Prime Minister Calls For Atmanirbhar Bharat Through Digital Inclusivity

-
India has one of the largest mobile telephony network in the world. Mobile subscription penetration in India is set to cross 100% mark in 2023 from 88.3% in 2020, driven by growing smartphone adoption and increasing coverage of 4G- long-term evolution (LTE) services across remote areas, according to leading data and analytics companies.

A recent report reveals that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mobile sector has been relatively mild and mobile service revenues will grow at a 9.1% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over 2020-2025, primarily driven by growth in the mobile data services segment.

Mobile data service revenues are set to grow at a robust CAGR of 18.3% during 2020-2025, with rising adoption of 4G data-centric plans to support growing consumption of online video content over smartphones.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered inaugural address at the “India Mobile Congress” (IMC) 2020 through video conference. The theme for IMC 2020 is "Inclusive Innovation - Smart, Secure, Sustainable”. It aims to align to the Prime Minister’s vision to promote ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’, ‘Digital Inclusivity’, and ‘Sustainable development, entrepreneurship & innovation’. It also aims to drive foreign and local investments, encourage R&D in the telecom and emerging technology sectors.

Addressing the event, the Prime Minister gave a call to work together to make India a global hub for telecom equipment, design, development and manufacturing. He cautioned, due to technological upgradation, we have a culture of replacing handsets and gadgets frequently. He asked the delegates to ponder whether the industry can form a task-force to think of a better way of handling the electronic waste and create a circular economy. He urged to work together to ensure a timely roll-out of 5G to leapfrog into the future and empower millions of Indians.

The Prime Minister said it is important to think and plan how to improve lives with the upcoming technology revolution. He added that better healthcare, better education, better information and opportunities for our farmers, better market access for small businesses are some of the goals that can be worked on.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the delegates from the telecom sector for keeping the world functional despite the pandemic due to their innovation and efforts. He added that due to their efforts, a son was connected with his mother in a different city, a student learnt from his teacher without being in the classroom, a patient consulted his doctor from his home and a trader connected with a consumer/ from a different geography.

The Prime Minister said for a lot of young techies it is the ‘Code’ which makes a product special, for some entrepreneurs it is Concept which matters more, investors suggest that Capital is more important to scale a product. He stressed that often what matters the most is the Conviction the youngsters have on their product. Sometimes conviction is all that stands between just a profitable exit and making of a unicorn.

Prime Minister Modi stressed that it is because of mobile technology that we are able to provide benefits worth billions of dollars to millions of Indians, we were able to help the poor and vulnerable quickly during the pandemic and we are seeing billions of cashless transactions which boost formalisation and transparency and we will also enable a smooth contactless interface on toll booths.

The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction on achieving success in mobile manufacturing in India. He said India is emerging as one of the most preferred destinations for mobile manufacturing. He added the Production Linked Incentive scheme was introduced to promote telecom equipment manufacturing in India. He said that the Government aims to bring high speed fibre-optic connectivity in every village over the next three years. He said that towards this end, focus is made exclusively on places which can make the best out of such connectivity – Aspirational Districts, Left wing extremism affected districts, North-Eastern states, Lakshadweep Islands etc. Mr. Modi added that greater spread of fixed line broadband connectivity and public Wi-Fi hotspots will be ensured. 

Script: Kaushik Roy; AIR: News Analyst

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Data Darbar Suicide Attack

-
The deadly attack on the famous Sufi shrine Data Darbar in Lahore on the second day of the holy month of Ramadan that killed 10 and injured more than 25 people is yet another ghastly reminder that Pakistan still shelters terrorist groups that have now come to haunt its own State. The suicide bombing was apparently targeted towards the elite security force that was assigned to guard the Shrine as the inflow of devotees increase during Ramadan. This is not the first time a Sufi Shrine was targeted by terrorists in Pakistan. Many Shrines like Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Baba Farid in Pakpattan and Abdullah Shah Ghazi in Karachi were attacked in the past. The Sufi nature of these shrines has made them an easy target of the terrorist groups that consider Sufis to be heretics. The terror organisations within Pakistan such as the Pakistan Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Hizbul Ahrar (said to be a splinter faction of the local Taliban) that took responsibility for the latest bombings in...
Read more

Military Build-Up In The Persian Gulf

-
In response to the attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week; the US Department of Defence announced that it is sending an additional 1,000 troops to bolster security in the Persian Gulf. This comes amidst the escalating tensions in the region following US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPoA) in May 2018. The US also re-imposed economic sanctions on Iran and last month ended all waivers for Iranian oil imports. President Donald Trump further decided to impose new sanctions and warned of secondary sanctions on individuals or entities doing business with Iranian industries under sanctions. Iran too had responded with warning other signatories of the JCPoA, especially UK, France and Germany, to do more to ease the impact of sanctions on Iranian economy failing which Tehran will be forced to retract from the deal. This prompted the US to send additional troops including Arlington and a Patriot missile battery. At ...
Read more

Pakistan’s Crippling Financial Crisis

-
As if the turmoil due to terrorism was not enough for Pakistan, it is facing fresh spate of demonstrations against unprecedented inflation that is putting the already crippling economy out of gear. Inflation is expected to rise to double-digitssoon. The major reason for this has been the steep rise in food and energy prices that has had a cascading effect on the process of other commodities. Pakistan’s imports are increasing and Foreign Exchange reserves have fallen to just about $8 billion; this is just enough for meeting payment obligations for two months. The exchange value of the Pakistani Rupee has fallen to 150 to a US dollar.It has been devalued 20 times during the past three years by about 20%. Since Pakistan is importing major part of its fuel requirements and many other commodities of daily consumption; steep inflation has led to almost halving the incomes of the people. This has led to large-scale public unrest in the country. Street protests led by Jamaat-e-Islami in Pesha...
Read more