India’s Ambitious Target of a goal of a $1-trillion digital economy
Paper: III
For Prelims: Digital Economy.
For Mains: Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment.
Context of News:
- India has set itself a goal of a $1-trillion digital economy. It is not going to be a cakewalk, especially as a profitable business model is yet to be developed for new-age technologies and emerging digital ecosystems.
Digital Economy:
- Digital economy is defined as an economy that focuses on digital technologies, i.e. it is based on digital and computing technologies. It essentially covers all business, economic, social, cultural etc. activities that are supported by the web and other digital communication technologies.
- Digital economy refers to an economy that is based on digital computing technologies, although we increasingly perceive this as conducting business through markets based on the internet and the World Wide Web. The digital economy is also referred to as the Internet Economy, New Economy, or Web Economy
Why India can achieve goal of $1-trillion digital economy by the year 2025?
- India is banking on 850 million internet users and 90% smartphone penetration in next three to four years to achieve $1 trillion value from digital economy by 2025.
- India is among the top three global economies in number of digital consumers.
- India’s digital divide is narrowing fast as less affluent states leapfrog to catch up with more affluent states.
- India can create up to $1 trillion of economic value from the digital economy in 2025, with half of the opportunity originating in new digital ecosystems.
- Government of India has identified digital payments, Make in India, Start-Up India, Skill India, 100 Smart Cities, 50 Metro Projects and Swachh Bharat as the key drivers of the digital economy.
Challenges in Achieving goal of a $1-trillion digital economy:
- Right Policy with pin pointing Execution:
- According to experts, achieving the $1-trillion digital economy tag is not a certainty and the government needs to make the right policies and further execute them properly if it wants to move towards that goal. Without any such commitment and faster execution, India could only achieve an economic value of digital technologies to the tune of $500 billion or $600 billion in the next 5-7 years.
- This ambitious target will require it to develop a thriving start-up ecosystem. It is therefore important that the privacy rules should be properly analyzed so that it doesn’t become hurdle in achieving this goal of a $1-trillion digital economy.
- Focus on start-ups, financial technology and new-age technologies:
- India’s digital and IT industry, in its current form, is primarily driven by the IT and IT-enabled services and is estimated to stand at $150 billion, followed by financial services at $50 billion and electronics manufacturing at $40 billion. Going forward, the focus will be on start-ups, financial technology and new-age technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), internet of things (IoT), digital payments, digital education and e-healthcare.
- Absence of Collaborative Business Model:
- People tracking the digital sector feel that the country is at a nascent stage in developing a profitable business model for digital themes like e-education, e-healthcare, digital financial systems or cyber security. Also, there is no regulatory environment for such digital ecosystems. The government needs to build a collaborative business model with the private sector in order to get investments, as well as innovation in such fields.
Way Forward:
- Digital economy is estimated to generate 30 million jobs by 2024-25, double the current level of job creation prospects .so, government of India should focus on this aspect of creating digital economy.
- Achieving goal of a $1-trillion digital economy by the year 2025 will require it to develop a thriving start-up ecosystem. It is therefore important that the privacy bill does not lead to an uneven playing field for them. This is not an unfounded risk, as evidence from other countries shows.
- India needs to find a middle ground of privacy and digital economy growth. Privacy law should not disproportionately increase the cost of business for start-ups vis-a-vis big tech and other large incumbents.
- Government should consider the differential impact on small businesses while formulating regulations under the law. Conducting cost-benefit analysis while making rules, and explicitly consider the impact on small businesses, among other factors. The cost-benefit analysis should be put in the public domain as is mandated in other countries.
Road Safety in India
Paper: II
For Mains: Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.
Context of News:
- Recently, Union Transport Minister has expressed optimism that the significant amendments made to the Motor Vehicles Act will reduce the terrible death toll due to accidents on India’s roads.
- It is to be noted that India has 1% of the world’s vehicles but accounts for 6% of the world’s road traffic accidents, according to data from a 2018 World Health Organization report.
Understand Road Accidents of India through Facts/Figures:
- According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways data, Road Accidents in India 2018; India’s young, productive population, aged 18-45 years, is involved in 70% of road accidents.
- According to the 2018 data of road ministry’s data; India had 467,044 reported road accidents, an increase of 0.5% from 464,910 in 2017.
- According to the WHO; Road accidents are one of the 12 most common causes of deaths in India, the ninth most common cause of premature deaths, and the 10th most common reason for disability.
Reasons for such Alarming high accidents in India:
- Poor enforcement:
- India’s traffic laws are stricter than those of other countries but these laws are not enforced.
- In many other countries, such as the UK, Australia, New Zealand, where they have better enforcement, the alcohol is limit is 0.08 mg/l, higher than the 0.05 mg/l in India, in many countries crashes due to alcohol have been reduced due to enforcement of their laws and education.
- When it comes to enforcement we know human behaviour is affected by enforcement and in India, enforcement is largely driven by human beings and is prone to corruption
- City planning:
- On many roads there are no traffic-calming measures such as speed humps before intersections or median barriers.
- Roads should be made not just for use by four-wheelers but also for two-wheelers and pedestrians, and towns should be planned not just for expressways and commercial areas but also for hawkers and vendors. For instance, safer highways should be created by adding underpasses for pedestrians, especially those that are vulnerable, such as pregnant women and the elderly.
- Taking as an example of the Delhi-Agra highway where the highway has divided villages, but there are no pedestrian crossings. How do we expect people whose village has been divided by that highway to crossover to their fields every day?
- Driver training:
- In 2019, in 26% of all road accidents, drivers who were in an accident did not have a valid license or were driving with a learner’s license.
- In any case, licences are not a sign that the driver is qualified, Basically we made a road and allowed untrained drivers. Drivers need hard skills training on driving, not just ads and awareness.
- We have announced that we will reduce traffic deaths by 50%. This is a joke unless and until we combine efforts in the four E’s:
- Engineering
- Enforcement
- Education
- Emergency response
Government’s policies/steps to Reduce Road Accidents:
- In 2015, the government announced the application of new rules consistent with the UN standards for front and side impact and also pedestrian protection.
- New Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act has become law now .It seeks to address issues related to road accidents, third party insurance and road safety measures.
- The Road Transport Ministry has said it has made road safety an integral part of road design at planning stage and safety audit of selected stretches of National Highways. And it has also given high priority to rectification of black spots on national highways.
- In terms of vehicular safety mandated standards for vehicles like seatbelts and anti-lock braking system among others has been tightened. Under the National Highway Accident Relief Service Scheme, the states are provided with cranes and ambulances and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) also provides ambulances at a distance of every 50km .
Cost of Road Accidents:
- Road accidents cost India 3-5% of gross domestic product every year, which are avoidable, provided that we take adequate steps in time bound manner.
- According to the World Bank; over a period of 24 years from 2014 to 2038, if India could halve the deaths and injuries due to road traffic, its GDP could increase by 7%.
Way Forward:
- The fundamental problem with our roads is they are designed for motorists. Pedestrians are not prioritised and that should change.
- Getting riders to wear helmets and those travelling by car to wear seat belts, simple as they may seem, has proved to be challenging. But these can help reduce fatalities. Enforcement without the physical presence of personnel, like ANPRs, is fast becoming the norm around the world. Cameras don’t go home at night nor can they be bribed.so, it’s time to go for such technologies along with awareness programmes.