New Delhi, February 06, 2020: Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, speaking at the 14th India Digital Summit, organised by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said that in the last five years, India has evolved digitally, and observed that IAMAI has a big role to play in the process. “In the process of reform, perform and transform; technology plays a crucial role”, he added.
He said that transformation is the essence, and technology will play an important role. Technology is not only an enabler or facilitators but also that of empowerment, he observed.
Citing the power of home-grown technology, the Minster cited the example of the growth of the digital payments industry. He said low cost technology has helped digital payments to grow on a larger scale that it has set to become the most powerful syndrome. Highlighting the growth in the digital payment sector, he informed the gathering that in five years, digital payments have clocked 3.50 billion in Nov 2019, from 918 million in 2016.
Addressing the delegates, he mentioned that technology has helped India grow as an enabler, facilitator and also helped India in empowerment. Talking of Digital India, he said, it is designed to empower the power of technology that eventually leads to digital inclusion. He harped on the fact that the government is dedicated to bridge the digital divide and digital intrusion is at the core of all government policies.
Raising concern about fake news, Shri Prasad asked platforms to be responsible and accountable in tackling fake news and child porn. He said digital world is “pious and pure and it is very empowering but fake news creates a problem.”
He said: “I am a great supporter of creativity and freedom but there are also social obligations. Digital world can never be caged and should not be caged. But the digital world has to be responsible, accountable and most important sensitive.” He further said that the citizens must make wise use of these social platforms and said that India is emerging as a big global power and the citizens should take on the responsibility and must try in making judicious use of these platforms.
IDS the flagship event of IAMAI, had a gathering of over 2500 delegates, from across the various sectors of the internet industry. Some of the key speakers at the two-day conference included Amit Agarwal (Country Manager, Amazon India and Chairman, IAMAI), Dhruv Shringi (Co-Founder & CEO, Yatra and Vice-Chairman, IAMAI) Vijay Sekhar Sharma (Founder, Paytm), Sapna Chadha(Sr. Marketing Director – India & Southeast Asia, Google, Mohit Bhatnagar, Sanjeev Bikhchandani(Founder and Executive Vice Chairman, Info Edge) among others. Another highlight of Day 2 was a leadership talk by Richa Chadha, famous bollywood actor.