America
Text of Modi's address at 'Digital India' dinner
San Jose (California), Sep 27
Following is the text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi' speech at the "Digital India" dinner with Who's Who of the tech world:
"Thank you, Shantanu, John, Satya, Paul, Sunder, and Venkatesh
A big thank you!
I
am sure this was not pre-arranged. But, here on stage you see a
perfect picture of India-US partnership in the digital economy.
Good Evening, everyone!
If
there was ever a gathering under one roof that could claim to be
shaping the world, it is this. And, I am not talking about those in
public office, here or in India! It's a great pleasure to be here in
California. It is one of the last places in the world to see the sun
set. But, it is here that new ideas see the first light of the day.
It's
a great honour that you have joined us tonight. I have met many of you
in Delhi and New York, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
These are the new neighborhoods of our new world.
If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populous one and the most connected.
Google
today has made teachers less awe-inspiring and grandparents more idle.
Twitter has turned everyone into a reporter. The traffic lights that
need to work the best are on CISCO routers.
The status that now
matters is not whether you are awake or asleep, but whether you are
online or offline. The most fundamental debate for our youth is the
choice between Android, iOS or Windows.
From computing to
communication, entertainment to education, from printing documents to
printing products, and, now to internet of things, it's been a long
journey in a short time.
From cleaner energy to better healthcare and safer transport, everything is converging around the work you do.
In
Africa, it's helping people transfer money on phone. It has made
reaching small island states no longer a journey of adventure, but a
convenient click of a mouse.
In India, a mother in a distant hill
village has a better chance to save her new born infant. A child in a
remote village has better access to education.
A small farmer is
more confident about his land holding and getting better market price.
A fisherman on the sea has a better catch. And, a young professional
in San Francisco can Skype daily to comfort her sick grandmother in
India.
An initiative by a father in Haryana for "Selfie with
daughter" to draw attention to the girl child became an international
movement.
All this is because of the work you people are doing.
Since my government came to office last year, we have attacked poverty
by using the power of networks and mobile phones to launch a new era of
empowerment and inclusion: 180 million new bank accounts in a few
months; direct transfer of benefits to the poor; funds for the unbanked;
insurance within the reach of the poorest; and, pension for the sunset
years for all.
By using Space technology and internet, we have
been able to identify in the last few months 170 applications that will
make governance better and development faster.
When a small
craftsman in a village in India brings a smile to a customer looking at
his phone on a metro ride in New York; When a heart patient in a
remote hospital in Kyrgyz Republic is treated by doctors sitting in
Delhi, as I saw in Bishkek, we know we are creating something that has
fundamentally changed our lives.
The pace at which people are
taking to digital technology defies our stereotypes of age, education,
language and income. I like recounting my meeting with a group of
unlettered tribal women in a remote part of Gujarat. They were present
at a local milk chilling plant I was inaugurating. They were using cell
phones to take photographs of the event. I asked them what they would
do with the images. The answer was a surprise for me.
They
said,they would go back, have the images downloaded on to a computer
and take printouts. Yes, they were familiar with the language of our
digital world.
And, farmers in Maharashtra state have created a Whatsapp group to share information on farming practices.
Customers,
more than creators, are defining the use of a product. The world may
be driven by the same ancient impulses. We will continue to see human
struggles and successes. We will witness human glory and tragedies.
But,
in this digital age, we have an opportunity to transform lives of
people in ways that was hard to imagine just a couple of decades ago.
This
is what sets us apart from the century that we have just left behind.
There may be still some who see the digital economy as the tool of the
rich, educated and the privileged. But, ask the taxi driver or the
corner vendor in India what he has gained from his cell phone, and the
debate gets settled. I see technology as a means to empower and as a
tool that bridges the distance between hope and opportunity. Social
media is reducing social barriers. It connects people on the strength of
human values, not identities.
Today, technology is advancing
citizen empowerment and democracy that once drew their strength from
Constitutions. Technology is forcing governments to deal with massive
volume of data and generate responses, not in 24 hours but in 24
minutes.
When you think of the exponential speed and scale of
expansion of social media or a service, you have to believe that it is
equally possible to rapidly transform the lives of those who have long
stood on the margins of hope. So, friends out of this conviction was
born the vision of Digital India.
