PM Explains How Tech, Decision-Making Will Help India “Make New Singapores”

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an exclusive to NDTV, said the government is working on bringing changes in bureaucracy and the decision-making process to implement big schemes using technology. The Prime Minister gave an example of the use of technology to survey islands in India.

Speaking to NDTV’s Editor-in-Chief Sanjay Pugalia, Prime Minister Modi said, “India has approximately 1,300 islands. I was surprised to know that we did not have a record or survey of these islands. With the help of space technology, we surveyed them and some islands are the same size as Singapore. It means for India, building new Singapores is not difficult if we do it.” We are working on bringing change in the functioning of bureaucracy and the decision-making process for implementing schemes.

Singapore has evolved into one of the most prosperous nations in the world. The island nation has developed into a free-market economy, a global financial hub and a country which has witnessed infrastructural and technological development

In a follow-up question over the Prime Minister’s Singapore reference, Mr Pugalia asked, “If we are talking about infrastructure or development, we can expect a lot of changes happening soon,” to which the Prime Minister replied, “A lot of changes will take place.”

“We are actively promoting the vision of a digital embassy. We are witnessing a digital revolution in the country. It’s the biggest tool to empower the poor and narrow the inequality gap. Therefore, the digital revolution will play a big role in bringing change. I believe India will lead the world in the field of Artificial Intelligence. There is power in data because of India’s diversity,” the Prime Minister explained.

I recently met gaming content creators. I asked them how online gaming is trending in India, and they said the internet is very cheap in India while it’s expensive in the rest of the world. Cheap data is opening up opportunities, and people can access things online. There are over 5 lakh common service centres in India, giving access to people even in the rural area. These initiatives are citizen-centric, the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister talked about his philosophy for governance – “It is P2G2”. Which stands for “Pro People Good Governance”. “I met Noble Prize winner Professor Paul Romer in New York, we discussed technology and he suggested that we need software for keeping documents and showed him DigiLocker (A government to keep digitised versions of documents) on my phone. He was surprised by it and said India has excelled in digital infrastructure even more than the world thinks.