“The rights to law and order, safety, and trust are as fundamental in cyberspace and on the internet as freedom of speech”: MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & IT, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, participated in two prominent tech events, the Indian Express Digifraud & Safety Summit 2023 and YourStory Techsparks’23, held here yesterday. Engaging in fireside chats, the Minister emphasized India’s journey in AI, tech policy regulation, and the promising future the country holds.

At the Techsparks’23 event, Minister Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in conversation with YourStory CEO and founder Shradha Sharma, expressed the Government’s keen interest in propelling the already rising startup ecosystem in India. 

“Our focus is on startups, innovation, and funding, creating a computing infrastructure. In January, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi agreed to establish a significant amount of GPU capacity in India for startups to access and bring forth their innovation and foundational models. Personally, I am very excited about what we believe we are going to achieve in AI. And I certainly see these startups and the broader ecosystem being a huge force to drive India. We want unicorns & successful startups to come from Meerut, Ghaziabad, Kohima, Srinagar, Kottayam, Belgaum, Dharwad, Visakhapatnam, Nagpur, and beyond. We see absolutely no reason that students and youngsters from any of these places cannot compete with those in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, or any other city,” the Minister said. 

Minister Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar also discussed India’s transformation from a ‘transforming nation’ to ‘New India’, highlighting the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision to elevate India to the status of a developed nation. He said, “We went from transforming India to saying this is a new India. Now, we have a Prime Minister who says, ‘I’m going to raise the bar even further.’ He wants to build ‘Viksit Bharat’ in our lifetime. He envisions India becoming the third-largest economy in the world, and many of the youngsters, will see India as a developed nation in their lifetime.” 

During his interaction with Soumyarendra Barik and Anil Sasi from Indian Express, the Minister shed light on India’s evolved approach to internet regulation, emphasizing safety and trust for digital nagriks, and accountability platforms.

“We have recognized the power of the Internet. To quote a phrase, ‘We have been techno-optimists,’ celebrating the potential for good that technology, especially the Internet, holds. However, we have belatedly acknowledged the problems associated with technology and the Internet, including criminality and harm. The Government of India, as well as many other governments across the world, have asserted that the call for safety and trust does not infringe on any pre-existing rights. To claim that prioritizing safety and trust undermines other rights is a misinterpretation. Safety and trust are not for the Government; rather, they are initiatives aimed at safeguarding the vast majority of Digital Nagriks,” the Minister further highlighted.

Reflecting on his experience at the UK AI Summit, the Minister underscored India’s commitment to ensuring a safe and trusted internet, emphasizing the Government’s guiding principles since 2021.

“We want the internet to be safe and trusted; it is an article of faith. We also aim for platforms to be legally accountable. These three broad principles have been our guiding framework since 2021, and we apply the same principles to AI. In fact, the rest of the world is catching up, and the AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park essentially echoed what our country has been emphasizing. Over the last two years, the Hon’ble Prime Minister has stressed the importance of learning how to harness technology for good. I completely support and agree with the notion that AI is one of the biggest and most significant inventions of our time as human beings. We do not want to demonize AI. It’s crucial that the narrative of risks surrounding AI does not outpace innovation, causing us to lose sight of its potential benefits for the digital economy and our people,” the Minister further added. 

Disclaimer: This is an official press release by Pib.