Digital India: World faces 'bloodless' cyber war threat, says PM Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI: Flagging the threat to cyber security globally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India can play a lead role in dealing with this "bloodless war" as he launched a digital initiative to which the corporate world pledged over Rs 4.5 lakh crore.
He pitched for a digital revolution in the country and exhorted the industry to boost domestic production of electronic devices, which account for second largest imports, under the 'Make in India' programme.

Inaugurating 'Digital India Week' here, he said digitalisation of all government work is essential to deal with problems like corruption, help provide transparent and efficient governance and bridge the rich-poor divide.

Highlighting the country's potential in IT sector, Modi called upon the Indian youth to innovate and go for "Design in India". He promised government support to 'start ups' and said India has the potential of becoming the second country after the USA in this area.

"We have to move from E-governance to M-governance. M-governance does not mean Modi governance. It means Mobile governance," he said at a function here which was attended by several ministers, top Indian industrialists and CEOs of some global companies besides a few BJP leaders like L K Advani who sat among the audience.

Modi, who himself is tech-savvy, talked about the advantages of IT but at the same time said that "clouds of a bloodless war are hovering" over the world.

"The world is terrified by this....India has a big role to play in this. Can India play this big role? India has talent. Can India provide a shield to the world by providing innovative and credible solutions? Why should we not have such a confidence? We should accept this challenge to ensure that the entire humanity lives in peace," he said.

Mentioning the dangers posed to cyber security, Modi said, "somebody, with education of 10th or 12th class, sitting thousands of miles away, can clean up your bank account with a click of mouse." This situation needs to be addressed.

Noting that India had lagged when the world went through the industrial revolution, the Prime Minister said he dreams of a 'Digital India' where government services are easily available to citizens on mobile devices and barriers between the rich and the poor are removed.

"I dream of a Digital India where government proactively engages with people through social media... I dream of Digital India where cyber security becomes integral part of national security...I dream of a digital India where High-speed Digital Highways unite the Nation, 1.2 billion connected Indians drive innovation," he said, reminding the audience of the historical speech of Martin Luther King.

Citing advantages of IT, Modi said it helps in dealing with problems like corruption. "Technology played a big role in auction of coal mines. So many coal mines were auctioned but there is no allegation against the government because it was all done in a transparent manner," he said.

The function was attended by Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad, J P Nadda, Thaavar Chand Gehlot, Jual Oram and Nirmala Sitharaman.
The India Inc. was represented by RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani, ADAG Chairman Anil Ambani, Bharati Enterprises Chairman Sunil Mittal, Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry, Aditya Birla Group chief Kumarmangalam Birla, Wipro's Azim Premji.

From among the global companies, Bernhard Gerwert, CEO of European consortium Airbus' Defence and Space unit, and Ping Chang, CEO of Taiwanese company Delta Electronics, attended the event.

The corporate leaders made announcements regarding their plans to invest in digital sector, which Modi said amounted to over Rs 4.5 lakh crore with a potential to generate 18 lakh jobs.

Meanwhile, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said all the state governments have come together to make Digital India a success.

He added that Digital India will remain incomplete without Make in India and asked industry players to participate in 'Make in India'.

"I would appeal to all the giants of the industry and the global representatives here that electronic manufacturing is getting to be exploited, it's a great area of growth, all the state governments have come on board, please come, invest, create jobs, earn profit, make in India for India and also export outside," he said.

The Minister said Postal Department has to work for Digital India.

"The 1.50 lakh post offices in the country, in the coming eight months, we will provide solar power enabled-handheld devices to all the village post offices.

"In the coming two years, we will turn majority of village post offices into multi service centres," he added.