By Sunil Rajguru

sunilr@cybermedia.co.in