India's rise deeply linked to technology, can't remain agnostic to developments: Jaishankar
Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar said no one should pretend technology is neutral and said India cannot remain agnostic regarding technology since there are strong political connotations attached to it.
FollowExternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said that the country's progress was closely tied to that of its technology industry and that it could no longer stay politically neutral. He said India would like to use its G-20 Presidency to reflect the interests and concerns of the global south that have been ignored over the years while speaking at the Global Technology Summit in Delhi.
"India's development and the development of Indian technology are closely related. It may involve semiconductors, 5G, artificial intelligence, commercial spaceflight, or satellite manufacturing," said Jaishankar. He said that as technology will be crucial to forging alliances in a multipolar world, it should be given significant weight in determining India's geopolitical orientation.
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"We cannot dismiss technology as irrelevant. We must abandon the notion that technology is neutral in some way. Technology is increasingly driving things, and we must recognise that technology has a very strong political undertone," said Jaishankar.
According to him, the idea of economic strategic autonomy will be crucial to rebalancing the world's economy, and major participants will always try to advance technologically. According to Jaishnakar, it's critical to consider the sociological partners and partner quality India has in the realms of technology and strategy.
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Jaishankar, who described his interactions with colleagues in Africa and Latin America, said there has been significant interest in the digitally enabled delivery platforms created by India throughout the global south.
He cited the government's plan to deliver free food grains to 80 crore impoverished people and direct benefit transfers to 45 crore recipients as evidence that "we have shattered the premise that social security is essentially an affluent society's privilege." This year's Summit's seventh edition will focus on the "Geopolitics of Technology."
