Rajeev Chandrasekhar Highlights Digital Public Infrastructure as a Tool for Inclusion

On Tuesday, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister, emphasized the significance of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as a potent tool for promoting inclusivity, particularly for nations in the global south.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar told the media about the significant results of the Digital Economy Ministerial: “DPIs for the first time came to a global consensus and what their definition, framework and principles should be. This is an exciting debate. India is now a case study as a country that used and adopted technological tools for progress and to promote growth.”

“Countries that are lagging behind see this as a way to follow India’s lead in DPI, an open source digital infrastructure, and use it to create the same impact as India. Through these G20 discussions, we have better understood how DPIs are an effective mechanism for inclusion, especially in the global to the countries of the south,” the minister added.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the consensus among the nations was broadly focused on three key areas – digital public infrastructure, cyber security and digital skills.

India has signed eight MoUs with countries like Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Antigua, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Papua New Guinea and Mauritius. – access to the source. These nations now have the opportunity to embrace and utilize these resources within their borders and develop their unique innovation ecosystem.

In addition to DPIs, the Union Minister spoke about how nations have prioritized cyber security as well and emphasized its importance to the rapidly growing economy.

“On cyber security, the digital economy ministers of the G20 countries have had a wide-ranging discussion about why protecting companies is important. Cyber security is an important issue for all countries in the world because the digital economy is becoming an increasingly large part of economic development and the global economy,” he said.

The third point of agreement was digital skills. The minister said that in a post-COVID digital world, nations must ensure that digital skills are taught and nurtured among the youth.

“Digital skills are increasingly needed in this post-Covid digital world. India’s talent is focused on creating digital skills for our youth. This has drawn attention in this conversation. Many countries are interested in partnering with each other and with India to create digital-ready, future-ready skills to meet the ongoing challenges in the coming techade,” Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.