It is an enterprise for
India's transformation on a scale that is, perhaps, unmatched in human
history. Not just to touch the lives of the weakest, farthest and the
poorest citizen of India, but change the way our nation will live and
work.
For nothing else will do in a country with 800 million
youth under the age of 35 years, impatient for change and eager to
achieve it.
We will transform governance, making it more
transparent, accountable, accessible and participative. I spoke of
E-Governance as a foundation of better governance - efficient,
economical and effective.
I now speak of M-Governance or mobile
governance. That is the way to go in a country with one billion cell
phones and use of smart phones growing at high double digit rates. It
has the potential to make development a truly inclusive and
comprehensive mass movement. It puts governance within everyone's
reach.
After MyGov.in, I have just launched the Narendra Modi
Mobile App. They are helping me stay in close touch with people. I
learn a great deal from their suggestions and complaints.
We
want to free our citizens from the burden of excessive paper documents
in every office. We want paperless transactions. We will set up a
digital locker for every citizen to store personal documents that can
be shared across departments.
We have set up Ebiz portal to make
approvals for businesses and citizens easy and efficient so that they
concentrate their energy on their goals, not on government processes.
We are using technology to impart scale and speed to development.
Information,
education, skills, healthcare, livelihood, financial inclusion, small
and village enterprises, opportunities for women, conservation of
natural resources, distributed clean energy - entir ely new
possibilities have emerged to change the development model.
But
for all this, we must bridge the digital divide and promote digital
literacy in the same way that we seek to ensure general literacy.
We must ensure that technology is accessible, affordable, and adds value.
We
want our 1.25 billion citizens to be digitally connected. We already
have broadband usage across India go up by 63 percent last year. We need
to accelerate this further.
We have launched an aggressive
expansion of the National Optical Fibre Network that will take
broadband to our 600,000 villages. We will connect all schools and
colleges with broadband. Building I-ways are as important as highways.
We
are expanding our public Wi-Fi hotspots. For example, we want to
ensure that free Wi Fi is not only there in airport lounges, but also on
our railway platforms. Teaming up with Google, we will cover 500
railway stations in a short time.
We are also setting up Common
Service Centres in villages and towns. We will also use information
technology to build smart cities.
And, we want to turn our
villages into smart economic hubs and connect our farmers better to
markets and makes them less vulnerable to the whims of weather.
For
me, access also means that content should be in local languages. In a
country with 22 official languages, it is a formidable, but an
important task.
Affordability of products and services is
critical for our success. There are many dimensions to this. We will
promote manufacture of quality and affordable products in India. That
is part of our vision of Make in India, Digital India and Design in
India.
As our economy and our lives get more wired, we are also
giving the highest importance to data privacy and security,
intellectual property rights and cyber security.
And,I know to achieve the vision of Digital India, the government must also start thinking a bit like you.
So,
from creating infrastructure to services, from manufacture of products
to human resource development, from support governments to enabling
citizens and promoting digital literacy, Digital India is a vast cyber
world of opportunities for you.
The task is huge; the challenges are many. But, we also know that we will not reach new destinations without taking new roads.
Much of India that we dream of is yet to be built. So, we have the opportunity to shape its path now.
And, we have the talent, enterprise and skills to succeed.
We also have the strength of the partnership between India and the United States.
Indians
and Americans have worked together to shape the knowledge economy.
They have made us aware of the vast potential of technology.
From large corporate to young professionals in this great centre of innovation, each can be part of the Digital India story.
The sustainable development of one-sixth of humanity will be a major force of good for our world and our planet.
Today,
we speak of India-U.S. partnership as a defining partnership of this
century. It hinges on two major reasons. Both converge here in
California.
We all know that the dynamic Asia Pacific Region will
shape the course of this century. And, India and the United States,
the world's two largest democracies, are located at the two ends of
this region.
We have the responsibility to shape a future of peace, stability and prosperity in this region.
Our
relationship is also defined by the power of youth, technology and
innovation. These can ignite a partnership that will advance and sustain
prosperity in our two countries.
Even more, in this Digital
Age, we can draw on the strength of our values and partnership to shape
a better and more sustainable future for the world.
Thank you."